Dejun “Tony” Kong
Associate Professor
University of Colorado Boulder
DejunTony.Kong@colorado.edu
Related Research Interests
I am an organizational behavior (OB) scholar whose research addresses the following
overarching question: How can we enable individuals to act more prosocially (to promote
others’ or collective interests)? My research has focused largely on how individuals’ positive
experiences and prosocial (vs. antisocial) behaviors are influenced by (1) organizational system
components (e.g., leadership practices, human resource (HR) practices, organizational
climate/culture) and (2) others’ prosocial (vs. antisocial) behaviors. I am most known for my
research on trust (especially in negotiations), humor, gratitude, and autonomous experiences. In
recent years, my work has focused on how HR practices influence employee experiences. I
have used a variety of methods such as experiments, surveys, and meta-analyses to generate
research insights.
Related Publications
- (*equal authorship) Thoroughgood, C., Sawyer, K.*, Kong, D. T.*, & Webster, J. (in press). Oppositional courage for racial and ethnic minorities: A source of White employees’ upward moral comparison. Journal of Management.
- Steele, L., Spector, P., De Vreede, T., Kong, D. T., & Wells, J. (in press). Defiance,
compliance, or somewhere in between: A qualitative study of how employees respond to
supervisors’ unethical requests. Human Performance. - Kong, D. T. (2023). Humor research in management: Humor as Social Information
(HASI). Current Opinion in Psychology, 54, 101692. - (*equal authorship) Kong, D.T.*, Park, S.*, & Peng, J. (2023). Leader competence and
warmth as critical contingencies for employee appraisals of and role (dis)engagement
reactions to perceived pay-for-performance. Academy of Management Journal, 66,
402-431. - (*equal authorship) Kong, D. T.*, Chiu, S. S.*, & Christopoulos, G. I. (2023). The face of
morality: Powerful chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) facial characteristics and moral
foundations. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. - (*equal authorship) Joo, M.-K., Lee, J.-Y.*, Kong, D. T.*, & Jolly, P. M. (2023). Gender
diversity advantage at middle management: Implications for high performance work
system improvement and organizational performance. Human Resource Management,
62, 765-785. - Clayton, R., Artis, A., & Kong, D. T. (2023). Empower your team, empower yourself. MIT
Sloan Management Review, 64, 1-4. - (*equal authorship) Locklear, L. R.*, Sheridan, S.*, & Kong, D. T. (2023). Appreciating social science research on gratitude: An integrative review for organizational scholarship on gratitude in the workplace. Journal of Organizational Behavior (Annual Review and Conceptual Development Issue), 44, 225-260.
- Chiu, S., Hoskisson, R. E., Kong, D. T., Li, A., & Shao, P. (2023). Predicting primary and
secondary stakeholder engagement: A CEO motivation-means contingency model.
Journal of Business Research, 160, 113760. - Samaniego, C., Lindner, P., Kazmi, M. A., Dirr, B. A., Kong, D. T., Jeff-Eke, E. &
Spitzmueller, C. (2023). Higher research productivity = more pay? Gender pay-for-
productivity inequity across disciplines. Scientometrics, 128, 1395-1407. - (*equal authorship) Astakhova, M. N.*, Cardon, M. S.*, Ho, V. T.*, & Kong, D. T.* (2022).
