Mark Levine
Mark is a social psychologist interested in the role of social identity and group processes in prosocial and anti-social behavior. Over the last 25 years he has established a reputation as a leading researcher in the social psychology of helping behaviour in general and bystander behaviour in particular. More recently he has moved towards interdisciplinary work at the intersection of psychology and technology – leading large multi-site projects which include computer scientists, software engineers, roboticists and HCI researchers. His theoretical focus has been on the utility of the concept of social identity for understanding the dynamics of behaviour in the digital age.
CREST Outputs
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services
Emergency responding requires effective interoperability, whereby different emergency teams combine efforts and expertise to contain and reduce the impact of an emergency. Within the United Kingdom, the capacity for the Emergency Services to be interoperable has been criticized by public enquiries. This systematic review had three goals to: (i) define interoperability; (ii) identify the structural principles that underpin interoperability and (iii) identify the psychological principles that outline how interoperability can be achieved. A PRISMA framework was used to identify 137 articles, including 94 articles from the systematic review, 15 articles from grey literature and 28 articles based on author expertise. We identified two structural principles of interoperability: (i) being able to communicate and exchange information effectively; and (ii) having a decentralized and flexible team network. We identified three psychological principles that informed how interoperability might be embedded in the team: (i) establishing trust between team members; (ii) developing secure team identities and (iii) building cohesive goals. We defined interoperability as a shared system of technology and teamwork built upon trust, identification, goals, communication and flexibility. Regular psychologically immersive training that targets these psychological principles will help to embed interoperability into the social fabric of multi-team systems operating in high-reliability organizations.
(From the journal abstract)
Power, N., Alcock, J., Philpot, R., & Levine, M. (2023). The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 00, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12469
https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joop.12469Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services
Emergency responding requires effective interoperability, whereby different emergency teams combine efforts and expertise to contain and reduce the impact of an emergency. Within the United Kingdom, the capacity for the Emergency Services to be interoperable has been criticized by public enquiries. This systematic review had three goals to: (i) define interoperability; (ii) identify the structural principles that underpin interoperability and (iii) identify the psychological principles that outline how interoperability can be achieved. A PRISMA framework was used to identify 137 articles, including 94 articles from the systematic review, 15 articles from grey literature and 28 articles based on author expertise. We identified two structural principles of interoperability: (i) being able to communicate and exchange information effectively; and (ii) having a decentralized and flexible team network. We identified three psychological principles that informed how interoperability might be embedded in the team: (i) establishing trust between team members; (ii) developing secure team identities and (iii) building cohesive goals. We defined interoperability as a shared system of technology and teamwork built upon trust, identification, goals, communication and flexibility. Regular psychologically immersive training that targets these psychological principles will help to embed interoperability into the social fabric of multi-team systems operating in high-reliability organizations.
(From the journal abstract)
Power, N., Alcock, J., Philpot, R., & Levine, M. (2023). The psychology of interoperability: A systematic review of joint working between the UK emergency services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 00, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12469
Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services
From the journal abstract:
Improving inter-agency working across organizations is an important goal across public and private sectors. The UK Emergency Services have spent a decade implementing organizational change to improve interoperability between the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services. JESIP—the group tasked with realising this change—have faced criticism. We evaluated JESIP's efforts by interviewing expert commanders, finding participants supported the principle of change, but issues impeded its implementation. We developed the Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) to describe the gap between change principles and change implementation, identifying the macro-systemic, meso-organizational and micro-psychological processes between them. Key obstacles to implementation included macro-level funding issues, incompatible meso-level organizational structures and strained micro-level peer-to-peer relationships. Participants also reflected on the facilitators of change. At the meso-organizational level, JESIP was perceived to have improved inter-team communication and flexibility. At the micro-psychological level participants described enhanced trust, shared identities and the emergence of a new type of interoperability leader. This study highlights the importance of gaining support for the principle of interoperability while addressing implementation challenges posed by the inherent social complexities involved in this change. Change efforts must be monitored over time, considering the macro, meso and micro-level processes that influence the principle-implementation gap.
Practitioner points
- JESIP's approach to organizational change has been limited by a principle-implementation gap. There is wide support for the principle of interoperability, but issues have impeded its implementation.
- A principle-implementation gap was identified across three levels: the macro-systemic level, the meso-organizational level and the micro-psychological level. Efforts to bridge the gap can use this structure to scaffold change.
- We recommend three ways to bridge the principle-implementation gap for interoperability: (i) increasing financial investment and widening the scope of JESIP (macro-level); (ii) mapping the organizational structures across emergency teams to inform alignment (meso-level); and (iii) developing team-oriented interoperability training aimed at building the social-psychological metacognitive skills required for cohesive interoperability (micro-level).
- The Principle-Implementation Change Framework for Interoperability (PICI) is a comprehensive evaluation tool for researchers and policymakers to categorize and understand organizational change towards interoperability, helping to structure the ongoing evaluation of change interventions and bridge the gap between the principle of change and its implementation.
Power, N., Philpot, R., Levine, M., & Alcock, J. (2025). Bridging the Principle-Implementation Gap: Evaluating organizational change to achieve interoperability between the UK Emergency Services. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98, e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70010