Suzanne van Gils, PhD, is professor in communication. She is also the Associate Dean for the new MSc program in Digital Communication Management. Her research interests focus on (im)moral behavior in organizations, (digital) incivil behavior, identity processes, and leader-employee interactions. Recent projects focus among others on the leadership communication and ethical behavior in (digital) teams. She is the section co-editor of the section quantitative leadership for the Journal of Business Ethics.
Suzanne's teaching focuses on communication for leadership, ethics, business communication, as well as quantitative and qualitative digital methods at the MSc and PhD level.
Before joining BI in 2019, Suzanne has worked as an assistant professor at Maastricht University, and as a post-doctoral research fellow at Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Suzanne's work has been published in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Leadership Quarterly, and Journal of Business ethics. An overview of recent publications can be found on Suzanne's Researchgate profile or on Google scholar.
Building on the Job Demands-Resources theory, we present moral identity internalization as moderator for
the curvilinear relationship between ethical leadership and stress.
Study 1 (N = 231, MTurkers) showed participants a vignette indicating low, high, or extreme levels of ethical leadership and then measured moral identity and stress. We found that extreme levels of ethical leadership are more stressful than high levels for participants low in moral identity, while there is no difference in stress for those high in moral identity. Study 2 (N = 257, prolific.com participants) replicated these findings using continuous measures and Johnson-Neyman analyses. Both studies support our hypothesized interaction pattern: While higher levels of ethical leadership negatively related to stress for those high in moral identity, those low in Moral identity may experience a U-shaped pattern such that high levels of ethical leadership are optimal, while both low and extreme levels of ethical leadership evoke stress.
Online crowdsourcing platforms have rapidly become a popular source of data collection. Despite the various advantages these platforms offer, there are substantial concerns regarding not only data validity issues, but also the ethical, societal, and global ramifications arising from the prevalent use of online crowdsourcing platforms. This paper seeks to expand the dialogue by examining both the “internal” aspects of crowdsourcing research practices, such as data quality issues, reporting transparency, and fair compensation, and the “external” aspects, in terms of how the widespread use of crowdsourcing data collection shapes the nature of scientific communities and our society in general. Online participants in research studies are informal workers who provide labor in exchange for remuneration. The paper thus highlights the need for researchers to consider the markedly different political, economic, and socio-cultural characteristics of the Global North and the Global South when undertaking crowdsourcing research involving an international sample; such consideration is crucial for both increasing research validity and mitigating societal inequities. We encourage researchers to scrutinize the value systems underlying this popular data collection research method and its associated ethical, societal, and global ramifications, as well as provide a set of recommendations regarding the use of crowdsourcing platforms.
Meurer, Madeleine; Bucher, Eliane & Gils, Suzanne van (2024)
Defending your own or trolling the haters? A configurational approach to incivility in online communities
This study explores the emergence of incivility in online communities, challenging the traditional perspective that attributes incivility to individual elements of sociotechnical systems. We argue that this narrow focus fails to recognize the complex interactions between these elements, leading to a rudimentary understanding of how incivility originates and evolves. To address this gap, our research employs fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), examining approximately 4.3 million posts from 100 diverse online communities on Reddit. Through this analysis, we identified five distinct paths that converged into two primary community configurations: close-knit and scattered communities. Each configuration exhibits unique affordances whose activation fosters incivility in different ways. Based on these findings, we expand the understanding of incivility to include subtle, indirect behaviors beyond overt forms such as trolling or hate speech and show how the interplay of multiple community elements produces affordances, avoiding the narrow view of individual affordances and shedding light on variations of social systems. Finally, we demonstrate that within the same digital platform, different social systems can impact user behaviors, including incivility.
