FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award | Center for Leadership | Florida International University | FIU
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FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award

The Center for Leadership at FIU is pleased to sponsor the FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award in partnership with the Network of Leadership Scholars. Now in its thirteenth year, this award honors an individual whose dissertation makes an excellent contribution to the field of leadership. The recipient of the award will receive a $3,000 cash prize and be honored at the Network of Leadership Scholars meeting at the Academy of Management Annual Conference.

Winners of the 2024 FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award  

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McKenzie Preston 
Assistant Professor, Management and Organizations Department, Stern School of Business, New York University

McKenzie Preston is an Assistant Professor at NYU Stern School of Business in the Management and Organizations department. He completed his Ph.D. at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), leadership, and voice in the workplace.

morritz.pngMoritz Appels
Assistant Professor in Organizational Behavior,
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Moritz Appels is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Mannheim, Germany. Through his research, Dr. Appels seeks to understand how corporate leaders shape and are shaped by organizational and societal change, with a particular focus on controversial political behaviors and strategic leadership. His work has been published or is in press in outlets including Journal of Management and Business & Society.

Additional details

  • Award Overview

    Applications for the 2025 FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award will open in Spring 2025. The recipient of the award will receive an award package that includes:

    • A $3,000 cash prize.
    • Being honored at the Network of Leadership Scholars meeting at the Academy of Management Annual Conference.
  • Committee Membership and Chair

    Committee members and the committee Chair are selected by the Center for Leadership at FIU and the Network of Leadership Scholars Liaison group. Selection of committee members is made with the intent of ensuring a diverse committee representing various professional levels, disciplines, nationalities, and gender. Previous committee members include:

    • Donald Schepker - University of South Carolina
    • Catherine Deen - The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney
    • Hemant Kakkar - Indian School of Business
    • Chris Reina - Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
    • Chou-Yu Tsai - Binghamton University
    • Tine Buyl - Tilburg University
    • Jennifer Jordan - (IMD) International Institute for Management Development
    • Ajay Ponnapalli - Wayne State University
    • Katie Badura, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Prasad Balkundi, State University of New York at Buffalo
    • George Banks, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
    • Mayra Beers, Florida International University
    • Brooke Buckman, Florida International University
    • Dorothy Carter, University of Georgia
    • Catherine Connelly, McMaster University
    • Craig Crossley, University of Central Florida
    • Kristin Cullen-Lester, University of Houston
    • Mike Daniels, The Universityof British Columbia
    • Marie Dasborough, University of Miami
    • Lauren D’Innocenzo, Drexel University
    • Mark Ehrhart, San Diego State University
    • Olga Epitropaki, Aston University
    • Berrin Erdogan, Portland State University
    • Dawn Eubanks, University of Warwick
    • Nathan Eva, Monash University
    • Ravi Gajendran, Florida International University
    • Alexandra Gerbasi, University of Surrey
    • Benjamin Galvin, Brigham Young University
    • Harry Garretsen, University of Groningen
    • Ryan Gottfredson, California State University Fullerton
    • Lorenz Graf-Vlachy, ESCP Business School
    • Emily Grijalva, The State University of New York at Buffalo
    • Wongun Goo, Indiana University East
    • Abhinav Gupta, University of Washington
    • Wei He, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
    • Aaron Hill, University of Florida
    • Nathan Hiller, Florida International University
    • Joo Hun Han, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
    • Sam Hunter, Pennsylvania State University
    • Philippe Jacquart, Emlyon
    • Kisha Jones, Florida International University
    • Dana Joseph, University of Central Florida
    • Hemant Kakkar, Duke University
    • Alexander Kroll, Florida International University
    • James (Jim) Lemoine, University of Buffalo
    • Jeff Lovelace, University of Virginia
    • Kevin Lowe, University of Sydney
    • Jackson Lu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Anyi Ma, Tulane University 
    • Cynthia Maupin, Binghamton University
    • David Mayer, University of Michigan
    • Modesto Maidique, Florida International University
    • Loren Naidoo, California State University, Northridge
    • Jennifer Nahrgang, Arizona State University
    • Brett Neely, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    • Burak Oc, The University of Western Australia
    • Tunde Ogunfowora, University of Calgary
    • Richard Osborn, Wayne State University
    • Sibel Ozgen, Stevens Institute of Technology
    • Yi Amy Ou, National University of Singapore
    • Samantha Paustian-Underdahl, Florida International University
    • Suzanne Peterson, Arizona State University
    • Christian Resick, Drexel University
    • Dino Ruta, Bocconi University
    • Birgit Schyns, Durham University
    • Hock-Peng Sin, Florida International University
    • William D. Spangler, State University of New York at Binghamton
    • Janka Stoker, University of Groningen
    • Rachel Sturm, Wright State University
    • Nick Turner, University of Calgary
    • Gretchen Vogelgesang-Lester, San Jose State University
    • Jasmine Vergauwe, Ghent University
    • Gang Wang, Florida State University
    • David Waldman, Arizona State University
    • Fred O. Walumbwa, Florida International University
    • Wei Zheng, Stevens Instituteof Technology
    • Francis Yammarino, State University of New York at Binghamton
    • Steve Zaccaro, George Mason University
    • Jonathan Ziegert, Drexel University
  • Previous Recipients

