CCL-Sponsored Research Awards

2024-2025 H. Smith Richardson, Jr. Visiting Fellow

Dr. Stephen J. Zaccaro, a renowned professor of psychology at George Mason University, will serve as the Center for Creative Leadership’s (CCL®) H. Smith Richardson Jr. Visiting Fellow for 2024. With a career spanning decades, Dr. Zaccaro has established himself as a leading authority on leadership, group dynamics, and organizational psychology.

In his role at CCL, Steve will:

• Advise teams on team performance, group dynamics, occupational stress, resilience, and leadership.
• Serve as a research advisor/thought partner contributing to generating articles.
• Provide input into the psychological dimension of cybersecurity.

Steve’s academic achievements are extensive. He has authored over 125 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports, including the book “The Nature of Executive Leadership: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis of Success.” Additionally, he has co-edited five books on various aspects of organizational leadership, leader development, multiteam systems, cybersecurity, and occupational stress.

As an experienced leadership development consultant, Steve has worked with executives and managers from private industry, public sector, and military organizations. He has been a principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or consultant on numerous projects focusing on leadership and executive assessment, leadership and team training, leader adaptability, executive coaching, multiteam systems, and cybersecurity team performance.

Steve’s expertise is further recognized through his editorial roles. He serves on the editorial board of The Leadership Quarterly and as an associate editor for both the Journal of Business and Psychology and Military Psychology.

Holding a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Connecticut, Steve brings a wealth of academic expertise to his work. His contributions to the field have been widely acknowledged, as evidenced by his status as a Fellow of both the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association, specifically in Divisions 14 (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology) and 19 (Military Psychology). These honors underscore Steve’s significant impact on the understanding and application of psychology in organizational and military contexts.

Previous H. Smith Richardson, Jr. Visiting Fellows

2020-21: Bernardo M. Ferdman, Ph.D.
California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University

2016-17: Bob Johansen, Ph.D.
Distinguished Fellow – Institute for the Future

2014-15: Peter Ping Li, Ph.D.
Professor of Chinese Business Studies – Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

2012-13: Karen Stephenson, Ph.D.
President, NetForm International and Professor of Management – Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Management

2011-12: Jessica Payne, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Nancy O’Neill Collegiate Chair in Psychology, and Director of the Sleep Stress & Memory (SAM) Lab – University of Notre Dame

2010-11: Prasad Kaipa, Ph.D.
CEO – Kaipa Group, California

2009-10: Dharm P.S. Bhawuk, Ph.D.
Professor, Management and Culture and Community Psychology – Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii

2008-09: Douglas T. Hall, Ph.D.
Professor, Organizational Behavior – Boston University

2005-06: Andrew Kakabadse, Ph.D.
Professor, International Management Development – Cranfield University

2004-05: Ellie Weldon, Ph.D.
Professor, Organizational Behavior – IMD International

2003-04: Michael Fullan
Dean, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education – University of Ontario

2002-03: Shalom Schwartz, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology – Hebrew University of Jerusalem

2001-02: Kathy Kram, Ph.D.
Professor, Organizational Behavior – Boston University School of Management

2000-01: Jay Conger, Ph.D.
Professor, Organizational Behavior – London Business School

The Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award recognizes outstanding unpublished papers by undergraduate and graduate students. The award named in memory of Kenneth Clark, a distinguished scholar and former president of CCL, is co-sponsored with the International Leadership Association (ILA). The winner receives a cash award and an opportunity to present the award paper in a colloquium at the ILA Annual Conference.

2024 Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award Winner

CCL selected Dr. Karryna Madison as the 2024 Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award winner for her paper, “Rewrite the Recipe: A Gendered Examination of Social Exchange Theory in Leadership Research”. The Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award recognizes outstanding unpublished papers by undergraduate and graduate students. The award is named in memory of Kenneth Clark, a distinguished scholar and former president of CCL.

Dr. Madison’s paper examines leadership research that uses social exchange theory, which suggests followers reciprocate leaders’ behaviors. Traditionally, this theory is applied without considering how gender impacts leader-follower relationships. By critically analyzing past research through a gendered lens, this review highlights the importance of incorporating gender perspectives. It argues that ignoring gender perpetuates outdated norms and stereotypes, which can marginalize women and reinforce biases. To advance the literature, this review outlines future research directions that integrate different perspectives of gender to better understand how gender influences social exchange relationships in leadership.