Passion for work passion research: Taming breadth and promoting depth. Journal of
Organizational Behavior (special issue on work passion), 43, 1463-1474. - (*equal authorship) Belkin, L.*, & Kong, D. T.* (2022). Beliefs in government
benevolence can promote individuals’ compliance with government-issued guidelines:
The role of positive affect and general construal level. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 52, 85-94. - Li, A., Kong, D. T., Lin, Q., & Fan, Y. (2022). Why do followers feel inauthentic and
withdraw?: The joint effect of leader Machiavellianism and perceived collectivistic work
climate. Journal of Personality, 90, 490-508. - (*equal authorship) Wesley, C. L., II, Kong, D. T.*, Lubojacky, C. J.*, Saxton, M. K.*, &
Saxton, T.* (2022). Will the startup succeed in your eyes? Venture evaluation of resource
providers during Entrepreneurs’ informational signaling. Journal of Business
Venturing, 37, 106229. (lead article) - (*equal authorship) Kong, D. T.*, & Belkin, L. Y.* (2021). You don’t care for me, so
what’s the point for me to care for your business? Negative implications of felt neglect by
the employer for employee work meaning and citizenship behaviors amid the COVID-19
pandemic. Journal of Business Ethics, 18, 645-660. - Kong, D. T., & Yao, J. (2021). Words beyond the partial deed: Prosocial framing of a
partial-trust act promotes reciprocation between strangers. Social Psychology Quarterly,
84, 267-280. - (*equal authorship) Belkin, L.*, & Kong, D. T.* (2021). Supervisor companionate love
expression and elicited subordinate gratitude as moral-emotional facilitators of voice
amid COVID-19. Journal of Positive Psychology, 17, 832-846. - Jolly, P., Kong, D. T., & Kim, K. Y. (2021). Social support at work: An integrative review.
Journal of Organizational Behavior (Annual Review and Conceptual Development
Issue), 42, 229-251. - Li, A., Chiu, S., Kong, D. T., Cropanzano, R., & Ho, C. -W. (2021). How CEOs respond
to mortality salience during the COVID-19 pandemic: Integrating terror management
theory with regulatory focus theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107, 1188-1201. - Vera, D., Samba, C., Kong, D. T., & Maldonado, T. (2021). Resilience as thriving: The
role of positive leadership practices. Organizational Dynamics, 50, 100784. - Kong, D. T., Ho, V. T., & Garg, S. (2020). Employee and coworker idiosyncratic deals:
Implications for emotional exhaustion and deviant behaviors. Journal of Business
Ethics, 164, 593-609. - (*equal authorship) Cao, J.*, Kong, D. T.*, & Galinsky, A. D. (2020). Breaking bread
produces bigger pies: An empirical extension of shared eating to negotiations and a
commentary on Woolley and Fishbach (2019). Psychological Science, 31, 1340-1345. - Tuncel, E., Kong, D. T., McLean Parks, J., & Van Kleef, G. (2020). Face threat sensitivity
in distributive negotiations: Effects on negotiator self-esteem and demands.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 255-273. - Kong, D. T., & Belkin, L. Y. (2019). Being grateful and biased: Felt gratitude as a cause
of escalation bias in relational dilemmas. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
83, 88-101. - Kong, D. T., & Belkin, L. Y. (2019). Because I want to share, not because I should:
Prosocial implications of gratitude expression in repeated zero-sum resource allocation
exchanges. Motivation and Emotion, 43, 824-843. - Kong, D. T., Cooper, C. D., & Sosik, J. (2019). The state of research on leader humor.
Organizational Psychology Review, 9, 3-40. (lead article) - Kong, D. T., & Jolly, P. M. (2019). Lay beliefs about attention to and awareness of the
present: Implicit mindfulness theory (IMT) and its workplace implications. Journal of
Business and Psychology, 34, 685-707. (Recipient of the Journal of Business and
Psychology Editor Commendation Award 2018) - Kong, D. T., & Jolly, P. M. (2019). A stress model of psychological contract violation
among ethnic minority employees. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25,
424-438. - Kong, D. T., & Yao, J. (2019). Advancing the scientific understanding of trust and culture
in negotiations. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 12, 117-130. (invited
paper) - Kong, D. T. (2018). Trust toward a group of strangers as a function of stereotype-based
social identification. Personality and Individual Differences, 120, 265-270. - Kong, D. T., & Barsness, Z. I. (2018). Perceived managerial (remote leader)
trustworthiness as a moderator for the relationship between overall fairness and
perceived supervisory (direct leader) trustworthiness. Current Psychology, 37, 280-294. - Kong, D. T., & Gelb, B. (2018). Curbing, not rewarding, jerk behaviors on the job.