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    2023 FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Catherine Deen
    Senior Lecturer 
    University of New South Wales Canberra

    The recipient of the 2023 FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award is Dr. Catherine Deen. Dr. Deen is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of HR and Organisation Behaviour at the School of Business, University of New South Wales Canberra. Dr. Deen received her Ph.D. in Business from The Australian National University. Her dissertation focused on establishing foundational knowledge about micromanagement including its construct definition, measurement, and nomological network.

    Aside from her work on micromanagement, Dr. Deen’s research focuses on the dark side of human behavior in organizations, gendered victimization at work, and the plight of vulnerable workers. Her research has been published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Management, and The Leadership Quarterly. Throughout her career, Dr. Deen has served in various educational leadership roles and was a recipient of the US State Department’s International Visitor’s Leadership grant for inclusive higher education.

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    2022 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Michelle K. Lee
    Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organizations
    Smith School of Business, Queen's University

    The recipient of the 2022 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Michelle K. Lee. Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organizations at the Smith School of Business, Queen's University. Dr. Lee received her Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Washington. Her dissertation research studies how the social class background of executives influences career outcomes including selection to the chief executive position and the class pay gap. More broadly, her research interests include social class, strategic leadership, shareholder activism, and corporate social responsibility. Her research has been published in the Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Management Inquiry and covered by the Wall Street Journal. Prior to academia, she worked for Deloitte and Mazars in New York City.

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    2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Hemant Kakkar
    Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations
    Fuqua School of Business at Duke University

    The co-recipient of the 2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Hemant Kakkar. Dr. Kakkar is an assistant professor of management and organizations at the Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Professor Kakkar received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the London Business School. His research draws on social psychology and evolutionary theories of status and influence to examine judgments and behaviors of individuals and groups within social hierarchies.

    His research is published in leading academic journals including Academy of Management Journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Applied Psychology, Nature Human Behavior, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and Nature Human Behavior.

    His research is also covered by several popular press outlets, such as The Washington Post, Forbes, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Times UK and the Harvard Business Review. He teaches Foundations of Organizational Behavior to Masters students at Fuqua. He won the Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021 for the MMS program. Before joining academia, Professor Kakkar worked as a technical consultant in Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

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    2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Cynthia Maupin
    Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership
    School of Management at Binghamton University

    The co-recipient of the 2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Cynthia Maupin. Dr. Maupin is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership for the School of Management at Binghamton University, and she earned her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Maupin is the recipient of the 2021 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award.

    Her dissertation titled "The Costs and Benefits of Leader-Driven Communication Structures for Promoting Rapid System Recovery after Exogenous Shocks" not only advances leadership science by highlighting the conditions under which leader-driven communication is effective (and ineffective), but also provides actionable recommendations for real-world leaders who are tasked with helping their organizations to recover in the aftermath of a crisis. 

    Her research investigates the factors that promote effective leadership, leadership development, and teamwork processes, and has been published or is in press at outlets including the Journal of Applied Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management, Human Relations, Group and Organization Management, Small Group Research, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology Perspectives on Science and Practice.

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    2020 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Anyi Ma
    Assistant Professor, Department of Management, A.B.
    Freeman School of Business, Tulane University

    The recipient of the 2020 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Anyi Ma. Dr. Ma is an Assistant Professor of Management in the Department of Management at the A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University.

    Her research concerns the topic of agency, which historically has been conceptualized as the tendency to assert the self and master the environment.

    In her dissertation, she developed a new multi-factor model of agency perceptions and found that conceptualizing agency perceptions in a more nuanced way can reconcile contradictory findings about female leadership advantage and disadvantage. Specifically, she found that women were advantaged when they were perceived as hardworking, competent, self-assured, and independent, and they were disadvantaged when they were perceived as dominant.

    Dr. Ma's research has been published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Leadership Quarterly, and Harvard Business Review. She received her Ph.D. from Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

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    2019 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Jackson Lu
    Assistant Professor, Work and Organization Studies
    MIT Sloan School of Management

    The recipient of the 2019 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Jackson Lu, whose research has been published in premier scientific journals (e.g., Journal of Applied PsychologyJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Nature: Human BehaviourOrganizational Behavioral and Human Decision Processes, Proceedings of National Academy of Science, Psychological Science) and featured in major media outlets (e.g., BBC,The EconomistThe Financial Times, Harvard Business ReviewNPRNew York MagazineThe Boston GlobeThe Washington Post). He received his Ph.D. from Columbia Business School.

