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Research

Now, more than ever before, there is a heightened awareness about the importance of "speaking up" in organizations. 
Organizations can correct their mistakes, improve their products, and stay true to their moral compass when employees
step up as proactive citizens, strive to constructively change the status quo, and speak up. Yet, repeated evidence shows that 
employees are still too silent, or too unappreciated and disregarded for speaking up at work. 
This unfortunate reality raises three critical questions that have fueled my research program:

01

Why don't organizations reward employees for speaking up?

02

What prevents employees from speaking up?

03

How can employees stay proactive at work?

I bring in novel theoretical lenses to bear answers to these questions. ​I have examined through the prisms of social class and attribution theory when and why employees’ voice and proactivity are not rewarded. I have highlighted how employees’ trust in their leaders prevents them from speaking up, especially in the face of organizational threats of ambiguous nature. I have also shown how managers’ efforts to encourage voice can go awry due to an egocentric empathy gap. I also have additional projects that have been inspired by my primary research program, delving into topics such as bias, social class, and status dynamics. 

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My research appears in outlets such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Harvard Business Review, and has won the Academy of Management Best Empirical or Theoretical Paper Award. I utilize field surveys, experiments, qualitative interviews, and archival data in my research. 

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Research progress updated as of 11/07/2022:

Refereed Publications

  • Park, H., Tangirala, S., Hussain, I., & Ekkirala, S. (2022). How and when managers reward employees’ voice: The role of proactivity attributions. Journal of Applied Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001008

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  • Derfler-Rozin, R.*, & Park, H.* (2022). Ethics and honesty in organizations: Unique organizational challenges. 
    Current Opinion in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101401
    * Equal author contributions. Names appear in alphabetical order.

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  • Derfler-Rozin, R.*, Isaakayn, S.*, & Park, H.* (2022). Swiftly judging whom to bring on board: How person perception (accurate or not) influences selection of prospective team members. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104206
    * Equal author contributions. Names appear in alphabetical order.

Other Publication

Manuscripts Invited for Revision

  • Park, H., Tangirala, S., & Ekkirala, S. How trustworthiness of managers inhibits employee voice under ambiguous threats. [1st Round R&R, Journal of Applied Psychology]​

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  • Park, H., Tangirala, S., Gajendran, R. S., & Sethi, D. Model citizen or squeaky wheel? How employees of lower social class origins face ambivalent reactions for citizenship at work. [1st Round R&R, Administrative Science Quarterly]

Selected Works in Progress

  • Park, H., Sah, S., & Tangirala, S. The voice empathy gap: How employees and managers hold differing beliefs about lack of voice. [In preparation for submission to Organization Science]

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  • Park, H., Tangirala, S., Gajendran, R. S., & Ozgen, S. Feeling grateful and paying it forward in adversity: How actions of community leaders during disasters promote workplace helping. [In preparation for submission to Personnel Psychology]

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  • Park, H., Tangirala, S., Gajendran, R. S., & Ozgen, S. Work identity hurts but resilience helps: Effects of professional isolation on employee effectiveness. [Writing stage. Target: Academy of Management Journal]

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  • Park, H., Derfler-Rozin, R., & Bartol, K. “Perfect pitch” for networking? How the content of elevator pitch and gender influence networking success. [Field survey and experiment completed. Additional experiment in progress. Target: Academy of Management Journal]

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  • Park, H., & Tangirala, S. Passing off upward versus downward: The asymmetrical effects of faking social class origins. [Qualitative data collection and analysis completed. Experimental designs in progress. Target: Administrative Science Quarterly]

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  • Park, H.*, Sohn, J.*, & Seo, M. How the unequal distributions of OCB engagement among team members elicit negative emotions (“Yalmium”) and influence team outcomes. [Survey design in progress. Target: Academy of Management Journal]
    * Equal author contributions. Names appear in alphabetical order.

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  • Hussain, I., Tangirala, S., Park, H., & Ekkirala, S. No idea is an island: The spillover effects of radical ideas on employee implementation of other proposals. [Writing stage. Target: Academy of Management Journal]

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  • Marr, J.C., Park, H., & Lemay, E. A “crafty” response to status loss: How job crafting after status loss affects status in coworkers’ eyes. [Field survey and two experiments completed. Third experiment in progress. Target: Journal of Applied Psychology]

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  • Marr, J.C., Lemay, E., & Park, H. Conflicted after status loss: How perceived coworker support exacerbates the effect of status loss on disengagement. [Field survey and experiments completed. Additional field data collection in progress. Target: Organization Science] 

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