Prof. Steffen Giessner

Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Change

Department of Organisation and Personnel Management

Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Connected with

Profile

Steffen R. Giessner is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Change at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).

He holds an MSc in Psychology from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, and a PhD in Psychology from the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany. His research is located at the intersection of organizational psychology and management. His primary research topics are employee support during organizational merger, follower’s perceptions of leadership, antecedents of leader behavior, and non-verbal communication of power. He has authored and co-authored papers in the areas of organizational behavior, management, and psychology. His research received media coverage in outlets like the New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Manager and Wall Street Journal. His most recent book on Leading with Presence addresses how one can develop the non-verbal aspect of leadership impact.

Professional experience

Full Professor

Erasmus University Rotterdam
RSM - Rotterdam School of Management
Department of Organisation and Personnel Management

Publications

Key Publications

S.R. Giessner, D.A. Stam, R. Kerschreiter, D. Verboon & I. Salama (2020). Goal-setting reloaded: The influence of minimal and maximal goal standards on task satisfaction and goal striving after performance feedback. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 228-241. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.08.004

Professional Publications (12)

A. Knoppers, M. Obdeijn & S.R. Giessner (2021). How To Have Effective Zoom Meetings—And Make Them Less Boring. (nieuwsbrief). Forbes. (available: 4 Mar 2021).
M. Folkert, S.R. Giessner & M. Caldas (2020). Leadership: why many heads are better than one. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 2 (2020), 16-18.
R. de Jong & S.R. Giessner (2020). Responsible leadership: creating shared value. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 2 (2020), 9-11.
H.W. Lam, S.R. Giessner & M. Shemla (2020). Four Simple Ways To Combat The Loneliness Caused By COVID-19. (nieuwsbrief). (available: 8 May 2020). [go to publisher's site]
H.W. Lam, S.R. Giessner & M. Shemla (2020). Tips: Loneliness and working from home during the COVID-19 crisis. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge. [go to publisher's site]
S.I. Wong, S.R. Giessner, C. van Ballen & V. Roufanis (2017). Using new ways of working to attract millennials. Communication for Leaders, 24-25.
S.R. Giessner & S.I. Wong (2016). The fine line between hands-on and hands-off leadership. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 25 (1), 11-13. [go to publisher's site]
S.I.W. Humborstad, S.R. Giessner & E. Solberg (2015). Key to Success in Mergers & Acquisitions. Communication for Leaders, 2015 (2), 8-9.
M.H. van Dijke, S.R. Giessner, R. Van Tulder & R.I. Gilbert (2014). What value ethical leadership? RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 18 (2), 8-11.
S.R. Giessner (2011). Identity management key to successful mergers. RSM Insight, 6 (2), 7-9.
N. van Quaquebeke, T. Eckloff, S. Zenker & S.R. Giessner (2009). Leadership in the Eye of the Beholder: Cognitive Construction, Recognition, and Interpretation of Leadership. Personalfuhrung, 1, 34-41.
N. van Quaquebeke, E.H. Witte, S.R. Giessner & T. Eckloff (2008). Macht: Energie der sozialen Welt? 360° Journal, 4 (-), 17-26.

Scholarly Publications (51)