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    2018 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Jasmine Vergauwe
    Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology
    Ghent University

    The recipient of the 2018 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Jasmine Vergauwe, whose dissertation titled “Personality and leadership: Trait-perspectives on charisma, curvilinear relationships, and measurement innovations” was selected from a strong group of international submissions. In her work, she introduced and validated two new trait-based measures of charisma, and demonstrated that while more charisma may boost career success 15 years later (e.g., higher managerial levels), too much charisma can hurt leaders’ effectiveness. Apart from these substantive contributions, her dissertation makes a methodological contribution to the leadership assessment domain by describing the advantages of the “too little/too much” scale to measure leader behavior. Dr. Vergauwe received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Ghent University in Belgium, and she is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Ghent’s Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology. Her work has been published in several top-tier journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Research Methods, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Harvard Business Review.

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    2017 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Dorothy Carter
    Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology University of Georgia

    The recipient of the 2017 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Dorothy Carter. Dr. Carter’s dissertation, titled, The Motivational Drivers of Leadership Emergence in Multiteam Systems, was selected from a pool of high-quality scholarly work across five different countries. Dr. Carter’s dissertation leveraged a social network approach to identify key drivers of emergent leadership relationships connecting members of complex interdependent systems comprised of multiple component teams. Her findings reveal that the goals emphasized within component teams underpin constituent members’ participation in leadership processes in relation to members of other component teams, and ultimately, the patterns of leadership relationships that arise across component teams shape the success or failure of the system as a whole. Dr. Carter earned a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Psychology from Wright State University. Dr. Carter’s research focuses on the factors that support collaboration effectiveness in teams and larger collectives. Her research has been published or is in press in multiple outlets, including Journal of Applied Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management, Group and Organization Management, and The Oxford Handbook of Leadership. She is also the Primary Investigator on a project funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to enhance the multiteam collaboration processes that will be necessary in order to send a team of humans to Mars. Dr. Carter is a member of The Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and The Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research.

    2016 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient Dr. Wongun Goo   

    2016 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Wongun Goo
    Assistant Professor of Business Administration & Management at Indiana University East

    The recipient of the 2016 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award was Dr. Wongun Goo, whose dissertation was titled, “Just Right: A Person-Environment Fit Approach to Visionary Leadership.” The 2016 award received scholarly work from six countries and representing eighteen universities, from which Dr. Goo’s work was selected as a winner. His work not only advances leadership theory by highlighting employees’ need for leadership as an important individual difference, but also makes substantial contribution to practice by demonstrating how too much of a good thing (visionary leadership) can be detrimental. Wongun Goo received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University and he is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Business and Economics at Indiana University East. His research interests also include person-environment fit, job design, leadership theory, and leader-follower relationship. Dr. Goo is a member of the Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

    Dr. Joo Hun Han

    2015 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Joo Hun Han
    Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

    Dr. Joo Hun Han, whose dissertation titled, “Admiration or Envy? Effects of LMX Differentiation on Group Processes and Performance under Different Reward Systems”, was selected as the recipient of the 2015 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award. His dissertation was selected from a pool of scholarly work coming in from four countries and representing sixteen universities. Joo Han received his Ph.D. from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Dr. Han’s research examines the intersection between leadership and human resource practices with focus on their joint effects on employee attitudes, emotions, and performance at multiple levels. His interests also lie in strategic human resource management, compensation, and employee citizenship and counterproductive behavior. His work has been published or is in press at the Journal of Applied Psychology and Human Resource Management. Dr. Han is a member of the Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

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    2014 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Emily Grijalva
    Assistant Professor, University of Buffalo

    The recipient of the 2014 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Emily Grijalva, whose dissertation titled, Narcissism and Leadership: A Meta-Analytic Review of Linear and Nonlinear Relationships was selected from numerous submissions representing more than four countries. Dr. Grijalva received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and will be starting in the fall as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Buffalo. Her research interests include Narcissism (links to leadership effectiveness, LMX & counterproductivity; personality development; facets), Leadership (leader emergence and personality, gender and leadership) and Research Methods (measurement/psychometrics, meta-analysis). Her work has been published in Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Perspectives and Applied Psychology: An International Review.

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    2013 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Amy Ou
    Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore

    The recipient of the 2013 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Amy Y. Ou, whose dissertation, Understanding Humble Chief Executive Officers: Connection to Top Management Team Integration and Middle Manager Responses was selected from numerous submissions representing four countries. Dr. Ou is an assistant professor in the department of Management and Organization at the National University of Singapore. She received her Ph.D. from the Arizona State University. Her research interests include strategic leadership, organizational culture, and cross-cultural management. Her work have been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Management.