Manara, Muhammad Untung; Nübold, Annika, Gils, Suzanne van & Zijlstra, Fred R H (2023)
Exploring the path to corruption-An informed grounded theory study on the decision-making process underlying corruption
Organizational research on the dark triad has, so far, focused on individual differences in employees’ stable tendencies to act in manipulative, grandiose, or callous ways (i.e., dark triad traits). Research on momentary expressions of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy (i.e., dark triad states) and the work situations that may trigger them is still in its infancy. Based on the conservation of resources theory, we hypothesized that daily role ambiguity and role conflict deplete employees’ daily self-control resources which, in turn, is related to the daily expression of dark triad states. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two daily diary studies across 5 and 10 workdays. Consistent with expectations, on days when employees experienced more role conflict than usual, they were more likely to express their darker side of personality. In contrast, hypotheses about the detrimental effects of daily role ambiguity and the mediating role of daily self-control depletion were not supported.
Gläser, Daniel; Gils*, Suzanne van & Quaquebeke, Niels Van (2022)
With or Against Others? Pay-for-Performance Activates Aggressive Aspects of Competitiveness
While paying employees for performance (PfP) has been shown to elicit increased
motivation by way of competitive processes, the present paper investigates whether the same competitive processes inherent in PfP can also encourage aggressiveness. We tested our hypothesis in three studies that conceptually build on each other: First, in a word completion experiment (N = 104), we find that PfP triggers the implicit activation of the fighting and defeating facets of competitiveness. Second, in a multi-source field study (N = 94), coworkers
reported more interpersonal deviance from colleagues when the latter received a
performance bonus than when they did not. In our final field study (N = 286), we tested the full model, assessing the effect of PfP and interpersonal deviance mediated by competitiveness: Employees with a bonus self-reported higher interpersonal deviance towards their co-workers, which was mediated by individual competitiveness. These findings underscore that PfP can entail powerful yet widely unstudied collateral effects
Trijp, Catharina Petronella Johanna Van; Lekhal, Ratib, Drugli, May Britt, Rydland, Veslemøy, Gils, Suzanne van, Vermeer, Harriet J & Buøen, Elisabet Solheim (2021)
The Association between Toddlers’ Temperament and Well-Being in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care, and the Moderating Effect of Center-Based Daycare Process Quality.
Children who experience well-being are engaging more confidently and positively with their caregiver(s) and peers, which helps them to profit more from available learning opportunities and support current and later life outcomes. The goodness-of-fit theory suggests that children’s well-being might be a result of the interplay between their temperament and the environment. However, there is a lack of studies that examined the association between children’s temperament and well-being in early childhood education and care (ECEC), and whether this association is affected by ECEC process quality. Using a multilevel random coefficient approach, this study examines the association between toddlers’ (N = 1,561) temperament (shyness, emotionality, sociability, and activity) and well-being in Norwegian ECEC and investigates whether process quality moderates this association. Results reveal an association between temperament and well-being. Staff-child conflict moderates the association between shyness and well-being, and between activity and well-being. Moreover, high emotional behavioral support moderates the association between activity and well-being. Extra attention should be paid by the staff to these children’s needs.
Vogt, Catharina; Gils, Suzanne van, Quaquebeke, Niels Van, Grover, Steven & Eckloff, Tilman (2021)
Proactivity at work: The roles of respectful leadership and leader group prototypicality
We propose that two aspects of leadership, perceived respectful leadership and the degree of leaders’ prototypicality, positively affect employee proactivity. A multisource and multilevel field study of 234 employees supervised by 62 leaders shows that respectful leadership relates positively to employee proactivity in terms of personal initiative and that leader group prototypicality diminishes this effect. Moreover, perceived respectful leadership and prototypicality substitute for one another in their relation to follower proactivity. This study contributes to previous research that shows leader–follower relationships enhance proactivity by showing the impact of perceived respectful leadership and leader group prototypicality.
Hülsheger, Ute; Gils, Suzanne van & Walkowiak, Alicia (2021)
The regulating role of mindfulness in enacted workplace incivility: An experience sampling study.
