1. Leeds University Business School
  2. People
  3. Profile
Professor Chia-Huei Wu

Professor Chia-Huei Wu

Profile

Professor Chia-Huei Wu studies proactive behaviour, personality development, work design, overqualification and employees' subjective well-being. 

Research theme 1: Employee proactivity

In today’s global economy, organizations face complex environments that require rapid responses to changing external environments. To succeed within these increasingly uncertain operating environments, in addition to adapting to changes, employees can proactively respond to challenges to improve the work environment or themselves. For example, to face the anticipated challenge and industry trends, employees can create, introduce, and apply new ideas at work. They can make constructive suggestions to improve the work environment. Employees can also be proactive to advance their careers, for example, by actively building relationships with colleagues, seeking information and feedback from supervisors and senior colleagues for how to do jobs well, or negotiating job contents to fully utilize their skills and interests. However, not all employees are willing or able to take the initiative at work. Why some employees are more proactive than others? What makes some people more likely to initiate positive change within their organizations? What supervisors, team managers, and organizations can do to promote employees’ proactivity? Whether being proactive can always bring benefits to the individual and the team or organization? I conduct research to address these questions. 

Representative work 

  1. Xu, L., Liu, Z., Ji, M., Dong, Y, Wu, C. H. (in press). Leader perfectionism—friend or foe of employee creativity? Locus of control as a key contingency. Academy of Management Journal.
  2. Deng, H., Coyle-Shapiro, J., Zhu, Y., Wu, C-H. (in press). Serving the cause when my organization does not: A self-affirmation model of employees’ compensatory responses to ideological contract breach. Personnel psychology.
  3. Peng, K. Z., & Wu, C. H. (eds) (2021). Emotion and Proactivity at Work: Prospects and Dialogues. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. [Open Access]
  4. Wu, C. H., de Jong, J. P. J., Raasch, C. & Poldervaart S. (2020). Work process-related lead userness as an antecedent of innovative behavior and user innovation in organizations. Research Policy, 49, 103986.
  5. Wu, C. H. (2019). Employee proactivity in organizations: An attachment perspective. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press
  6. Wu, C. H., Parker, S. K., Wu, L. Z. & Lee, C. (2018). When and why people engage in different forms of proactive behavior: Interactive effects of self-construals and work characteristics. Academy of Management Journal, 61, 293-323.
  7. Wu, C. H., Deng, H., & Li, Y. (2018). Enhancing a sense of competence at work by engaging in proactive behavior: The role of proactive personality. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19, 801-816.
  8. Wu, C. H., & Parker, S. K. (2017). The role of leader support in facilitating proactive work behavior: A perspective from attachment theory. Journal of Management, 43, 1025–1049.
  9. Duan, J., Li, C., Xu, Y., & Wu, C. H. (2017). Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion mechanism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38, 650-670.
  10. Wu, C. H., Liu, J., Kwan, H. K. & Lee, C. (2016). Why and when workplace ostracism inhibits organizational citizenship behaviors: An organizational identification perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 362-378.
  11. De Jong J. P.J., Parker S. K., Wennekers, S., Wu, C. H. (2015). Entrepreneurial behavior in organizations: Does job design matter? Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39, 981-995.
  12. Wu, C.-H., & Wang, Z. (2015). How transformational leadership shapes team proactivity: The mediating role of positive affective tone and the moderating role of team task variety. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 19, 137-151.
  13. Wu, C. H., Parker, S. K., De Jong, J. P. J. (2014). Need for cognition as an antecedent of individual innovation behavior. Journal of Management, 40, 1511-1534.

 

Research theme 2: Work and Personality Development

Can work experiences shape our personality? If so, how? An increasingly prominent research line over recent years has started to indicate that personality is not fixed and it even changes in middle and late life. Work experiences have been proposed as triggers to drive personality change because what we do in our daily jobs shapes our beliefs and behaviors every day, and who we are in the long run. I am interested in the role of work experiences in shaping personality change. Using longitudinal data over multiple years, I have found that job autonomy, time demands, job satisfaction, job stress, and chronic job insecurity are factors associated with personality change. More studies will come to unpack how work can drive personality development.