    Stephen Courtright

    2012 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient
    Dr. Stephen Courtright
    Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

    The recipient of the 2012 Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Outstanding Dissertation Award is Dr. Stephen Courtright. Dr. Courtright’s dissertation titled, “Fired Up or Burned Out” Exploring the Effects of Leadership Challenge Demands on Leadership Behaviors through Engagement and Burnout” was selected from numerous submissions representing more than nine countries.

    Stephen Courtright is an assistant professor of management in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He earned a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Iowa and a B.S. in Accounting from Brigham Young University-Idaho.

    Dr. Courtright’s primary areas of expertise are team and leadership effectiveness. His research?which has garnered awards from the Academy of Management, Society for Human Resource Management, and the Network of Leadership Scholars?has been published or is in press at Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Organizational Dynamics, and Group & Organization Management. His work has also been featured by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, and ABC Radio. He has consulted for several organizations, including John Deere and the Veterans Health Administration, on issues related to team and leadership development. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

  • About Alvah H. Chapman

    Alvah H. Chapman Jr. was one of South Florida’s most influential business leaders for 30 years–responsible in many ways for Miami’s emergence as an international business center. A third-generation newspaperman, he came to Miami in 1960 to work for Knight Newspaper. He helped take the company public in 1969 and was the leading architect of the 1974 merger that created Knight-Ridder in Miami. Chapman became chief executive officer of the company in 1976 and chairman in 1982. He retired as chairman in 1989 yet continued to serve on their board until 2000. During his tenure, corporate revenue tripled and The Miami Herald won 33 Pulitzer Prizes.

    His leadership was also evident in a wide range of civic and community projects. He co-founded the Non-Group, an influential alliance of Miami-Dade business leaders, and was a champion of this community’s nationally-recognized homeless program as founding chairman of Community Partnership for Homeless, Inc. Following Hurricane Andrew’s devastation of Miami-Dade County in 1992, former President George Bush tapped him to lead the massive “We Will Rebuild” effort where he raised $28 million in 45 days. He was also Founding Chairman of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of American and served as Director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for 31 years.

    A native of Columbus, Georgia, he graduated from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina, in 1942. After graduation, he served as a B-17 bomber pilot and squadron commander in World War II completing 37 combat missions with the 8th Air Force.

    Mr. Chapman passed away on December 25, 2008.

  • About the Center for Leadership at FIU

    Ethical and effective leadership is defined by the quality of the choices leaders make for themselves, their organizations and the communities they serve. The Center for Leadership at FIU understands that for leaders to position themselves to make better decisions more often, the process of leadership development should be continuous and intentional. Over time, what also should develop is a personal leadership philosophy, a deeper understanding of self and a repertoire of competencies consistent with effective leadership outcomes.

    Effective leadership is evidenced and defined by behavior and action – it’s not about “being” a leader, but “doing leadership well.” The Center’s model for leadership development, then, focuses on two epicenters: self-insight and developable skills.

    • Self-Insight: To be most effective a leader must first begin to look inward and be prepared to take a deep dive into who they are, how they think, how they view the world, and to question the basis for these perceptions. While it is unlikely that an individual may be able to change these more core characteristics, deep self-awareness can help leaders proactively manage leadership behaviors.
    • Leadership skills: The application of cutting-edge research vetted by leading practitioners allows leaders to learn, practice and develop actionable skills and behaviors consistent with effective leadership.

    The Center for Leadership faculty and staff are dedicated to exploring leadership thought and practice through continuous research, providing opportunities for leaders to develop keen self-insight, and teaching leadership competencies that will equip them to meaningfully transform their organizations and their societies. Through research, executive development programs and community engagement opportunities, the Center for Leadership is committed to equipping better leaders for a better world

    Our Mission

    To provide leadership development that transforms and emboldens individuals and organizations to positively impact our world.

    We achieve this by creating new knowledge, presenting innovative developmental paradigms and encouraging leadership conversations across age, industry and levels of responsibility.

    Our Vision

    To be a unique resource of leadership research and development contributing to an increase of transformational leaders.

  • About the Network of Leadership Scholars

    The Network of Leadership Scholars was founded in the Academy of Management in 2005. Currently, the Network of Leadership scholars has approximately 1,000 members from all over the world and draws from many divisions of the Academy of Management.

    The mission of the Network is to create linkages that promote the development of meaningful new frameworks for leadership research and practice. We aspire to:

    • Break down silos among the various approaches and disciplines in the study of leadership, and
    • Create research partnerships among scholars and practitioners around the world to propel the advancement of significant new knowledge.

    The Network of Leadership Scholars helps the Academy better meet the needs of its constituents of scholars and practitioners. As a community of scholars we can bring visibility to key issues of the day, including recent world events on business and political fronts (e.g., ethical leadership, sustainability, corporate governance, public policy, the military, education, etc.).