Rick Cotton

My research and outreach writ large is on how human, social, positive psychological and cultural capital foster success at multiple levels of analysis. I seek to understand how individuals can better thrive in their careers and better handle difficult work contexts. I’ve studied hall-of-famers, entrepreneurs and leaders from many countries around the world as well as those in difficult contexts, including female miners, correctional officers, those recovering from brain injury, new immigrants, HR professionals who have laid off thousands of employees and organizations recovering from scandal. I am also very interested in researching how countries and societies can move forward to achieve a variety of meaningful objectives while better alleviating isolation and suffering in part through enhanced cross-cultural communication, understanding and collaboration.

I am a principal co-investigator for the 140+ country Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program, a core research team member of the 40+ country Cross-Cultural Collaboration on Contemporary Careers (5C), and a prior Division Chair for the Academy of Management’s Careers Division, a Gustavson Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation fellow and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). For nearly three years, I have been a featured guest on CFAX 1070 Victoria and have done dozens of interviews on talent management challenges and solutions from both employer and employee perspectives. I have also taught in dozens of indigenous entrepreneurship programs where I relish learning side-by-side with budding first nations business builders to help them better channel their passion, potential, strengths, personality and developmental networks all in pursuit of greater prosperity and fulfillment. In the end, I love nothing more than helping individuals, organizations and even countries to better realize their potential and what better achieve what success means to them.