Representative work

  1. Li, W.-D., Li, S., Feng, J. (J.), Wang, M., Zhang, H., Frese, M., & Wu, C.-H. (2021). Can becoming a leader change your personality? An investigation with two longitudinal studies from a role-based perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106, 882-901.
  2. Wang Y., & Wu C. H. (2021). Work and Personality Change: What You Do Makes Who You Are. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press.
  3. Wu, C. H., Wang, Y., Parker, S. K., & Griffin, M. A. (2020). Effects of chronic job insecurity on Big Five personality change. Journal of Applied Psychology,105(11), 1308-1326.
  4. Woods, S. A., Wille, B., Wu, C. H., Lievens, F., De Fruty, F. (2019) The influence of work on personality trait development: The demands-affordances transactional (DATA) model, an integrative review, and research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 258-271.
  5. Wang, Y.,Wu, C. H., Parker, S. K., Griffin, M. A. (2018). Developing goal orientations conducive to learning and performance: An intervention study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 91, 875-895.
  6. Wu, C. H. (2016). Personality change via work: A job demand-control model of big-five personality changes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 92, 157-166.
  7. Wu, C. H., Griffin, M. A., & Parker, S. K. (2015). Developing agency through good work: Longitudinal effects of job autonomy and skill utilization on locus of control. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 89, 102-108.
  8. Wu, C. H., & Griffin, M. A. (2012). Longitudinal relationships between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 331-342.

 

Other research publications

  1. Luksyte, A., Bauer, T. N., Debus, M., Erdogan B., & Wu, C. H. (2022). Perceived overqualification and collectivism orientation: Implications for work and non-work outcomes. Journal of Management, 48, 319-349.
  2. Duan, J., Xia, Y., Xu, Y., Wu, C. H. (2022). The curvilinear effect of perceived overqualification on constructive voice: The moderating role of leader consultation and the mediating role of work engagement. Human Resource Management, 61, 489-510.
  3. Yoshikawa, K., Wu, C. H., & Lee, H. (2020). Generalized Exchange Orientation: Conceptualization and scale development. Journal of Applied Psychology,  105, 294–311.
  4. Zhou, Y., Zou, M., Woods, S. A., & Wu, C. H. (2019). The restorative effect of work after unemployment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 1195-1206.
  5. Deng, H., Guan, Y., Wu, C. H., Erdogan, B, Bauer., T. &, Yao, X. (2018). A relational model of overqualification: The role of interpersonal influence on overqualified employees’ social acceptance and performance. Journal of Management, 44, 3288-3310.
  6. Deng, H., Wu, C. H., Leung, K., & Guan, Y. J. (2016). Depletion from self-regulation: A resource-based account of the effect of value incongruence. Personnel Psychology, 69, 431-465.

