Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior
Understanding how people and practices shape organizations
Faculty and Ph.D. students in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship study the people side of business — how individuals, teams and leaders influence organizational effectiveness, and how organizations design practices that shape employee experiences.
Our research spans two closely connected areas:
- Human Resource Management (HRM): Examining how organizations recruit, select, develop, motivate and retain talent, including research on topics such as staffing, compensation, family-friendly practices and the use of AI in HR.
- Organizational Behavior (OB): Investigating the psychological and social dynamics of the workplace, including leadership, team effectiveness, service interactions, emotions, well-being and mindfulness.
Together, these research streams shed light on the critical link between people and performance, with work published in leading journals and presented at top conferences.
Human Resource Management: Strategic human research management
Organizations design and implement people management practices to acquire, develop and retain their high performing human resources. Yet, the dynamics at the individual and group-levels through which these practices, in concert, affect organizational effectiveness are not well understood. Therefore, in this research stream, we are examining how and why human resource management practices affect individuals, groups and, ultimately, organizational effectiveness.
- Keeler, K., & Cortina, J. (2020). Working to the beat: A self-regulatory framework linking music characteristics to job performance. Academy of Management Review, 45, 447-471. doi: 10.5465/amr.2016.0115
- Banks, G. C., & Kepes, S. (2015). The influence of internal HRM activity fit on the dynamics within the “black box.” Human Resource Management Review, 25, 352-367. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2015.02.002
- Kepes, S., & Delery, J. E. (2007). HRM systems and the problem of internal fit. In P. Boxall, J. Purcell, & P. Wright (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of human resource management (pp. 385-404). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199547029. 003.0019
Human Resource Management: Family friendly work activities & work-life benefits
Family-friendly work activities (FFWAs), often referred to as work-life benefits, play a crucial role in helping employees navigate conflicts between family and work responsibilities. Research has consistently shown that FFWAs are positively related to work-family balance, individual productivity and even organizational performance. As such, more and more organizations are offering a wide array of FFWAs, including on-site childcare, eldercare, parental leave, flexible work schedules and telework opportunities. In this research stream, we are examining how family-friendly work activities affect individual employees, groups and, ultimately, organizational functioning.
- Chang, Y., Kepes, S., Wong, C. M., Cortina, J. M. (in press). Family-friendly work systems: A systematic review, critical assessment, and future research agenda of the work-life benefits literature. Human Resource Management. doi: 10.1002/hrm.70027
- Chang, Y., Cobb, H. R., Kepes, S., Her, D., Zhou, Y., & Matthews, R. A. (in press). A cross-disciplinary bibliometric review of family-friendly work activities and agenda for future research. Group & Organization Management. doi: 10.1177/105960112513204
Human Resource Management: The use of AI in HRM
Organizations are increasingly using sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to execute workforce activities (e.g., interviews, task allocations, performance evaluations, sanctions) that were previously overseen or coordinated by human managers. This change will have profound implications for organizations, their managers and their employees. Our research seeks to understand these implications across levels of analysis.
- Kadolkar, I., Kepes, S., & Subramony, M. (in press). Algorithmic management in the gig economy: A systematic review and research integration. Journal of Organizational Behavior. doi: 10.1002/job.2831
- Subramony, M., Kepes, S., Groth, M., Solnet, D., & Yagil, D. (in press). The influence of technology on the future of work: Bibliometric review and directions for management scholarship. Group & Organization Management. doi: 10.1177/10596011231212
Human Resource Management: Compensation (incentives and rewards)
Surveys have shown that (a) employees, especially in the U.S., think that individual performance is the fairest criterion when allocating rewards and (b) virtually all organizations claim that they provide performance contingent incentives and rewards. Yet, an unfortunate reality in today’s organizations is that most performance-based pay programs fail. Our research seeks to understand the conditions under which such programs may be effective.
- Tenhiälä, A., Kepes, S., & Jokela, M. (2023). Contingencies in the effects of job-based pay dispersion on employee attitudes. Human Resource Management, 62, 989-1006. doi: 10.1002/hrm.22183
- Banks, G. C., Woznyj, H. J., Kepes, S., Batchelor, J., & McDaniel, M. A. (2018). A meta‐analytic review of tipping compensation practices: An agency theory perspective. Personnel Psychology, 71, 457-478. doi: 10.1111/peps.12261
- Kepes, S., Delery, J. E., & Gupta, N. (2009). Contingencies in the effects of pay range on organizational effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 62, 497-531. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2009.01146.x
Human Resource Management: Staffing/employee selection
Staffing foci include employee recruitment, screening and selection. Research on employee selection has an especially long history dating back approximately 100 years. However, recent survey results indicate that more than 70% of HR professionals are unfamiliar with some of the most basic and essential research findings in this area. Much of the employee selection literature attempts to identify either (a) which selection devices (or combination thereof) are most predictive of employee performance, (b) whether certain selection device types are biased toward members of protected groups and (c) whether selection devices predict job-related outcomes other than role performance. Selection research by our faculty seeks to explore these and related issues.