Incivility at work poses a problem, both for individuals who are the targets of incivility and for organizations. However, relatively little is known about what drives or hinders individuals to engage in incivility, and how they respond to their own uncivil behavior. Adopting a self-regulation perspective, we link theories explaining enacted incivility as self-regulatory failure with research about the self-regulatory benefits of mindfulness. We develop and investigate a conceptual model on the role of trait mindfulness in antecedent- and consequent-based processes of enacted workplace incivility. Data from an experience-sampling study across 5 work days provided support for the majority of our hypotheses. Individuals high in trait mindfulness not only showed generally low levels of enacted incivility, but they also displayed less variability in enacted incivility over time. Specifically, while enacted incivility was entrained to the work week and systematically decreased from Monday to Friday for individuals low in mindfulness, enacted incivility remained stable over the course of the work week for individuals high in mindfulness. Furthermore, employees high in trait mindfulness reacted in a more morally mature manner and experienced guilt when having engaged in uncivil behavior compared to their low mindful counterparts. However, increases in guilt for high mindful individuals did not translate into lower levels of enacted incivility the following work day. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Wong, Sut I & Gils, Suzanne van (2021)
Initiated and received task interdependence and distributed team performance: the mediating roles of different forms of role clarity
Distributed agile teams are increasingly employed in organizations, partly due to the increased focus on digital transformation. However, research findings about the performance of such teams appear to be inconsistent, calling for more research to investigate the conditions under which distributed agile teams may thrive. Given that task coordination is particularly challenging when team members are not co-located, the present study investigates the roles of the two types of task interdependence, i.e., initiated versus received task interdependence. Survey results from 191 participants working in distributed agile teams within three companies in Norway confirm our hypotheses. Specifically, we show that high initiated task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of others, while received task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of self, and that both subsequently result in higher team performance in distributed agile teams. Thus, we argue that each type of task interdependence contributes in a unique way to team performance in distributed agile teams.
Gils, Suzanne van; Otto, Tobias & Dinartika, Niken L (2020)
Better together? The neural response to moral dilemmas is moderated by the presence of a close other
We investigated the modulation of neural and behavioral responses to moral dilemmas by the physical presence of a close friend. We argue that the presence of a close other not only changes the moral response but also the process of decision-making, something that can only be discovered by combining insights from social and cognitive psychology. Our participants rated the acceptability of sacrificing ingroup members to save outgroup members and vice versa while being alone or in the presence of a close other. We obtained behavioral and functional MRI data from a within-participant functional MRI study (N = 17, native Dutch women). The behavioral data replicated classical identity theory with regard to higher acceptability to sacrifice the outgroup (vs. the ingroup) but did not show any differences when deciding alone or in the presence of the friend. The imaging results did not reveal main and interaction effects in our hypothesized brain areas. Exploratory analysis however revealed an interaction effect in a region previously found to be related to guilt and shame (superior frontal gyrus), such that reactions to the sacrifice of the outgroup evoked increased activation when being together with a close other. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
Manara, Muhammad Untung; Gils, Suzanne van, Nubold, Annika & Zijlstra, Fred R.H. (2020)
Corruption, Fast or Slow? Ethical Leadership Interacts with Machiavellianism to Influence Intuitive Thinking and Corruption
Ethical leadership has been suggested as an organizational factor that could reduce unethical behaviors in an organization. We extend this research by examining how and when ethical leadership could reduce followers’ corruption. We examined the moderating role of followers’ Machiavellianism and the mediating role of intuitive thinking style in the negative effect of ethical leadership on corruption. Across two different studies (field study and experiment), we found that ethical leadership decreases followers’ corruption (Studies 1 and 2) and that this negative effect is mediated by followers’ intuitive thinking style (Study 2). Furthermore, followers’ Machiavellianism moderated the direct negative effect of ethical leadership on corruption. However, the pattern of this moderation was not consistent. In Study 1, we found that ethical leadership has the strongest direct negative impact on corruption when followers’ Machiavellianism is high, whereas in Study 2, we found that ethical leadership has the strongest direct negative effect on corruption when followers’ Machiavellianism is low. The theoretical implications for corruption, ethical leadership, and information processing research, as well as practical implications for corruption prevention, will be discussed.
Árnadóttir, Augusta; Kok, Gerjo, Gils, Suzanne van & Hoor, Gill Ten (2019)
Waste separation: a study among university students in the Netherlands.