Dr. Madison is an Assistant Professor in Leadership from the Australian National University. Her research examines how gender interacts with communal approaches to leadership. Some of her research has been featured in leading peer-reviewed management journals, including The Leadership Quarterly and Journal of Business Research. Her research also Best Paper Nominations in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Division at the Academy of Management (2023 and 2024) and the Greenleaf Scholars Award in 2021.

The award will be presented at the International Leadership Association’s 26th Global Conference, “Architects of Change: Leaders, Followers, & Communities” November 7 – 10^th in Chicago.

Read the abstract

Past Award Winners

2023 – Hsuan-Che (Brad) Huang
2022 – Suyang Ye & Teng Zhao
2021 – Steven Zhou, Ph.D.
2020 – Sylvie Plante
2019 – Samantha A. Penney
2018 – Min-Kyu Joo
2017 – Aleka MacLellan
2016 – Kyoung Yong Kim
2015 – Deirdre P. Dixon
2014 – Emily Grijalva
2013 – Chenwei Liao
2012 – Taylor E. Sparks, Ph.D.
2011 – Brian C. Gunia
2010 – Dong Liu
2009 – Marisa Adelman
2008 – Hakan Ener
2007 – Robyn L. Brouer
2006 – Herman H. M. Tse
2005 – Franklin Kudo
2004 – Lisa A. Boyce
2003 – Marie Dasborough
2002 – Nathan J. Hiller
2001 – Tomas R. Giberson
2000 – Jeffrey C. Kohles

The Leadership Quarterly Best Paper Award, sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership, is presented annually to recognize the best published paper submitted during the previous year to The Leadership Quarterly. The annual award is presented jointly by CCL and The Leadership Quarterly. Recipients receive a certificate, cash award, and invitation to present virtually to CCL.

2024 Leadership Quarterly Award Winner

William G. Obenauer, Jost Sieweke, Nicolas Bastardoz, Paulo R. Arvate, Brooke A. Gazdag, and Tanja Hentschel are the recipients of the 2024 Best Paper Award for their paper titled, “Are women strategic leaders more effective during a crisis than men strategic leaders? A causal analysis of the relationship between strategic leader gender and outcomes during the COVID-19 crisis.”

William (Billy) Obenauer, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Maine. He earned a PhD in Management from the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He serves as an Associate Editor at Group & Organization Management and is on the editorial review boards for The Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management Scientific Reports, and Journal of Business and Psychology.

Jost Sieweke is Associate Professor of Strategic Leadership in the Department of Management & Organization at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands). He received his PhD from the University of Düsseldorf (Germany) in 2012 with a dissertation on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus in management and organization studies. His research focuses on leadership and organizational learning. He studies strategic leadership effects on follower behavior, team composition, firm performance, and crisis leadership, as well as the antecedents and consequences of human error. His work appears in leading journals such as Journal of Management Studies, The Leadership Quarterly, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. From 2019 to 2024, he served as program director of the Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose.

Nicolas Bastardoz is an Assistant Professor in Leadership at KU Leuven (Belgium). He holds a PhD from HEC Lausanne (Switzerland). His research focuses on leadership, charisma, and followership, with a strong emphasis on testing conceptual models in a causal manner. His work has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Journal of Management, The Leadership Quarterly, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Organizational Research Methods, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. He serves as an Associate Editor and Methods Advisor at The Leadership Quarterly.

Paulo Arvate is a graduate and undergraduate professor at São Paulo School of Business Administration (Getulio Vargas Foundation/FGV). He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of São Paulo, Brazil (with one year at UCLA, CA). He has served as a Visiting Professor at the MSU, USA, and Visiting Researcher at Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. He is a permanent member of the Center for Applied Microeconomics (C-Micro/EESP-FGV) and former ex-Councilor of the Finance Institute (I-Fin/EAESP-FGV). He also serves as a member of the Ethical Compliance Committee on Research Involving Human Beings (CEPH/FGV). His honors and awards include multiple finalist positions with PhD students for best paper of the year from the Brazilian National Association of Business Schools, The 2005 Best Brazilian Technical Book (The Jabuti Award), The 2018 Best Applied Paper (Getulio Vargas Foundation), The 2019 George Stigler Award/Second Best Applied Paper (INSPER), The 2019 Leadership Quarterly Best Paper Award, nominations for The 2021-23 Charles H. Levine Award for Best Conference Paper in the Public and Nonprofit Division (Academy of Management), and The 2023 Best Paper Award (Kelley School of Business – Indiana University).

