Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of social psychology and organizational behavior. I primarily draw on social psychological and evolutionary theories of status to examine judgements and behaviors of individuals and groups within social hierarchies.

In my dissertation, building on theoretical framework of dominance and prestige as two different status striving strategies, I ask the following three questions:

  • Why are there contradictory findings in the status literature when it comes to the punishment of high status actors following ambiguous transgressions
  • Even though dominant leaders may appear socially unappealing, under what circumstances are they preferred over the more amicable prestigious leaders, and finally
  • How and why do leader’s status strategies affect employee’s prosocial behaviors.

My secondary stream of research concerns both positive and negative deviance. I investigate factors that encourage positive deviant behaviors—such as helping others or suggesting ideas that brings positive change at work—as well as factors that motivate unethical behaviors, sharing of fake news or judgments of moral transgressions.

Awards and Grants

  • Winner of the 2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Center for Leadership at Florida International University in partnership with the Network of Leadership Scholars.
  • Best Theoretical / Empirical Paper from the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management, 2021 with Jessica Paek
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Association of Conflict Management, 2021
  • Excellence in Teaching Award – MMS 2021, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
  • Best conference paper award with student as the lead author from the International Association of Conflict Management, 2021 with Asher Lawson
  • 2020 Negotiation and Team Resources-Peterson Research Grant with Garrett Brady
  • The Leadership Institute, London Business School, Research Grant with Garrett Brady and Niro Sivanathan (May 2018)
  • AC4, Earth Institute, Columbia University Fellowship Award for graduate students, presented at IACM 2018 Philadelphia, US
  • DRRC Student Travel Scholarship Award for IACM 2017 in Berlin, Germany
  • The Leadership Institute, London Business School, Research Grant with Niro Sivanathan (Dec 2016)
  • Society for Personality and Social Psychology Graduate Travel Award for the 2017 conference in San Antonio, TX, US
  • Selected for summer research workshop on Morality at IDC Herzliya, Israel (July 2016)