Moral Psychology and Organizations
Sa-kiera Hudson, Professor
Business, Haas School
Open. Apprentices needed for the fall semester. Enter your application online beginning August 21st. The deadline to apply is Monday, August 31st, 4pm.
This work considers how individual differences can affect the way people perceive organizational diversity and inclusion efforts. We will primarily consider what factors influence the moral judgements of organizations. For example, one line of work examines workplace gossip. Workplace gossip is largely perceived as an anti-social and immoral act which individuals have a distaste for and managers seek to prevent. However, information sharing is hugely influential in organizational processes. Thus there is a tension for workers: people want to maximize their access to information and reduce ambiguity about their workplace, but doing so may mean they are engaging in acts seen as socially bad. This work investigates this tension by considering when gossiping is judged as moral or immoral.
Another angle in this project considers the factors that influence moral judgments at work. In one paper, we are investigating how political ideology influences the way organizations are perceived as authentic or inauthentic, especially as it relates to their social values (like DEI programs or sustainability initiatives. We find consistent asymmetries between republicans and democrats, showing they use different metrics to evaluate if organizations truly ‘walk the walk’.
Role: Students will act as research assistants (RAs) for Haas Intersectionality, Group Hierarchy, and Emotions Research (HIGHER) Lab, a social psychology research laboratory directed by Professor Hudson. As a part of this apprenticeship, students will assist in the production and publication of experimental social psychological research for a minimum of 6 hours/week (maximum 20 hours), including literature reviews, survey design, data management, stimuli creation, and running experiments. Students will also attend weekly, in-person lab meetings (Thursdays, 11:00 - 12:00 PM) facilitated by Professor Hudson and other lab members, and meet at least monthly with their assigned mentor(s). At the end of the semester, all students will write a final paper and present a research poster/presentation summarizing their work.
Qualifications: An ideal candidate is interested in graduate school in Social Psychology, Management, and/or Organizational Behavior, or a career in behavioral research. Experience with R (or other coding languages) is beneficial but not required. All technical knowledge necessary to do well in the position will be taught throughout the semester.
Hours: to be negotiated
Related website: http://www.sakierahudson.com/
Related website: https://www.higherlaboratory.com