PhD in Organizational Behavior

Distinguish your education

with a doctorate from the Leeds School of Business.

Meet Current Students    Explore FAQs 

A doctoral student presents in front of classmates.

The Organizational Behavior (OB) doctoral program is a research-based program where students work with world-renowned scholars to build skills that will prepare them for impactful careers as professors in leadership, management, and organizational behavior at business schools.

Overall, the doctoral program places a heavy emphasis on training students through active engagement in the research process. Students develop a strong foundation in research methods and statistics, while closely collaborating with multiple faculty members on research projects.

General details about the curriculum, requirements, and structure of the program can be found here. Please be aware this document is not an exhaustive list of the requirements for the program.

Program Faculty

Led by Program Director Sabrina Volpone, our award-winning and renowned OB faculty have presented at the White House and are published experts on topics like:

 

  • Affect and Emotions

  • Effective leadership and teamwork

  • Effectiveness of diversity, equity, and inclusion

  • Justice and leadership

  • Latent change score modeling

  • Race and gender bias

  • Trust in various social interactions

  • Workforce diversity and identity management

  • Workplace emotion and mental health

Russell Cropanzano

Professor

David Hekman

Associate Professor

Stefanie Johnson

Associate Professor

Dejun “Tony” Kong

Associate Professor

Christina Lacerenza

Assistant Professor

Rebecca Mitchell

Assistant Professor

Sabrina Volpone

Associate Professor • Organizational Behavior PhD Program Director

Learn more about

Program Graduates

The PhD program prepares students to be researchers and teachers at major universities. See where our graduates started their careers and published research.

 

Placements
  • Liza Barnes 
    PhD: 2023
    Placement: Drexel University
    Dissertation: A Multi-Perspective Exploration of Employee Medical Leaves of Absence
     
  • Jessi Rivin
    PhD: 2023
    Placement: San Diego State University
    Dissertation: Dynamics Between Mental Health and Curiosity in Employee Well-Being
     
  • Brittany Lambert
    PhD: 2021
    Placement: Indiana University, Bloomington
    Dissertation: An Exploration of Gender and Mental Health in Traditional and Non-Traditional Work Environments
     
  • Victor Marsh
    PhD: 2021
    Placement: University of Toronto
    Dissertation: Diversity Practice Innovation: Design Processes and Employee Perception
     
  • Hunter Phoenix Van Wagoner
    PhD: 2021
    Placement: California State University, Fullerton
    Dissertation: An Affective Events Theory Perspective on Mental Health in The Workplace
     
  • Jessica Kirk
    PhD: 2019
    Placement: University of Memphis
    Dissertation: Gender Dynamics in the Workplace: A Nuanced Look at Gender Bias and How to Mitigate It
     
  • Elsa Chan
    PhD: 2017
    Placement: City University of Hong Kong
    Dissertation: Virtues in organizations: An examination of humility and compassion in leadership and entrepreneurship
  • Jenni Dinger 
    PhD: 2015
    Placement: Indiana University
    Dissertation: An Examination of How Community Social Identity Motivates Crowdfunding of Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Rebuilding after Natural
     
  • Shayne Kiefer 
    PhD: 2013
    Placement: U.S. Air Force Academy
    Dissertation: Predicting and Examining Links Between IPO Hype, Managerial Expectations, and Firm Outcomes
     
  • Daniel Lerner 
    PhD: 2013
    Placement: University of Deusto, Spain
    Dissertation: Opportunity Pursuit and the Disinhibition Paradox
     
  • Marilyn Uy 
    PhD: 2009
    Placement: University of Victoria, Canada
    Dissertation: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
    Dissertation: The Roller Coaster Ride: Affective Influences in Entrepreneurial Efforts

Reed, R., Van Wagoner, H. P., Cropanzano, R., & Jennings, T. (in press). Assessing the efficacy of online learning in disparate business subjects: Lessons from distributed practice and social learning theory. Journal of Management Education. 

Volpone, S. D., Decker, M. , & Reed, R. (in press). When breaking news breaks class plans: Navigating class discussions when diversity topics are in the news. In O. Holmes, IV (Ed.). Championing diversity, equity, and inclusion: Effective strategies to lead, teach, and consult across disciplines and demographics. Palgrave Macmillan Publishing.  

Volpone, S. D., Macoukji, F. G., Ragaglia, R., & Lyons, B. J. (in press). Overcoming biases across the human resource management lifecycle for individuals with a criminal record. In N. C. Jones Young & J. Griffith (Eds.). Employing our returning citizens: An employer-centric view. Palgrave Macmillan Publishing.  

Cropanzano, R., Keplinger, K., Lambert, B. K., Caza, B., & Ashford, S. J. (2023). The organizational psychology of gig work: An integrative conceptual review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108 (3), 492–519. 

Barnes, L.Y., Freidin, H., Hoyt Hendricks, H., Pletneva, L., Rocheville, K. (2022). Grief at the Work-Life Interface. Academy of Management Proceedings 2022 (1), 14505.

Cropanzano, R., Skarlicki, D., Nadisic, T., Fortin, M., Van Wagoner, P., & Keplinger, K. (2022). When manager become Robin Hoods: A mixed method investigation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 32 (2), 209-242.

Hekman, D.R., Cropanzano, R., Chan, E., Kirk, J.F., Lamb, M., 2022. How illegitimate pay inequality leads to worse performance via aggression and coworker devaluing. Academy of Management Proceedings. Seattle, WA. 1: 15045. 

Kirk, J.F., Hekman, D.R., Chan, E.T., Foo, M.D. 2022. Public Negative Labeling Effects on Team Interaction and Performance. Small Group Research. First Published April 6, 2022 online.

