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Dr. Jennifer J. Kish-Gephart

Associate Professor of Organization Studies

Management
Dr. Jennifer Kish-Gephart is an associate professor of Organization Studies at the Isenberg School of Management. She received her PhD in Organizational Behavior and Business Ethics from Pennsylvania

Dr. Jennifer Kish-Gephart is an associate professor of Organization Studies at the Isenberg School of Management. She received her PhD in Organizational Behavior and Business Ethics from Pennsylvania State University. For more than a decade, Dr. Kish-Gephart has conducted research aimed at understanding why individuals engage in unethical behavior in the workplace. Her research has been published in top-tier management outlets, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Research in Organizational Behavior. Her research has been widely cited and she was recognized in 2013 as a finalist for the Academy of Management Review’s Best Paper of the Year award. Dr. Kish-Gephart has taught at the undergraduate, MBA, and PhD levels, presented her research at academic conferences, and given invited talks to practitioners and scholars alike. She also serves as the director of the biennial Behavioral Ethics Workshop for business behavioral ethics scholars.

Education

PhD in Organizational Behavior and Behavioral Ethics, Penn State University
MBA, Drexel University
BS in Accounting, Drexel University

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor of Organization Studies (with tenure), Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2021-Present
Associate Professor of Management (with tenure), University of Arkansas, 2016-2020
Assistant Professor of Management, University of Arkansas, 2006-2010

Recent Honors / Awards

Mid-Career Post-Tenure (MCPT) Fellowship, 2026-2027
ADVANCE Faculty Fellow, 2023-2024
Director of the biennial Behavioral Ethics Workshop for business behavioral ethics scholars
Editorial Board Member at Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, and Business Ethics Quarterly

Research Interests

Business ethics
Organizational behavior
Diversity
Inequality

Teaching Areas

Undergraduate
  • MGMT 330 Organizational Behavior
  • MGMT 350 Professional Ethics in Contemporary Society
Masters
  • MGMT 680 Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Doctoral
  • MGMT 892D Diversity
  • MGMT 892E Behavioral Business Ethics

Selected Publications

Tilton, J., Lucas, K., Kish-Gephart, J.J., & Kent, J. 2024. Enduring, Strategizing, and Rising Above: Workplace Dignity Threats and Responses Across Job Levels. Journal of Business Ethicshttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05672-5

Campbell, J. T., & Kish-Gephart, J. J. 2024. Where the past meets the present: Upward mobility, environmental stimuli, and CEOs’ investment in corporate social responsibility. Human Relations, 77(5), 650-679. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267231151512 *Authors contributed equally 

Den Nieuwenboer, N., Kish-Gephart, J.J., Treviño, L., Peng, A., & Reychav, I. 2023. The Dark Side of Status at Work: Perceived Status Importance, Envy, and Interpersonal Deviance. Business Ethics Quarterly, 33(2), 261-295. https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2022.2 

Kish-Gephart, J. J., Moergen, K. J. N., Tilton, J. D., & Gray, B. 2023. Social Class and Work: A Review and Organizing Framework. Journal of Management, 49(1), 509–565. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221076822

Kish-Gephart, J.J. & Campbell, J.T. 2015. You don’t forget your roots: The influence of CEO social class background on strategic risk taking. Academy of Management Journal, 58(6), 1614-1636. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.1204

Kish-Gephart, J.J., Detert, J., Treviño, L.K., Baker, V., & Martin, S. 2014. Situational Moral Disengagement: Can the effects of self-interest be mitigated? Journal of Business Ethics, 125(2), 267-285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1909-6

Treviño, L.K., & Den Nieuwenboer, N.* & Kish-Gephart, J.J.* 2014. (Un)Ethical Behavior in Organizations. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 635-660. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143745 

Gray, B. & Kish-Gephart, J.J. 2013. Encountering Social Class Differences at Work: How “Class Work” Perpetuates Inequality. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 670-699. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0143

Kish-Gephart, J.J., Harrison, D. A., & Treviño, L. K.  2010. Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence about Sources of Unethical Decisions at Work.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017103

Kish-Gephart, J.J., Detert, J., Treviño, L.K., & Edmondson, A. 2009. Silenced by Fear: The Nature, Sources, and Consequences of Fear at Work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 29, 163-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2009.07.002