Textbook triumph for UQ Business School researchers

16 Apr 2010
UQ Business School researchers are proving they are at the top of their field following five citations each in the world's best-selling textbook on organisational behaviour. Neal Ashkanasy and Charmine Härtel, Australian pioneers in the field of emotion in the workplace, have been cited in the 14th edition of the US-published Organizational Behavior textbook. Professor Ashkanasy said the number of citations both he and Professor Härtel received was very flattering. "You expect Australians to be cited in an Australian textbook, but you don't normally expect Australians to be cited in a textbook in the US," he said. "It means the research we are doing has a high impact. The biggest accolade is when you're in a textbook, and students read it and are influenced by it." Professor Iain Watson, Dean of the UQ Business School, praised Professor Ashkanasy and Professor Härtel's 'outstanding achievements'. "The fact that Charmine and Neal's research publications have been so highly cited in a U.S. textbook is clear evidence of the quality of their work and the international esteem their academic colleagues around the world hold them in," he said. "The Business School aspires to be one of the leading business schools in our region and the kind of acknowledgements recently received by Charmine and Neal assist us greatly in illustrating the quality of research produced by our academic community within UQBS." The latest organisational behaviour textbook uses figures and research from Professor Ashkanasy and Professor Härtel. "Most of the scholars cited in the book only get one citation. We were delighted to see that we have five citations each," Professor Ashkanasy said. "We have consistently been cited since the 12th edition." Professor Watson said the organisational behaviour citations focused on more than one aspect of Professor Härtel and Professor Ashkanasy's research. "While the citations mainly focus on their work in the area of emotions it is important to point out that their wider research agenda in diversity and culture was also cited, which illustrates the exceptional quality of the research in organisational behaviour and human resource management being undertaken at UQBS," he said. "My colleagues and I are extremely proud of their outstanding achievements." However, their field of study wasn't always so popular. Professor Härtel and Professor Ashkanasy started their research together in the mid 1990s after finding they both had an interest in the area. "There was no one else working in this area when we started. Now it's described as the 'affective revolution'—it completely transformed the fields of organisational behaviour and organisational psychology," Professor Härtel said. Since then the field has grown dramatically, with the 'Emonet' listserv Professors Härtel and Ashkanasy set up in 1997 now hosting 1300 users, and a biannual conference on the subject they began in 1998 set to be held again this year in Montreal, Canada. "We have quite a few PhD students, and the bulk of emotions researchers in South-East Queensland are mostly our former students," Professor Härtel said.

Latest