Hekman, D.R., Van Wagoner, P., Owens, B., Mitchell, T.R., Holtom, B., Lee, T.M, Dinger, J. 2022. An Examination of Whether and How Prevention Climate Alters the Influence of Turnover on Performance. Journal of Management. 48: 542-570.

Barnes, L.Y., Bhattacharyya, B., Brauer, M., Desjardins, C., Follmer, K. (2021). Novel Advances on Poorly Understood Challenges Women Face at Work. Academy of Management Proceedings 2021 (1), 15670.

Barnes, L.Y., Colella, A., Greenberg, D. Lacerenza, C.N., Longmire, N., Oelberger, C., Rosado-Solomon, E., McDaniel Sumpter, D., Vogus, T., Volpone, S.D. (2021). With or without you: Relationships and taking stock of their influence on work identity. Academy of Management Proceedings 2021 (1), 15691.

Maynard, M.T., S. Conroy, S., Lacerenza, C.N., Barnes, L.Y. (2021). Teams in the wild are not extinct, but challenging to research: A guide for conducting impactful team field research with 10 recommendations and 10 best practices. Organizational Psychology Review.

Barnes, L.Y., Draga, S., Long, D.M., Maitlis, S., Ruttan, R.L. (2020). Navigating Distress: Exploring How People Make Sense of Negative Emotions in Everyday Workplaces. Academy of Management Proceedings 2020 (1), 14075. 

Cropanzano, R., Johnson, S. K., & Lambert, B. K. (2020). Leadership, affect, and emotion in work organizations. In L-Q. Yang, R. Cropanzano, C. Daus, & V. Martinéz (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of workplace affect and emotion (pp. 229-243). Cambridge University Press. 

Dinger, J., Conger, M., Hekman, D.R., Bustamante, C. 2020. Somebody That I Used to Know: The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Social Identity in Post-disaster Business Communities. Journal of Business Ethics. 166: 115–141.

Evans, J.B., Slaughter, J.E., Ellis, A.P.J., Rivin, J.M. (2020). Gender and the evaluation of humor at work. Journal of Applied Psychology 104 (8), 1077.  

Fortin, M., Cropanzano, R., Cugueró-Escofet, N., Nadisic, T., & Van Wagoner, H.(2020). How do people judge fairness in supervisor and peer relationships? Another assessment of the dimensions of justice. Human Relations, 73 (12), 1632-1663. 

Cropanzano, R., Ambrose, M. A., & Van Waggoner, H. P. (2019). Organizational justice and workplace emotion. In E. A. Lind (Ed.), Social psychology and justice (pp. 243-283). Routledge. 

Johnson, S.K., Keplinger, K., Kirk, J.F., Barnes, L.Y. (2019). Has Sexual Harassment at Work Decreased Since #MeToo? Harvard Business Review.

Keplinger, K., Johnson, S.K., Kirk, J.F., Barnes, L.Y. (2019). Women at work: Changes in sexual harassment between September 2016 and September 2018. PloS one 14 (7), e0218313.

Van Wagoner, P., Embry, E., Barnes, L.Y., Rivin, J.M., Rick Reed, R. Hekman, D.R., Volpone, S.D., & Johnson, S.K. 2019. Leveraging Diversity to Enhance Inclusion Efforts for Team Processes and Outcomes. Academy of Management Proceedings. Boston, August 2019.

Becker, W. J., Cropanzano, R., Van Wagoner, H. P., & Keplinger, K. (2018). Emotional labor within teams: Outcomes of individual and peer emotional labor of perceived team support, extra-role behavior, and turnover intentions. Group and Organization Management, 43 (1), 38-71.  [Included in the Editor’s Choice Collection.]

Cropanzano, R., Kirk, J., F., & Discorfano, S. M. (2017). Organizational justice. In S. G. Rogelberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Industrial/Organizational Psychology (2nd Ed., pp. 1118-1122). Sage Publications.

Hekman, D.R., Johnson, S.K. Foo, M.D. & Yang, W. 2017. Does diversity-valuing behavior result in diminished performance ratings for nonwhite and female leaders? Academy of Management Journal. 60: 771-797. Also summarized and included in the Women and Public Policy Program's Gender Action Portal (GAP – gap.hks.harvard.edu) Highlighted in the following media outlets: • CNN, March 24, 2016 • The Atlantic, April 4, 2016 • Huffington Post, March, 29, 2016 • Fivethirtyeight.com, March 25, 2016 

Hekman, D.R., Johnson, S.K., Cropanzano, R., Kirk, J., Chan, E., Lamb, M. 2016. How Executive Pay Leads to Racial and Gender Bias, Aggression and Worse Executive Performance. Academy of Management Proceedings. Anaheim, August 2019. 

Johnson, S.K., Hekman, D.R., & Chan, E.T. 2016. If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired. Harvard Business Review. April 26, 2016. 

York, J., Vedula, S., Conger, M., Hekman, D.R. (2016) Green to Gone: How Institutional Logics Impact the Survival of Social Entrepreneurs. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research: Vol. 36 : Iss. 15, Article 4. 

Cropanzano, R., Fortin, M., & Kirk, J. F. (2015). How do we know when we are treated fairly? Justice rules and fairness judgments. In M. R. Buckley, A. R. Wheeler, & J. R. B. Halbesleben (Eds.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management (Vol. 33, pp. 279-350). Emerald Publishing. 

Van den Bos, K., Cropanzano, R., Kirk, J., Jasso, G., & Okimoto, T. G. (2015). Expanding the horizons of social justice research: Three essays on justice theory. Social Justice Research, 28 (2), 229-246.