A. Knoppers, M. Obdeijn & S.R. Giessner (2021). Leading with presence: : Fundamental tools and insights for impactful, engaging leadership. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald Publishing Limited
B.A. Korman, C. Tröster & S.R. Giessner (2021). The consequences of incongruent abusive supervision: Anticipation of social exclusion, shame, and turnover intentions. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, in press.
D.L. van Knippenberg, S.R. Giessner, E. Sleebos & W.P. van Ginkel (2021). A motivated information processing perspective on the antecedents of empowering leadership. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51 (2), 79-89. doi: 10.1111/jasp.12718
M. Knoll, M. Götz, A. Adriasola, A. Al-Atwi, A. Arenas, K.A. Atitsogbe, S. Barrett, A. Bhattacharjee, N.D. Blanco C., S. Bogilović, G. Bollmann, J. Bosak, C. Bulut, M. Carter, M. Cerne, S. Chui, D. Di Marco, G. Duden, V. Elsey, M. Fujimura, P. Gatti, C. Ghislieri, S.R. Giessner, K. Hino, J. Hofmans, T.S. Jønsson, P. Kazimna, K.B. Lowe, J. Malagon Peren, H. Mohebbi, A. Montgomery, L. Monzani, A. Nederveen Pieterse, M. Ngoma, D. O'Shea, C. Lundsgaard Ottsen, E. Ozeren, J.L. Pickett, A.A. Rangkuti, S. Retowski, F.S. Ardabili, R. Shaukat, S.A. Silva, A. Šimunić, N.K. Steffens, F. Sultanova, D. Szücs, S.M. Tavares, A. Tipandjan, D. Vasiljevic, R. van Dick, S. Wong & H. Zacher (2021). International Differences in Employee Silence Motives: Scale Validation, Prevalence, and Relationships with Culture Characteristics across 33 Countries. Journal of Organizational Behavior, in press. doi: 10.1002/job.2512
C.E. Connelly, M. Černe, C. Fieseler, S.R. Giessner & S.I. Wong (2021). Working in the digitized economy: HRM theory & practice. Human Resource Management Review, 31 (1), 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2020.100762
C.R. Chartier, J.D. Arnal, H. Arrow, N. Bloxom, D.B. Bongiflio, C.C. Brumbaugh, C.R. Ebersole, A. Garinther, S.R. Giessner & ,. et al. (2020). Many Labs 5: Registered Replication Report of Albarracín et al. (2008), Experiment 5. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3 (3), 332-339. doi: 10.1177/2515245920945963
N. Keck, S.R. Giessner, N. van Quaquebeke & E. Kruijff (2020). When do followers perceive their leaders as ethical? A relational models perspective of normatively appropriate conduct. Journal of Business Ethics, 164, 477-493. doi: 10.1007/s10551-018-4055-3
M. Rosa, S.R. Giessner, R. Guerra, S. Waldzus, A.M. Kersting, K. Veličković & E.C. Collins (2020). They (don’t) need us: Functionality impacts perceptions of representativeness and commitment when lower-status groups go through intergroup change. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02772
C.R. Ebersole, M.B. Mathur, E. Baranski, D. Bart-Plange, N.R. Buttrick, C.R. Chartier, K.S. Corker, M. Corley, J.K. Hartshorne, H. IJzerman, L.B. Lazarevic, H. Rabagliati, I. Ropovik, B. Aczel, L.F. Aeschbach, L. Andrighetto, J.D. Arnal, H. Arrow, P. Babincak, B.E. Bakos, G. Baník, E. Baskin, R. Belopavlović, M.H. Bernstein, M. Białek, N.G. Bloxsom, B. Bodroža, D.B.V. Bonfiglio, L. Boucher, F. Brühlmann, C. Brumbaugh, E. Casini, Y. Chen, C. Chiorri, W.J. Chopik, O. Christ, A.M. Ciunci, H.M. Claypool, S. Coary, M.V. Čolić, W.M. Collins, P.G. Curran, C.R. Day, B. Dering, A. Dreber, J.E. Edlund, F. Falcão, A. Fedor, L. Feinberg, I.R. Ferguson, M. Ford, M.C. Frank, E. Fryberger, A. Garinther, K. Gawryluk, K. Gerken, M. Giacomantonio, S.R. Giessner & ,. et al. (2020). Many Labs 5: Testing pre-data collection peer review as an intervention to increase replicability. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3 (3), 309-331. doi: 10.1177/2515245920958687
F. Belschak, G. Jacobs, S.R. Giessner, K.E. Horton & P.S. Bayerl (2020). When the going gets tough: employee reactions to large-scale organizational change and the role of employee machiavellianism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41 (9), 830-850. doi: 10.1002/job.2478
S.R. Giessner, D.A. Stam, R. Kerschreiter, D. Verboon & I. Salama (2020). Goal-setting reloaded: The influence of minimal and maximal goal standards on task satisfaction and goal striving after performance feedback. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 228-241. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.08.004
L. Monzani, V. Knoll, S.R. Giessner, R. van Dick & J.M. Peiró (2019). Between a rock and hard place: Combined effects of authentic leadership, organizational identification, and team prototypicality on managerial prohibitive voice. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22 (1), 1-20. doi: 10.1017/sjp.2019.1
S.R. Giessner & T.W. Schubert (2019). Power and vertical positions in an organization chart: A pre-registered replication report of Study 3a and a modification of Study 1a, Giessner & Schubert (2007). Collabra: Psychology, 5 (1). doi: 10.1525/collabra.216 [go to publisher's site]
H. Toscano, T.W. Schubert & S.R. Giessner (2018). Eye Gaze and Head Posture Jointly Influence Judgments of Dominance, Physical Strength, and Anger. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 42 (3), 285-309. doi: 10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5