Rutgers Business Review, 3, 40-52. - Kong, D. T., & Ho, V. T. (2018). The performance implication of obsessive work passion:
Unpacking the moderating and mediating mechanisms from a conservation of resources
perspective. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27, 269-279. - (*equal authorship) Belkin, L. Y.*, & Kong, D. T.* (2018). Implications of advice rejection
in repeated exchanges: Advisor responses and advisee gratitude expression as a buffer.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 181-194. - Cooper, C. D., Kong, D. T., & Crossley, C. D. (2018). Leader humor as an interpersonal
resource: Integrating three theoretical perspectives. Academy of Management
Journal, 61, 769-796. (#3 most read article in the Academy of Management Journal for 2018) - Ho, V. T., Kong, D. T., Lee, C. H., Dubreuil, P., & Forest, J. (2018). Promoting
harmonious work passion among unmotivated employees: A two-nation investigation of
the compensatory function of cooperative psychological climate. Journal of Vocational
Behavior, 106, 112-125. - Kong, D. T. (2017). Sojourners’ ineffective sociocultural adaptation: Paranoia as a joint
function of distrust toward host nationals and neuroticism. Current Psychology, 36, 540-
548. - Kong, D. T., Lount, R. B., Jr., Olekalns, M., & Ferrin, D. L. (2017). Advancing the
scientific understanding of trust in the contexts of negotiations and repeated bargaining:
Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Trust Research, 7, 15-21. - Lu, S. C., Kong, D. T., Ferrin, D. L., & Dirks, K. T. (2017). What are the determinants of
interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations? Meta-analytic evidence and implications for
future research. Journal of Trust Research, 7, 22-50. (lead article) - Kong, D. T. (2016). Ethnic minorities’ paranoia and self-preservative work behaviors in
response to perceived ethnic discrimination, with collective self-esteem as a buffer.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 21, 334-351. - Kong, D. T. (2016). Exploring democracy and ethnic diversity as sociopolitical
moderators for the relationship between age and generalized trust. Personality and
Individual Differences, 96, 28-30. - Kong, D. T. (2016). A gene-dependent climatoeconomic model of generalized trust.
Journal of World Business, 51, 226-236. - Kong, D. T. (2016). The pathway to unethical pro-organizational behavior:
Organizational identification as a joint function of work passion and trait mindfulness.
Personality and Individual Differences, 93, 86-91. - Kong, D. T. (2016). Ostracism perception as a multiplicative function of trait self-esteem,
mindfulness, and facial emotion recognition ability. Personality and Individual
Differences, 93, 68-73. - (*equal authorship) Kong, D. T.*, & Ho, V. T.* (2016). A self-determination perspective of
strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications. Journal
of Positive Psychology, 11, 15-25. - Kong, D. T., Bottom, W. P., & Konczak, L. J. (2016). Negotiators’ emotion perception
and value-claiming under different incentives. International Journal of Conflict
Management, 27, 146-171. (lead article) (Selected by the journal’s editorial team as a Highly Commended paper in the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence) - Kong, D. T., & Volkema, R. (2016). Cultural endorsement of broad leadership prototypes
and wealth as predictors of corruption. Social Indicators Research, 127, 139-152. - Campagna, R. T., Mislin, A. A., Kong, D. T., & Bottom, W. P. (2016). Strategic
consequences of emotional misrepresentation in negotiation: The blowback effect.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 605-624. (lead article) - Barnes, C., Guarana, C., Nauman, S., & Kong, D. T. (2016). Too tired to inspire or be
inspired: Sleep deprivation and charismatic leadership. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 101, 1191-1199. - Kong, D. T. (2015). The role of mindfulness and neuroticism in predicting acculturative
anxiety forecasting error. Mindfulness, 6, 1387-1400. - Kong, D. T. (2015). A gene-environment interaction model of social trust: The 5-
HTTLPR S-allele prevalence as a moderator for the democracy-trust linkage. Personality
and Individual Differences, 87, 278-281. - Kong, D. T. (2015). Narcissists’ negative perception of their counterpart’s competence
and benevolence and their own reduced trust in a negotiation context. Personality and
Individual Differences, 74, 196-201. - Kong, D. T., Konczak, L., & Bottom, W. P. (2015). Team performance as a joint function
of team member satisfaction and agreeableness. Small Group Research, 46, 160-178. - (*equal authorship) Ho, V. T.*, & Kong, D. T.* (2015). Exploring the signaling function of
idiosyncratic deals and their interaction. Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes, 131, 149-161. - Kong, D. T. (2014). Perceived competence and benevolence of political institutions as
culturally universal facilitators of political trust: Evidence from Arab countries. Cross-
Cultural Research, 48, 385-399. - Kong, D. T. (2014). Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT/MEIS)
and overall, verbal, and nonverbal intelligence: Meta-analytic evidence and critical
contingencies. Personality and Individual Differences, 66, 171-175. - Kong, D. T. (2014). An economic-genetic theory of corporate corruption across cultures:
An interactive effect of wealth and 5HTTLPR-SS/SL frequency on corporate corruption
mediated by cultural endorsement of self-protective leadership. Personality and
Individual Differences, 63, 106-111. - Kong, D. T., Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2014). Interpersonal trust within negotiations:
Meta-analytic evidence, critical contingencies, and directions for future research.