Prof. Dr. Brooke A. Gazdag is Associate Professor of Management and Academic Director of Executive Education at Kühne Logistics University (KLU). Originally from Western New York, she earned her PhD in Organizational Behavior and Management from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has held positions at the Technical University of Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, and the University of Amsterdam. Gazdag has also served as a visiting professor and lecturer at various universities worldwide. Her research and teaching focus on leadership, negotiations, and diversity and inclusion. She explores topics such as the relationship between networking and leadership, building negotiation resilience, women’s representation in leadership roles, and fostering inclusion to strengthen relationships within diverse communities. She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. As a curator of knowledge and advocate for improved work practices, she integrates diverse insights in her teaching, training, and speaking engagements to co-create dynamic learning experiences. She embraces innovative approaches, utilizing online seminars and blended learning methods covering topics like values-based leadership, resilience, diversity and inclusion, networking, and intercultural communication.

Dr. Tanja Hentschel is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on leadership and its intersections with bias and stereotypes, particularly around gender, diversity, and inclusion. She also provides training and workshops on these and related topics.

Read the abstract.

Past Award Winners

2023 – Mladen Adamovic & Andreas Leibbrandt
2022 – Nisvan Erkal, Lata Gangadharan, & Erte Xiao
2021 – Sebastian Fest, Ola Kvaloy, Petra Nieken, & Anja Schöttner 
2021 – George Banks, Thomas Fischer, Janaki Gooty, & George Stock
2020 – Stephanie M. Rizio & Ahmed Skali
2019 – Mats Alvesson & Katja Einola
2018 – Dr. Paulo Roberto Arvate
2017 – Dr. Kristen Cullen-Lester
2016 – Dr. George C Banks
2015 – Dr. Tiffany Keller Hansbrough
2014 – John Antonakis
2013 – Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
2012 – Dr. Pierre Balthazard
2011 – David Day & Hock-Peng Sin
2010 – John Antonakis
2009 – Dr. Dongil (Don) Jung
2008 – Dr. Ginamarie Scott Ligon
2007 – Dr. John J. Sosik
2006 – Dr. Joyce Bono

The EJWOP Best Paper Award is jointly sponsored by CCL and the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, and recognizes high-quality scholarly work on leadership and organizational effectiveness. Annual EJWOP awards are announced every two years, coinciding with the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology International Conference held in May. The two authors receive a cash award and will present their papers at the EAWOP conference in Oslo, Norway.

2020 Award winner

Jan Dettmers, Ph.D. is Professor for Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Hagen (Germany). His primary areas of interest include the effects of job design on workers health and motivation and methodological issues of psychosocial risk assessment at work. Furthermore, his research focuses on work-home interaction and recovery in flexible and unregulated forms of work. He is the co-founder of the Agency for Evidence-based Job Design and Organizational Development (EVAO.org) and is member of the editorial board of Frontiers in Psychology.  Read the abstract.

2019 Award winner

Barbara Wisse, Ph.D. is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership Processes at the Department of Psychology, University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Her research focuses explicitly on (bright and dark sides of) power and leadership. This work includes topics such as ethics and morality, emotions, Dark Triad personality traits, abuse and misconduct, and the psychological effects of change. She serves on the editorial boards of The Leadership Quarterly and Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. Read the abstract.

Past award winners

2018 – Dr. Catherine Haslam
2017 – Dr. Anna Steidle
2014 – Dr. Nadine Bienefeld
2013 – Dr. Remus Ilies
2012 – Dr. Aichia Chuang
2011 – Elizabeth Hobman
2010 – Barbara Künzle
2009 – Prof. Dr. Deanne N. Den Hartog
2008 – Dr. Jennifer L. Sparr
2007 – Dr. Jörg Felfe