Dr. Qin Zhou

Profile

Dr. Qin Zhou received her PhD in Management from Aston University, Birmingham. She joined Leeds in January 2022. Her research interests include leadership, creativity, and HRM systems. She previously worked at Durham University, University of York, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa in Portugal, and Twente University in the Netherlands. 

Research interests

My research interests include employee creativity, leadership, organizational resilience, and wellbeing. My research findings have theoretical implications for understanding how organisational practices shape employee attitudes and performance in the dynamic, changing business environment. These findings also constitute actionable knowledge that organisations can leverage to more effectively manage their workforces. The quality and contributions of my research are evidenced by a growing body of publications, which have appeared in premier OB/HRM journals, including Journal of Management (ABS4), Journal of Organizational Behavior (ABS4), Journal of Business Research (ABS3), Journal of Business Ethics (ABS 3), Applied Psychology: An International Review (ABS3), Human Performance (ABS3), and International Journal of Human Resource Management (ABS3), International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (ABS3).

Research theme 1: Employee Creativity

I focus on how individual creativity related factors such as motivational orientation, emotions and creative self-efficacy interact with relevant contexts to influence their creative behaviour at work.

Research theme 2: Leadership

I focus on the processes through which leaders influence employee outcomes, including individual-based cognitive and motivational processes and group-level climate engineering, as well as the contexts of leading and influencing.

Research theme 3: Wellbeing & Resilience

I am interested in how organizations and their employees build and invest resources for resilience and wellbeing.

I am open to PhD applications with topics related to my research interests.

Refereed Publications

Edafioghor, T.E., Zhou, Q. & Wu, C.H. (Accepted in 2025) Leveraging employees' social capital for organizational resilience in small and medium-sized enterprises: The role of high-involvement work practices. Human Resource Management.
Xu AJ; Jiang Z; Zhou Q; Wu C-H (2024) Dare to thrive! How and when do development idiosyncratic deals promote individual thriving at work? Human Resource Management, 63, (5), pp. 755-773.
Zhou, Q., Sacramento, C., & Martinaityte, I. (2023). Work meaningfulness and performance among healthcare professionals: The role of professional respect and participative management. Journal of Business Research, 163, 113908. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113908
Zhou, Q., Edafioghor, T. E., Wu, C.-H., & Doherty, B. (2023). Building organizational resilience capability in small and medium-sized enterprises: The role of high-performance work systems. Human Resource Management Journal, 33, 806-827. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12479
Ete, Z., Epitropaki, O., Zhou, Q., & Graham, L. (2022). Leader and Organizational Behavioral Integrity and Follower Behavioral Outcomes: The Role of Identification Processes. Journal of Business Ethics, 176(4), 741-760. doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04728-6
Lin, S.-Y., Park, G., Zhou, Q., & Hirst, G. (2022). Two birds, one stone: How altruism can facilitate both individual creativity and prosocial behavior in two different team contexts. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice. doi:10.1037/gdn0000188
Costa, C. G., Zhou, Q. & Ferreira, A. I. (2020). State and trait anger predicting creative process engagement – the role of emotion regulation. The Journal of Creative Behavior 54(1): 5-19.
Aryee, S., Kim, T., Zhou, Q. & Ryu, S. (2019). Customer service at altitude: Effects of empowering leadership. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 31(9): 3722-3741.
Hirst, G., van Knippenberg, D, Zhou, Q., Zhu, C. & Tsai, P. (2018). Team exploitation and exploration climates' influence on individual performance and creativity: Diminishing returns as a function of self-efficacy. Journal of Management.44 (3): 870-891. doi: 10.1177/0149206315596814
Costa,C. G., Zhou, Q. & Ferreira, A. I. (2018). The impact of anger on creative process engagement: The role of social contexts. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 39(4): 495-506.
Zhou, Q., Martinez , L. F., Ferreira, A. I. & Rodrigues, P. (2016). Productivity losses attributed to presenteeism, supervision support, and role ambiguity: Evidence from a longitudinal study. Journal of Business Research. 69 (9) pp.3380-3387.
Zhou, Q., & Pan W. (2015) A cross-level examination of the process linking transformational leadership and creativity: The role of psychological safety climate. Human Performance. 28(5). pp.405-424. doi:10.1080/08959285.2015.1021050
Shipton, H., Zhou, Q., & Mooi, E. (2013). Is there a global model of learning organizations? An empirical cross-national study. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(12), 2278-2298. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2013.781431
Zhou, Q., Hirst, G., & Shipton, H. (2012). Context matters: Combined influence of participation and intellectual stimulation on the promotion focus–employee creativity relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(7), 894-909. doi: 10.1002/job.779
Zhou, Q., Hirst, G., & Shipton, H. (2012). Promoting creativity at work: The role of problem-solving demand. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 61(1), 56-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-0597.2011.00455.x

Qualifications

• PhD in Management, Aston University (2008)
• MSc in HRM and Business, Aston University (2003)

Professional memberships

• Academy of Management
• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Student education

I am module leader for LUBS5386M Organizational Development and Change and OLUB5205M Leadership for Change.

Research groups and institutes

• Workplace Behaviour Research Centre