R. van Dick, J.E. Lemoine, N.K. Steffens, R. Kerschreiter, S.A. Akfarit, L. Avanzi, K. Dumont, O. Epitropaki, S.R. Giessner & ,. et al. (2018). Identity Leadership Going Global: Validation of the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) across 20 Countries. Journal of Organizational and Occupational Psychology, 91 (4), 697-728. doi: 10.1111/joop.12223
R.A. Klein, M. Vianello, F. Hasselman, B.G. Adams, R.B. Adams, S. Alper, M. Aveyard, J.R. Axt, S. Bahnik, R. Batra, M. Berkics, M.J. Bernstein, D. Berry, O. Bialobrzeska, E. Binan, K. Bocian, M.J. Brandt, R. Busching, A.C. Redei, H. Cai, F. Cambier, K. Cantarero, C.L. Carmichael, F. Ceric, D.C. Cicero, J. Chandler, A. Chatard, E.E. Chen, J.H. Chang, W. Cheong, S. Coen, J.A. Coleman, B. Collisson, M.A. Conway, K.S. Corker, P.G. Curran, F. Cushman, Z.K. Dagon, I. Dalgar, A. Dalla Rosa, W.E. Davis, M. Bruijn, de, L. De Schutter, T. Devos, C. Dogulu, N. Dozo, K.N. Dukes, Y. Dunham, K. Durrheim, C.R. Ebersole, J.E. Edlund, A.S. English, A. Eller, C. Finck, N. Frankowska, M.A. Freyre, M. Friedman, E.M. Galliani, J.C. Gandi, T. Ghoshal & S.R. Giessner (2018). Many labs 2: Investigating variation in replicability across sample and setting. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1 (4), 443-490. doi: 10.1177/2515245918810225
S.I. Wong & S.R. Giessner (2018). The thin line between empowering and laissez-faire leadership: An expectancy match perspective. Journal of Management, 44 (2), 757-783. doi: 10.1177/0149206315574597
S. Reh, N. van Quaquebeke & S.R. Giessner (2017). The aura of charisma: A review on the embodiment perspective as signaling. The Leadership Quarterly, 28 (4), 486-507. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.01.001
M. Rosa, E. Kavanagh, P. Kounov, S. Jarosz, S. Waldzus, E. Collins & S.R. Giessner (2017). Change commitment in low status merger partners: The role of information processing, relative ingroup prototypicality and merger patterns. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 56 (3), 618-630. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12189
G.G. van Houwelingen, D.A. Stam & S.R. Giessner (2017). So close and yet so far away: A psychological distance account of the effectiveness of leader appeals. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47 (12), 665-676. doi: 10.1111/jasp.12469
D.E. Rast, M.A. Hogg & S.R. Giessner (2016). Who trusts charismatic leaders who champion change? The role of group identification, membership centrality and self-uncertainty. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice, 20 (4), 259-275. doi: 10.1037/gdn0000053
S.R. Giessner (2016). Organisational mergers. A Behavioural perspective on identity management. (2016, april 1). Rotterdam: Erasmus Research Institute of Management
S.I.W. Wong, E. Solberg, P. Junni & S.R. Giessner (2016). The role of human resource management practices in mergers & acquisitions. In C..L. Cooper, S..Y. Tarba, R..M. Sarala & M..F. Ahammad (Eds.), Mergers and acquisitions in practice (pp. 138-161). New York: Routledge
S.R. Giessner, K.E. Horton & S.I.W. Humborstad (2016). Identity management during organizational mergers: Empirical insights and practical advice. Social Issues and Policy Review, 10 (1), 47-81. doi: 10.1111/sipr.12018
S.R. Giessner, N. van Quaquebeke, S. van Gils, D. van Knippenberg & J.A.J.M. Kollée (2015). In the moral eye of the beholder: The interactive effects of leader and follower moral identity on perceptions of ethical leadership and LMX quality. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1126. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01126
S.R. Giessner & G. Jacobs (2014). Identität und Prototypikalität. In J. Felfe (Ed.), Trends der psychologischen Führungsforschung – Neue Konzepte, Methoden und Erkenntnisse (pp. 117-128). Hogrefe
G. Jacobs & S.R. Giessner (2014). Führung von Veränderungsprozessen: Die Bedeutung von Identität und der Umgang mit Widerstand. In J Felfe (Ed.), Trends der psychologischen Führungsforschung – Neue Konzepte, Methoden und Erkenntnisse (pp. 491-500). Hogrefe
I.H. Gleibs, S. Täuber, G.T. Viki & S.R. Giessner (2013). When what we get is not what we want - The role of implemented versus desired merger patterns in support for mergers. Social Psychology, 44 (3), 177-190. doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000102
S.R. Giessner, D. van Knippenberg, W.P. van Ginkel & E. Sleebos (2013). Team-oriented leadership: The Interactive Effects of Leader Group Prototypicality, Accountability, and Team Identification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98 (4), 658-667. doi: 10.1037/a0032445
J.A.J.M. Kollée, S.R. Giessner & D. van Knippenberg (2013). Leader evaluations after performance feedback: The role of follower mood. The Leadership Quarterly, 24 (1), 203-214. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.10.007
D.E. Rast, M.A. Hogg & S.R. Giessner (2013). Self-uncertainty and support for autocratic leadership. Self and Identity, 12 (6), 635-649. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2012.718864