Recycling waste is important to reduce the production of greenhouse gasses. The aim of
this project was to understand determinants of cafeteria waste separation behavior among university
students. First, the determinants of waste separation behavior among university students (n = 121)
were explored using an online questionnaire. In study 2 (pre-/post-test design), the effect of a
small intervention (based on study 1) on actual waste sorting behavior was observed. Finally,
a semi-qualitative study in 59 students was conducted as process evaluation of the intervention.
The following results were revealed: (1) Students have limited knowledge about waste separation,
have a high intention to separate waste, are positive about waste separation in general, and
believe that they can separate waste correctly. (2) Just over half of the waste is correctly recycled.
An intervention with extra information had no significant effect on improving recycling behavior.
(3) Students evaluated the intervention positively. Some students suggested that more information
should be available where the actual decision making takes place. Ultimately, this paper concludes
that although students have a positive attitude and are willing to behave pro-environmentally, there is
a gap between intention and actual behavior. These results may also apply to other organizations and
members of those organizations. New interventions are needed to trigger students to make correct
waste separation decisions where the actual decision making takes place
Gils, Suzanne van & Horton, Kate (2019)
How can ethical brands respond to service failures? Understanding how moral identity motivates compensation preferences through self-consistency and social approval
We examine how the two dimensions of moral identity - internalization and symbolization - impact on customers' relationships with ethical brands, as well as their satisfaction with different types of (private versus public) compensation and apologies following service failures. We propose and find in a field study of customers of a green social enterprise (N = 159) and in an online scenario study (N = 214) that high moral identity internalization is associated with higher satisfaction with private apologies, but not with public apologies and compensation, while high moral identity symbolization is associated with higher satisfaction with public compensation and apologies, but not with private apologies and compensation. Study 2 extends these findings by confirming that self-consistency mediates the relationships between moral identity internalization and private apologies and compensation, while social approval mediates the relationships between moral identity symbolization and public apologies and compensation. Unexpectedly self-consistency also mediated the effect of symbolization on public compensation. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Gils, Suzanne van; Quaquebeke, Niels Van, Borkowski, Jan & Knippenberg, Daan van (2018)
Respectful leadership: Reducing performance challenges posed by leader role incongruence and gender dissimilarity
Digital kommunikasjon, Nye former for kommunikasjon i tradisjonelle og fremvoksende arbeidsmiljøer
Kommunikasjon for ledere og organisasjoner, , s. 423-437.
In 3rd edition!
Den økende digitaliseringen av kommunikasjon har hatt betydelig innvirkning både på intern og ekstern organisasjonskommunikasjon. Denne endringen, akselerert av covidCOVID-19-pandemien, har påvirket hvordan, når og hvor ansatte utfører oppgaver, utfordret ledelseskommunikasjon og fremmet nye former for organisasjonskommunikasjon. Digitalisering muliggjør fjernsamarbeid, transformerer tradisjonelle teamstrukturer, og krever en annen fokus fra ledere. Videre har det gitt opphav til gig-arbeid, der enkeltpersoner bruker digitale verktøy for oppgaver, fremmer fleksibilitet, men reiser også bekymringer om jobbsikkerhet. Digitale nomader, høyt kvalifiserte fagpersoner som adopterer en nomadisk arbeidsstil, illustrerer en unik side ved denne digitale tidsalderen. Mens tilhengere fremhever fleksibilitet og tilgjengelighet skapt av digitalt arbeid, påpeker kritikere problemstillinger knyttet til redusert jobbsikkerhet, mangel på ansatte goder og økningen av maktforskjeller. Generelt sett krever den digitale fremtiden at kommunikasjonsfagfolk utstyres med varierte ferdigheter, med vekt på digital kompetanse, strategisk planlegging, etiske hensyn og tilpasningsevne. Påvirkningen av digitalisering strekker seg ut over organisatoriske innstillinger, og påvirker det bredere landskapet av arbeid og kommunikasjon.
Gils, Suzanne van; Quaquebeke, Niels Van & Knippenberg, Daan van (2010)
The X-Factor: On the Relevance of Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories for Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Agreement.
