Weissman Professor Receives National Science Foundation Grant to Research Leadership Behaviors
August 18, 2020
Dr. Zhiqing (Albert) Zhou, assistant professor of industrial and organizational (IO) psychology in Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, was awarded a two-year National Science Foundation grant for $172,688.
Dr. Zhiqing (Albert) Zhou, assistant professor of industrial and organizational (IO) psychology in Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, was awarded a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $172,688. The grant is part of a collaborative research proposal with Dr. Songqi Liu (Georgia State University) and Dr. Chenwei Liao (Michigan State University) that adds up to a total award of $349,756. The grant, which marks Professor Zhou’s first NSF award, began on July 15 and will conclude on June 30, 2022.
Research: Interactions Between Nonwork Experiences and Leadership
The research project examines what is referred to as the “nonwork domain” (family, community, and personal life) behaviors and experiences as antecedents and consequences of leadership roles, leadership development, and day-to-day variation of leadership behaviors.
Specifically, Zhou said the project will analyze how experiences outside of work—such as community involvement and volunteer activities—lead to and are shaped by assuming leadership roles. In addition, the project will look at how such nonwork experiences may promote leadership development and how leadership development might contribute to leaders’ growth and thriving in other nonwork domains. And, it will explore how and when leaders’ day-to-day behaviors and their nonwork domain experiences mutually influence each other.
Insights from the research findings will aim to help business organizations promote leadership to facilitate their economic competitiveness and inform them how leadership in one context may contribute to organizational welfare overall.
COVID-19: Research Relevance
According to Zhou, the research topic has some relevance to the ongoing global pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic raises some new issues that we might explore within the scope of this award. For example, when more employees (leaders and subordinates) are working from home, it can pose new challenges, explained Zhou. For leaders, how they overcome (or fail to overcome) these challenges will not only affect their own personal life, but their leader effectiveness. For subordinates, how their leaders behave during these challenging times can also impact how they cope with these challenges in terms of personal life and work life.”
Student Involvement
Zhou teaches undergraduate psychology Research Method, IO Master’s Applied Statistical Analysis, and the PhD seminar Occupational Health Psychology at Baruch. Professor Zhou said he will hire PhD students to help with the process of “intensive literature review, study design, Institutional Review Board submission, data collection and analyses, conference submission and presentation, and academic journal writing and submission.”
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