Editorial service

  • Human Relations, edtiroal borad memeber since 2015
  • Journal of Business and Psychology, edtiroal borad memeber since 2016
  • Journal of Business Research, edtiroal borad memeber since 2016
  • Journal of Management, associate editor 2020 – 
Award
  1. 2021 Annual Award for Research and Development in Sport Science, Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (R.O.C.)). Chen, L. H., Wu, C.-H., Ni, Y.-L., & Kuo, C.-C. (2021). The differential interaction effect of mastery and performance climate on athletes’ emotional and physical exhaustion: The role of athletes’ gratitude. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 10, 394–407
  2. 2020 Annual Award for Research and Development in Sport Science, Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (R.O.C.)). Chang, W. H., Chi, L., Wu, C.-H., & Chen, L. H. (2019). Perceived coach autonomy support and athlete burnout: The role of athletes’ experiential avoidance. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 50(6), 503-522.
  3. 2019 Annual Award for Research and Development in Sport Science, Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (R.O.C.): Chang, W. H., Wu, C. H., Kuo, C. C., & Chen, L. H. (2018). The role of athletic identity in the development of athlete burnout: The moderating role of psychological flexibility. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 39, 45-51.
  4. 2019 Best scientific paper award at the 19th congress of the EAWOP. Wu, C. H., Wang, Y., Parker, S. K., & Griffin, M. A. (2019). Effects of prolonged job insecurity on Big Five personality change. The 19th conference of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, Turin, Italy, 29 May – 1 June.
  5. 2018 Annual Award for Research and Development in Sport Science, Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (R.O.C.): Chen, L. H., Wu, C. H., Lin, S-H., & Ye, Y-C. (2018). Top-down or button-up? The reciprocal longitudinal relationship between athletes’ team satisfaction and life satisfaction. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 7, 1-12.
  6. 2018 Academy of Management - Careers Division 2018 Best Overall Paper Award: Zhou, Y., Zou, M., Woods, S. A., M., & Wu, C. H. (2018). The restorative effect of work after unemployment. Academy of Management 2018 Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, US, August 10-14. In Guclu Atinc (Ed.), Proceedings of the Seventy-eighth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Online ISSN: 2151-6561
  7. 2014 Annual Award for Research and Development in Sport Science, Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (R.O.C.): Chen, L. H. & Wu, C. H. (2014). Gratitude enhances change of athlete’s self-esteem: The moderating role of trust in coach. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 26, 349-362

Involved Grant

  1. 2021-2022 Economic and Social Research Council, UK. Adapting offices to support COVID-19 secure workplaces and emerging work patterns. (GBP£406,464). [PI: Matthew Davis, Co-PIs: Helen Hughes, Emma Gritt, Simon Rees, & Chia-Huei Wu].
  2. 2021 (Full year) Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. Decoding and promoting resilient brains: from multivariate profiling to intervention. (GBP£417,810). [International Partner on Subproject #1: “Understanding the Cognitive and Neural Correlates in Psychological Resilience: An Integration of VR Training and tDCS Approach.”]
  3. 2019-2021 Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. Unbeatable Mind: BIG data (brain imaging genetics) and AIR cloud platform (AI, AR/VR) decode resilient brain for success. (NTD$8,779,000). [International Partner on Subproject #1: Neural correlates of individual differences in psychological resilience and cognitive functioning in a sample of normal adults, and elite athletes]
  4. 2018-2021 European Research Council: “Individual action through social organizations: The case of poverty” (IATSO) (€1,217,313,76) (PI: Harry Barkema; CO-PIs: Chia-Huei Wu and others).
  5. 2018-2020 Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. Add-on Grant for International Cooperation (NTD$300,000) (with Dr. Lung Hung Chen): Growth trajectories, social network, interpersonal interaction, and enhancing strategy of athlete’s gratitude
  6. 2017 ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (AUD$27,250,000) (Centre Director: Dr. John Piggott). Associate Investigator for “Organisations and the mature workforce” Steam (led by Dr. Sharon Parker).
  7. 2014 BHP Billiton Distinguished Research Award (AUD$21,624) Understanding Overqualified Employees: A Cross-Cultural Study of When Positive Behaviors and Attitudes Possible (Luksyte, A., Bauer, T. N., Debus, M., Erdogan, B., & Wu, C. H.) 
  8. 2014 The SIOP International Research and Collaboration (IRC) Small Grant (USD$3,500). Understanding Overqualified Employees: A Cross-Cultural Study of When Positive Behaviors and Attitudes Possible (Luksyte, A., Bauer, T. N., Debus, M., Erdogan, B., & Wu, C. H.)

Research interests

  • Proactive behaviour at work
  • Personality development and work
  • Work design
  • Leadership
  • Subjective well-being
  • Adult attachment
  • Coaching and sport psychology

Qualifications

  • 2013, PhD , University of Western Australia, Australia
  • 2011, Mphil, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • 2006 M.Sc in Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  • 2003 B.Sc in Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  • 2015 Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Professional memberships

  • Academy of Management
  • Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
  • British Psychological Society

Research groups and institutes

  • Workplace Behaviour Research Centre