01/17/08 - Newman credited with top HR honor for article

Dan Newman, assistant professor of psychology, awarded HR Division Scholarly Achievement Award

The Academy of Management has awarded Dan Newman, assistant professor of psychology, with the HR Division Scholarly Achievement Award for 2006 for his article titled “How important are job attitudes? Meta-analytic comparisons of integrative behavioral outcomes and time sequences.”

The award is presented to the author of the most significant article in human resource management published in recognized journals and research annuals that are generally available to HR Division members. The article, coauthored with David Harrison and Phil Roth, appeared in the Academy of Management Journal in 2006.

The article explores the relationship between job attitude and performance, finding that overall positive job attitude results in more desirable contributions made to one’s work role.

“The old adage that ‘a happy worker is a productive worker’ has been considered the holy grail of HR research [many people believe it, but no one can find strong evidence for it]. This paper used data from thousands of employees to show that if you define productivity more broadly—to include task performance, attendance, and good citizenship—then worker happiness becomes potentially the most important factor in predicting valued work behavior,” Newman said. “Both HR professionals and employees tend to like our result, because it confirms the common sense idea that employers should care more about making work enjoyable.”

“The Academy of Management Journal is generally recognized as one of the most influential publications in industrial/organizational psychology as well as in management, and thus Dr. Newman’s work is having interdisciplinary impact across both psychology and business,” said Les Morey, department head of psychology.

Newman received his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 2004 and joined Texas A&M University as an assistant professor in 2005. His research focuses on job attitudes, multilevel approaches and personnel selection.

The paper was also named as the winner of the 2008 Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (APA Division 14) William A. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award.

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Contact: Holly Lambert, hollyalyselambert@libarts.tamu.edu, 979.862.4879