S.R. Giessner, J. Ullrich & R. van Dick (2012). A Social Identity Analysis of Mergers & Acquisitions. In D. Faulkner, S. Teerikangas & R. Joseph (Eds.), Handbook of Mergers & Acquisitions (pp. 474-495). Oxford: Oxford University Press doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199601462.001.0001
K. Zanolie, S. Van Dantzig, I. Boot, J.. Wijnen, T.W. Schubert, S.R. Giessner & D. Pecher (2012). Mighty metaphors: Behavioral and ERP evidence that power shifts attention on a vertical dimension. Brain and Cognition, 78 (1), 50-58. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.10.006
S.A. Eisenbeiβ & S.R. Giessner (2012). The Emergence and Maintenance of Ethical Leadership in Organizations: A Question of Embeddedness? Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11 (1), 7-19. doi: 10.1027/1866-5888/a000055
S.R. Giessner (2011). Is the merger necessary? The interactive effect of perceived necessity and sense of continuity on post-merger identification. Human Relations, 64 (8), 1079-1098. doi: 10.1177/0018726711406979
S.R. Giessner, J. Ullrich & R. van Dick (2011). Social Identity and Corporate Mergers. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5 (6), 333-345. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00357.x
S.R. Giessner, J. Ullrich & R. van Dick (2011). Teaching & Learning Guide for: Social Identity and Corporate Mergers. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5 (7), 500-504. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00359.x
S.R. Giessner, M.K. Ryan, T.W. Schubert & N. van Quaquebeke (2011). The power of pictures: Vertical picture angles in power pictures. Media Psychology, 14 (4), 441-463. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2011.620541
N. van Quaquebeke & S.R. Giessner (2010). How embodied cognitions affect judgments: Height-related attribution bias in football foul calls. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 32 (1), 3-22. doi: 10.1123/jsep.32.1.3 [go to publisher's site]
S.R. Giessner & N. van Quaquebeke (2010). Using a relational models perspective to understand normatively appropriate conduct in ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 95 (supplement 1), 43-55. doi: 10.1007/s10551-011-0790-4
N.A. Hakimi, D. van Knippenberg & S.R. Giessner (2010). Leader Empowering Behaviour: The Leader's Perspective. British Journal of Management, 21 (3), 701-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00703.x
S.R. Giessner (2009). Diskriminierung und Toleranz bei Unternehmensfusionen. In Andreas Beelman & Kai Jonas (Eds.), Diskriminierung und Toleranz: Psychologische Grundlagen und Anwendungsperspektiven (pp. 399-418). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
T.W. Schubert, S. Waldzus & S.R. Giessner (2009). Control over the Association of Power and Size. Social Cognition, 27 (1), 1-19. doi: 10.1521/soco.2009.27.1.1 [go to publisher's site]
S.R. Giessner, D. van Knippenberg & E. Sleebos (2009). License to fail? How leader group prototypicality moderates the effects of leader performance on perceptions of leadership effectiveness. The Leadership Quarterly, 20 (3), 434-451. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.03.012
S.R. Giessner & D. van Knippenberg (2008). "License to fail": Goal definition, leader group prototypicality, and perceptions of leadership effectiveness after leader failure. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105 (1), 14-35. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.04.002
S.R. Giessner & A. Mummendey (2008). United we win, divided we fail? Effects of cognitive representations and performance feedbacks on merging groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38 (3), 412-435. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.439
T.W. Schubert & S.R. Giessner (2008). The naked power: Understanding nonverbal communication of power. In-Mind Magazin, 2 (6).
S.R. Giessner & T.W. Schubert (2007). High in the Hierarchy: How Vertical Location and Judgments of Leaders' Power are Interrelated. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104 (1), 30-44. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.10.001
D. van Knippenberg, B. van Knippenberg & S.R. Giessner (2007). Extending the follow-centered perspective: Leadership as an outcome of shared social identity. In B Shamir, R. Pillai, M.C. Bligh & M. Uhl-Bien (Eds.), Follower-centered perspective on leadership: A tribute to the memory of James R. Meindl (pp. 51-70). Greenwich: Information Age Publishing
S.R. Giessner, G.T. Viki, S. Otten, D.J. Terry & S. Täuber (2006). The challenge of merging: Merger patterns, pre-merger status and merger support. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32 (3), 339-352. doi: 10.1177/0146167205282151 [go to publisher's site]
S.R. Giessner (2003). Eine Intergruppenperspektive auf Unternehmensfusionen [An intergroup perspective on organizational mergers]. In J. Straehle (Ed.), Interkulturelle Mergers & Acquisitions. Eine interdisziplinare Perspektive [Intercultural merger and acquisitions. An interdisciplinary perspective] (pp. 168-194). Berlin: Sternenfels