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Related Publications

• Andresen, M., Apospori, E., Gunz, H., Cotton, R., Hall, D. T., Shen, Y., Dickmann, M. & Parry, E.  (Forthcoming). Individuals' career perceptions in different institutionalized contexts: A comparative study of career actors in liberal, coordinated, hierarchical and Mediterranean market economies. Accepted for publication by Human Resource Management Journal. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1748-8583.12541
• Javidan, M., Cotton, R., Kar, A., Kumar, M. S., & Dorfman, P. (2023). A new leadership challenge: Navigating political polarization in organizational teams.  Accepted for publication by Business Horizons: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007681323000320?via%3Dihub
• Andresen, M., Lazarova, M., Apospori, E., Cotton, R., Bosak, J., Dickmann, M., Kase, R., & Smale, A. (2022). Does international work experience pay off? The relationship between international work experience, employability and career success: A 30‐country, multi‐industry study. Human Resource Management Journal, 32(3), 698-721. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12423
• Bagdadli, S., Gianecchini, M., Andresen, M., Cotton, R., Kaše, R., Lazarova, M., Smale, A., Bosak, J., Briscoe, J., Chudzikowski, K. & Reichel, A. (2021). Human capital development practices and career success: The moderating role of country development and income inequality. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42: 429-447. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1002/job.2506
• Kaše, R., Dries, N., Briscoe, J., Cotton, R., Apospori, E., Bagdadli, S., Övgü Çakmak‐Otluoğlu, K., et al. (2020). Career success schemas and their cultural embeddedness: A comparative configurational perspective. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(3): 422-440. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12218
• Andresen, M., Apospori, E., Gunz, H., Suzanne, P., Taniguchi, M., Lysova, E., Cotton, R., Shen, Y. et al., (2020). Careers in context: An international study of career goals as mesostructure between societies’ career-related human potential and proactive career behavior. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(3): 365-391. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-8583.12247
• Dastmalchian, A., Bacon, N., McNeil, N., Steinke, C., Blyton, P., Kumar, M. S., Bayraktar, S., Auer-Rizzi, W., Ahmad, A., Cotton, R.  et al. (2020). High-performance work systems and organizational performance across societal cultures. Journal of International Business Studies, 51, 353-388. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00295-9
• Smale, A., Bagdadli, S., Cotton, R., Dello Russo, S., Dickmann, M., Dysvik, A., Verbruggen, M. (2019). Proactive career behaviors and subjective career success: The moderating role of national culture. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(1), 105–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2316
• Parker, P., Cotton, R., Yates, M., Baxter, J., & Arend, S. (2019). Developmental network structure and support: Gendered consequences for work-family and work-parenting strain in the Australian mining industry. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(10), 1635–1665. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1299195
• Wang, L., & Cotton, R. (2018). Beyond Moneyball to social capital inside and out: The value of differentiated workforce experience ties to performance. Human Resource Management, 57(3),
  761–780. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21856
• Cotton, R., Stevenson, W. B., & Bartunek, J. M. (2017). A way forward: Cascading ethical and change leadership, values enactment and group level effects on commitment in corruption recovery. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 53(1), 89- 116. https://doi.org/101177/0021886316682591
• Hsu, D., Wiklund, J., & Cotton, R. (2017). Success, failure and entrepreneurial reentry: An experimental assessment of the veracity of self-efficacy and prospect theory. Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, 41(1),19–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12166
• Clair, J. A., Ladge, J. J., & Cotton, R. (2016). This is how we do it: How perceived prosocial impact offsets negative personal outcomes associated with carrying out necessary evils. Journal of Management Inquiry, 25(3), 301–321. https:/doi.org/10.1177/1056492615612577
• Clair, J., Ladge, J., & Cotton, R. (2016). Coping with the effects of emotionally difficult work. Harvard Business Review.
• Shen, Y., Cotton, R., & Kram, K. E. (2015). Assembling your personal board of advisors. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(3), 81–90.
• Cotton, R. (2013). Going global: The historical contingency of baseball hall of famer developmental networks. Career Development International, 18(3), 281–304. https:/doi.org/10.1108/CDI-12-2012-0127
• Cotton, R., & Shen, Y. (2013). The company you keep: The relational models and support expectations of key developer relationships. Career Development International, 18(4), 328–354. https:/doi.org/10.1108/CDI-09-2012-0093
• Cotton, R., Shen, Y., & Livne-Tarandach, R. (2011). On becoming extraordinary: The content and structure of the developmental networks of Major League Baseball Hall of Famers. Academy of Management Journal, 54(1), 15–46. https:/doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.59215081Related Book Chapters
•  Javidan, M., Cotton, R., Bullough, A., Dorfman, P.W., Satish Kumar, M. & Egri, C. P. (2024). Global Leadership.  In Asmussen, Hashai & Minbaeva (Eds.), Encyclopedia of International Strategic Management. London: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/encyclopedia-of-international-strategic-management-9781800884038.html
• Cotton, R. & Lazarova, M. (2023). The Canadian Mosaic lives on: Supporting immigrants in transitioning to the local labour market.  In J. Briscoe, M. Dickmann, D.T. Hall, W. Mayrhofer, & E. Parry (Eds.), Understanding Careers Around the Globe: Stories and Sourcebook.  Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781035308415/9781035308415.xml
• Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., Cotton, R., Bullough, A. & Kumar, M.S. (2023). GLOBE 2020: A Large-scale Multi-Country Multi-Method Study of the Relationship Between National Culture and Ideal Leadership. In Goethals, Allison, & Sorenson (Eds), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies. Sage Publications. https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-leadership-studies/i4507.xml
• Ghosh, R., Murphy, W., Cotton, R. & Kram, K. (2022). Seeking support from multiple developers: How to assess optimal structure, content, antecedents, and outcomes of developmental networks. In Ghosh & Hutchins (Eds), Connecting and Relating – HRD Perspectives on Developmental Relationships. Palgrave. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-85033-3?page=2#toc
• Cotton, R. & Murphy, W. (2019). Your Success Network: Building key relationships that support your goals. In T. Skertich (Ed.), Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents: The Best Part of Your Journey Is about to Begin, 10th Ed. Chicago, IL: Adventures in Medicine. http://physiciancareerplanning.com/ebooks/career-and-life-planning-guidebook-for-medical-residents/389/
• Dries, N., Cotton, R., Bagdadli, S., & Oliveira, M. Z. (2014). Talent across cultures: Meanings and mindsets. In Global Talent Management – Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities. Houten, Netherlands: Springer.