To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors-in-chief of the journal have invited the editors to provide commentaries on the future of business ethics. This essay comprises a selection of commentaries aimed at creating dialog around the theme Bringing Excitement to Empirical Business Ethics Research (inspired by the title of the commentary by Babalola and van Gils). These editors, considering the diversity of empirical approaches in business ethics, envisage a future in which quantitative business ethics research is more bold and innovative, as well as reflexive about its techniques, and dialog between quantitative and qualitative research nourishes the enrichment of both. In their commentary, Babalola and van Gils argue that leadership research has stagnated with the use of too narrow a range of perspectives and methods and too many overlapping concepts. They propose that novel insights could be achieved by investigating the lived experience of leadership (through interviews, document analysis, archival data); by focusing on topics of concern to society; by employing different personal, philosophical, or cultural perspectives; and by turning the lens on the heroic leader (through “dark-side” and follower studies). Taking a provocative stance, Bal and Garcia-Lorenzo argue that we need radical voices in current times to enable a better understanding of the psychology underlying ethical transformations. Psychology can support business ethics by not shying away from grander ideas, going beyond the margins of “unethical behaviors harming the organization” and expanding the range of lenses used to studying behavior in context. In the arena of finance and business ethics, Guedhami, Liang, and Shailer emphasize novel data sets and innovative methods. Significantly, they stress that an understanding the intersection of finance and ethics is central to business ethics; financial equality and inclusion are persistent socio-economic and political concerns that are not always framed as ethics issues, yet relevant business policies and practices manifest ethical values. Finally, Charles Cho offers his opinion on the blurry line between the “ethical” versus “social” or “critical” aspects of accounting papers. The Journal of Business Ethics provides fertile ground for innovative, even radical, approaches to quantitative methods (see Zyphur and Pierides in J Bus Ethics 143(1):1–16, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3549-8, 2017), as part of a broad goal of ethically reflecting on empirical research.
Gils, Suzanne van & Buhmann, Alexander (2019)
Leadership communication can improve work: The effects of ethical value communica-tion on meaningful work, employee identification, and levels of stress
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Gils, Suzanne van (2014)
Digital kommunikasjon, Nye former for kommunikasjon i tradisjonelle og fremvoksende arbeidsmiljøer
Gils, Suzanne van (red.). Kommunikasjon for ledere og organisasjonen
Alm, Kristian & Gils, Suzanne van (2014)
Etisk kommunikasjon. Å kommunisere om etiske problemer og avgjørelser på en etisk måte
Alm, Kristian & Gils, Suzanne van (red.). Kommunikasjon for ledere og organisasjonen
3rd edition!
Dette kapittelet utforsker forholdet mellom etikk og organisasjonskommunikasjon. Vi diskuterer begrepet «etiske dilemmaer» og illustrerer typer dilemmaer som kan oppstå i organisasjoner. Kapittelet redegjør for ulike etiske teorier, inkludert konsekvensetikk, pliktetikk og dydsetikk, og gir en omfattende forståelse av etisk beslutningstaking som ligger til grunn for kommunikasjon. Derunder diskuteres kort Sokratisk dialog som en metode for etisk utforskning av kommunikasjon. Etisk ledelse blir fremhevet, med vekt på hvordan ledere kan utnytte etisk kommunikasjon. Dette blir diskutert basert påvia Jürgen Habermas’ diskursetikk, som kaster lys over betydningen av etisk ledelse i etiske diskusjoner, og av velbegrunnet enighet. Kapittelet avsluttes med en diskusjon av det som kan oppstå som et godt alternativ; velbegrunnet uenighet, med henvisning til John Rawls’ tenkning. Til slutt utforskes den institusjonaliserte ytringsfriheten som et verktøy for etisk kommunikasjon innen organisasjoner.
Alm, Kristian & Gils, Suzanne van (2014)
Etisk kommunikasjon
Alm, Kristian & Gils, Suzanne van (red.). Kommunikasjon for ledere og organisasjoner
Gils, Suzanne van (2014)
Digital kommunikasjon, Nye former for kommunikasjon i tradisjonelle og fremvoksende arbeidsmiljøer
Gils, Suzanne van (red.). Kommunikasjon for ledere og organisasjoner
Academic Degrees
Year
Academic Department
Degree
2012
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
