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Adaora Ubaka

Assistant Professor

Management

Education

BA in Philosophy, University of Florida, 2008
MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Seattle Pacific University, 2011
PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, University of Illinois Chicago, 2022

Research Interests

Positive Intergroup Relations in the Workplace
Non-Prototypical Leadership

Teaching Interests

Intro to Organizations
Intro to Human Resource Management
Organizational Behavior

Honors / Awards

Winner, Best Paper with Practical Implications, MOC Division, Academy of Management Conference, 2023
Best Reviewer Award, OB Division of Academy of Management Conference, 2023
Recipient, Community to Community Seed Grant, Northeastern University, 2023
Recipient, Honoring Our Professors' Excellence (HOPE) Award, UIC, 2022
Winner, Dissertation Research Grant, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP), UIC, 2022
Recipient, Janessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award, Society of Personality & Social Psychology, 2020
Winner, Best Student Conference Paper Award, DEI Division, Academy of Management Conference, 2020

Selected Publications

Ubaka, A., Cardador, M.T., Wayne, S.J. Relaxing into Differences and Energizing into Differences: How Group-Based Play Enables Demographically Diverse Adults to Co-Create a Climate of Psychological Safety (2024). Journal of Organizational Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2821 

Wayne, S. J., Sun, J., Kluemper, D. H., Cheung, G. W., & Ubaka, A. (2023). The cost of managing impressions for Black employees: An expectancy violation theory perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001030

Ubaka, A., Lu, X., Gutierrez, L. Testing the Generalizability of the White Leadership Standard in the Post-Obama Era. (2023). The Leadership Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101591