Semi Scientific Publications

S.R. Giessner & H.W. Lam (Hosts) (2020, jul 16). Understanding loneliness at work during COVID-19 and in the future. [webcast]. In RSM Alumni Live Lecture. https://www.rsm.nl/alumni/events/recordings/understanding-loneliness-at-work-during-covid-19-and-in-the-future/

Doctoral Thesis

S.R. Giessner. United we run, divided we fail? Effects of cognitive representations and performance feedbacks on merging groups. University of Jena, Germany (133 pag.) ( Digitale Bibliothek Thueringen) Prom./coprom.: A. Mummendey & Prof. Dr. R.J. Brown.

Recognitions

Editorial positions (6)

The Leadership Quarterly

Editorial Board
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

Editorial Board
Organizational Psychology Review

Editorial Board
Journal of Personnel Psychology

Editorial Board
Frontiers in Psychology

Editorial Board
Journal of Applied Psychology

Editorial Board

Organization Memberships

Academy of Management (AM)

http://www.aomonline.org/

Member

Media

Media items

How To Have Effective Zoom Meetings—And Make Them Less Boring

Online meetings have become a necessary evil. While some people don’t seem to mind working from home on a purely virtual basis, many of us certainly miss the face-to-face interactions and are keen for working life to get back to…
Forbes Thursday, 4 March 2021
New book: Leading with presence for impactful leadership

When communicating – online and in person – three elements can be used to express a message: verbal content, body language, and the voice. When these elements are not congruent, people often believe the body language and the…
RSM website Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Flexible work arrangements = Appealing work arrangements?

While it may be one question whether flexible work arrangements (i.e., work conditions enabling work from home and providing flexible office spaces) have positive or negative effects on innovation and productivity, another one is…
BI Norwegian Business School Monday, 21 November 2016
BEST POSTER AWARD FOR SUSAN REH

PhD candidate Susan Reh has won the Best Poster Award at the Early Career Summer School of the European Association for Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) in Birmingham, UK. Reh investigates these research questions…
the KLU Monday, 17 October 2016
TEAM SOM HANDLER I BLINDE

The doctoral research of Dominique Board was titled "Understanding Tran Active Memory Systems in Virtual Teams: The role of integration and differentiation, task dependencies and routines" and Steffen Giessner is mentioned to have…
Ledernytt Monday, 22 February 2016