- Kepes, S., Keener, S. K., Lievens, F., & McDaniel, M. A. (2025). An integrative, systematic review of the situational judgement test literature. Journal of Management, 51, 2278-2319. doi: 10.1177/0149206324128854
- Serban, A., Kepes, S., Wenhao, W., & Baldwin, R. (2023). Cognitive ability and creativity: Typology contributions and a meta-analytic review. Intelligence, 98, 101757. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2023.101757
- Bosco, F. A., Allen, D. G., & Singh, K. (2015). Executive attention: An alternative perspective on general mental ability, performance, and subgroup differences. Personnel Psychology, 68, 859-898. doi: 10.1111/peps.12099.
- Kepes, S., & McDaniel, M. A. (2015). The validity of conscientiousness is overestimated in the prediction of job performance. PLoS One, 10, e0141468. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141468.
- Shore, D. B., Sheng, Z., Cortina, J. M., & Yankelevich, M. (2014). Personnel Selection: A Primer. In and D. Boehm-Davis, F.T. Durso, and J.D. Lee (Eds.), APA handbook of human systems integration (pp. 485-500). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Organizational Behavior: Leadership
Leadership has been widely recognized as a main driver of change and the key to sustained competitive advantage for organizations. As our world is becoming increasingly complex, we need great leaders to help corporations, governments or entire nations capitalize on the benefits of globalization, increased diversity and ever-changing technologies. Therefore, we examine, among other leadership phenomena, what makes individuals emerge and be effective as leaders in face-to-face and virtual teams, and how leader’s traits, behaviors and leadership styles affect employee, group and organizational performance.
- Serban, A., Rubenstein, A. L., Bosco, F. A., Reina, C. S., & Grubb, L. K. (2022). Stressors and social resources at work: examining the buffering effects of LMX, POS, and their interaction on employee attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 37, 717-734.
- Gottfredson, R., & Reina, C. S. (2019). Exploring why leaders do what they do: An integrative review of the situation-trait approach and situation-encoding schemas. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), 101373.
- Serban, A., Yammarino, F. J., Sotak, K. L., Banoeng-Yakubo, J., Mushore, A. B., Hao, C., McHugh, K. A., Mumford, M. D. (2018). Assassination of political leaders: The role of social conflict. The Leadership Quarterly. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.01.003
- Reina, C. S., Peterson, S. J., & Zhang, Z. (2017). Adverse effects of CEO family-to-work conflict on firm performance. Organization Science, 28, 228-243.
- Serban, A., Yammarino, F. J., Dionne, S. D., Kahai, S. S., Hao, C., McHugh, K. A., Sotak, K. L., Mushore, A. B., Friedrich, T. L., & Peterson, D. R. (2015). Leadership emergence in face-to-face and virtual teams: A multi-level model with agent-based simulations, quasi-experimental and experimental tests. The Leadership Quarterly, 26, 402-418. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.02.006.
Organizational Behavior: Services management
Services are increasingly important in the global economy, given mature economies derive a significant portion of their total job growth from the service sector. Management research in the services area contributes considerably to the understanding of organizations, their employees and their relationships with their customers, the latter largely influencing organizational effectiveness. In this research stream, we examine the emotional labor demands of service work and employee-customer interactions, as well as organizational-level factors that determine customer satisfaction (e.g., organization’s service climate).
