William J. Becker

Academic Area(s)

Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Emotions

Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Becker conducts research in emotions in organizations as they related to organizational behavior, turnover, leadership, organizational identification, and human resources management.

Education

• Ph.D. University of Arizona, 2010
• M.A. University of Connecticut, 1997
• B.S. United States Naval Academy, 1989

Publications

Becker, W. J., Belkin, L. Y., Tuskey, S. E., & Conroy, S. A. (2022). Surviving remotely: How job control and loneliness during a forced shift to remote work impacted employee work behaviors and well‐being. Human Resource Management, 61, 449-464. Finalist for HRM best article 2023.

Becker, W. J., Belkin, L.Y., Conroy, S. A., & Tuskey, S., (2021). Killing me softly: Organizational e-mail monitoring expectations’ impact on employee and significant other well-being. Journal of Management, 47, 1024-1052.

Belkin, L.Y., Becker, W. J., & Conroy, S. A., (2020). The invisible leash: The impact of organizational expectations for email monitoring after-hours on employee resources, well-being, and turnover intentions. Group & Organization Management, 45, 709-740.

Becker, W. J., Conroy, S., Djurdjevic, E. & Gross, M. (2018) Crying is in the eyes of the beholder: The effects of crying in organizations. Emotion Review, 10, 125-137.

Becker, W. J. & Curhan, J. R. (2018). The dark side of subjective value in sequential negotiations: The mediating role of pride and anger. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 74-87.

Volk, S., Pearsall, M. Christian, M. S., & Becker, W. J. (2017) Chronotype diversity in teams: Toward a theory of team energetic asynchrony. Academy of Management Review, 42, 683-702.

Waldman, D. A., Ward, M. K., & Becker, W. J. (2017). Neuroscience in organizational behavior.  Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 425-444.

Conroy, S., Becker, W. J., & Menges, J. (2017). The meaning of my feelings depends on who I am: Work-related identifications shape emotion effects in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 60, 1071-1093.

Positions Held

• 2024 - Present: Professor of Management, Virginia Tech 
• 2016 - 2024: Associate Professor of Management, Virginia Tech
• 2010 - 2016: Assistant Professor of Management, Texas Christian University

Biography

William Becker is an Professor of management at the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. He received his PhD from the University of Arizona. His work has appeared in top journals including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Personnel Psychology. His work has received press coverage in Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Huffington Post, U.S. News, TIME, Business News Daily, Esquire, Yahoo! News, NPR, ABC News Radio, Psych Central, Popular Mechanics, among others. His research interests include work emotion, turnover, organizational neuroscience, and leadership.