Academy of Management Journal, 57, 1235-1255. (lead article) - Kong, D. T. (2013). Leader election outcomes as contextual moderators explaining the
different frequencies of action-oriented terms and negation terms used in inaugural
speeches of effective versus ineffective leaders and charismatic versus non-charismatic
leaders: Evidence from 30 U.S. presidents. Personality and Individual Differences, 55,
760-765. - Kong, D. T. (2013). Examining a climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social
trust mediated by uncertainty avoidance. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 574-
588. - Kong, D. T. (2013). Intercultural experience as an impediment of trust: Examining the
impact of intercultural experience and social trust culture on institutional trust in
government. Social Indicators Research, 113, 847-858. - Bottom, W. P., & Kong, D. T. (2012). “The casual cruelty of our prejudices”: On Walter
Lippmann’s theory of stereotype and its “obliteration” in psychology and social science.
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 48, 363-394. - Kong, D. T., Tuncel, E., & McLean Parks, J. (2011). Anticipating happiness in a future
negotiation: Anticipated happiness, propensity to initiate a negotiation, and individual
outcomes. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 4, 219-247. - Bottom, W. P., & Kong, D. T. (2010). Normative models for strategic decision making in
industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior. Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, 3, 417-420.
Book Chapters
- Van de Vliert, E., & Kong, D. T. (2019). Cold, heat, wealth, and culture. In D. Matsumoto, & H. C. Hwang (Eds.), The handbook of culture and psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
- Kong, D. T., & Drew, S. (2016). Meta-analyzing the differential effects of emotions on disengagement from unethical behavior: An asymmetric self-regulation model. In D. T. Kong & D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leading through conflict: Into the fray (Chapter 2). New York, NY: Palgrave/McMillan.
- Kong, D. T. (2015). Mindfulness in interpersonal negotiations: Delineating the concept of mindfulness and proposing a mindful, relational self-regulation (MRSR) model. In J. Reb & P. W. Atkins (Eds.), Mindfulness in organizations (Chapter 12). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Bottom, W. P., Kong, D. T., & Mislin, A. (2014). Judgment bias and decision making in negotiation. In M. Benoliel (Ed.), Negotiation excellence: Successful deal making (2 nd ed.) (Chapter 11). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.
- Ferrin, D. L., Kong, D. T., & Dirks, K. T. (2014). Trust building, diagnosis, and repair in the context of negotiation. In M. Benoliel (Ed.), Negotiation excellence: Successful deal making (2 nd ed.) (Chapter 6). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.
- Kong, D. T. (2013). Followers’ judgment of leader integrity as situated social cognition. In J. B. Ciulla, M. Uhl-Bien, & P. Werhane (Eds.), Volume III. Leadership ethics: Contexts and narratives (Chapter 58). New York: Sage.
- Bottom, W. P., Kong, D. T., & Mislin, A. (2011). Judgment bias and decision making in negotiation. In M. Benoliel (Ed.), Negotiation excellence: Successful deal making (pp.211-228). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.
- Ferrin, D. L., Kong, D. T., & Dirks, K. T. (2011). Trust building, diagnosis, and repair in the context of negotiation. In M. Benoliel (Ed.), Negotiation excellence: Successful deal making (pp.123-138). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Publishing.