- Michel, E. J., Hall, K., Kepes, S., Qi, M., Leon, M., Weinzimmer, L., & Wheeler, A. (2023). Bridging two tales of engagement: A meta-analytic review of employee engagement and customer engagement in service contexts. Journal of Service Management, 34, 843-866. doi: 10.1108/JOSM-06-2019-0171
- Subramoney, M., & Pugh, S. D. (2015). Services management research: Review, integration, and future directions. Journal of Management, 41, 349-373. doi: 10.1177/0149206314557158
- Pugh, S. D., Groth, M., & Hennig-Thurau, T. (2011). Willing and able to fake emotions: A closer examination of the link between emotional dissonance and employee well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 377-390. doi: 10.1037/a0021395
Organizational Behavior: Emotions and well-being
The study of emotions and well-being has taken center stage in organizational behavior over the past decade, with scholars labeling this surge of research the “Affective Revolution.” The OB discipline has benefited greatly from its focus on affective experiences, as numerous studies now demonstrate the effects of discrete emotions and well-being on job performance, ethical behavior and decision-making. Within this research stream, scholars examine, for instance, emotional contagion in service encounters, the interplay between emotional dissonance and employee well-being and the ways that emotional engagement shapes workplace attitudes, motivation and health. This growing body of work highlights how emotions and well-being are not peripheral, but central to understanding both individual functioning and organizational effectiveness.
- Rosen, C. C., Dimotakis, N., Cole, M. S., Taylor, S. G., Simon, L. S., Smith, T. A., & Reina, C. S. (2020). When challenges hinder: An investigation of when and how challenge stressors impact employee outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105, 1181.
- Bartels, A. L., Peterson, S. J., & Reina, C. S. (2019). Understanding well-being at work: Development and validation of the eudaimonic workplace well-being scale. PloS one, 14, e0215957.
- Pugh, S. D., Groth, M., & Hennig-Thurau, T. (2011). Willing and able to fake emotions: A closer examination of the link between emotional dissonance and employee well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 377-390. doi: 10.1037/a0021395
- Pugh, S. D. (2001). Service with a smile: Emotional contagion in the service encounter. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 1018-1027. doi: 10.5465/3069445
Organizational Behavior: Teams
The complexity of the workplace has increased substantially over the past decades and teams, which are better suited than individuals to perform complex tasks, have become the primary units of performance. While many organizations strive to find ways to better design work in the traditional co-located teams, others address a new level of challenge in the form of virtual teams, brought together to accomplish tasks via computer-mediated technology. Within this stream of research, we examine for instance, how emergent leaders differ in co-located and virtual teams or how different team and task characteristics affect team satisfaction and performance.
- Wu, W., Liu, X., Reina, C. S. (in press). Making “right” things happen: Team member proactivity promotes team creativity. Journal of Business Research.
- Sheng, Z., Serban, A., Cortina, J. M., He, Y., & Yao, X. (2024). From helping to helpful: A social network examination of workplace helpfulness at multiple levels. Journal of Business and Psychology, 39(4), 927-946.
- Serban, A., Roberts, & A. J. (2016). Exploring antecedents and outcomes of shared leadership in a creative context: A mixed-methods approach. The Leadership Quarterly, 27, 181–199. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.01.009
- Serban, A., Yammarino, F. J., Dionne, S. D., Kahai, S. S., Hao, C., McHugh, K. A., Sotak, K. L., Mushore, A. B., Friedrich, T. L., & Peterson, D. R. (2015). Leadership emergence in face-to-face and virtual teams: A multi-level model with agent-based simulations, quasi-experimental and experimental tests. The Leadership Quarterly, 26, 402–418. 10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.02.006
Organizational Behavior: Mindfulness
Mindfulness research in the organizational sciences has exploded in recent years, reflecting a surge of interest in how present-moment awareness, openness and nonjudgmental attention influence work and leadership. Studies consistently show that mindfulness can reduce stress and burnout, enhance focus and well-being and improve the quality of workplace relationships. At the collective level, mindful practices and leadership have been linked to greater adaptability, ethical decision-making and collaboration. As a result, mindfulness is now understood not only as an individual resource but also as a social and organizational capacity that fosters healthier, more effective and more human-centered workplaces.
- Town, S., Reina, C. S., Brummans, B., & Pirson, M. (2024). Humanistic organizing: The transformative force of mindful organizational communication. Academy of Management Review, 49(4), 824–847.
- Reina, C. S., Mills, M., Sumpter, D. A. (2023). A mindful relating framework for understanding the trajectory of work relationships. Personnel Psychology, 76, 1187-1215.
- Reina, C. S., Kreiner, G., Rheinhardt, A., & Mihelcic, C. (2023). Your presence is requested: Mindfulness infusion in workplace interactions and relationships. Organization Science, 34, 722-753.
- Dust, S. B., Liu, H., Wang, S., & Reina, C. S. (2022). The effect of mindfulness and job demands on motivation and performance trajectories across the workweek: An entrainment theory perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(2), 221–239.
- Reina, C. S., & Kudesia, R. S. (2020). Wherever you go, there you become: How mindfulness arises in everyday situations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 159, 78-96.