Referred for the Job, Less Welcome by the Team
Employee referrals can aid hiring but carry hidden downsides. Research by Smith’s Rellie Derfler-Rozin finds staff often see referred hires as less meritorious and offer less support, despite strong performance. Clear communication about hiring rigor and involving employees can reduce bias.
Navigating the New Path to Promotion
Promotions are slowing as employers rely on “quiet promotions,” asking workers to take on more responsibility before raises. Smith’s Nicole Coomber advises building skills, using AI to free time, and aligning strengths with roles to position for future advancement.
The Feedback Fix for Manager Blind Spots
Managers receive limited feedback, leaving blind spots in leadership. Smith lecturer Roy Thomason advocates 360-degree evaluations and two-way communication to improve performance, build psychological safety and strengthen teams, emphasizing acting on feedback and leveraging strengths while addressing weaknesses through collaboration.
Debate Training May Help Employees Rise as Leaders, New Research from Smith’s Hui Liao Shows
A study co-authored by Smith School professor Hui Liao finds debate training boosts leadership advancement by increasing assertiveness. Published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the research shows structured training helps participants emerge as leaders and earned a 2025 Academy of Management award.
Does Status Stand in the Way of Standing up for a Colleague?
Research by Rellie Derfler-Rozin of the University of Maryland’s Smith School finds high-status employees often stay silent when coworkers face supervisory mistreatment. Fear of retaliation outweighs intervention, unless individuals feel secure in their overall status across multiple areas of life beyond the workplace.
Setting Higher Referral Targets Increases the Number of Women Recommended: Evidence From the Field and Lab
Women continue to be underrepresented in numerous occupations and in the highest echelons of many organizations. This may be due, in part, to disadvantages they face in referral-based hiring and promotion processes. We propose a low-cost and easily scalable intervention to boost referrals of women in male-dominated contexts: requesting a greater target number of referrals (e.g., at least four instead of at least two referrals).
Advisor-Advisee Research Overlap and Its Implications for Scientists’ Early-Career Performance in the U.S.
A genealogical training process, in which senior (advisor) scientists engage in cross-generational transfer of skills and knowledge to junior (advisee) scientists is one of the core organizational features of modern science. In this paper, we examine the consequences of the tension faced by all junior scientists: to build upon an advisor’s skills or to strike out on one’s own? We study the implications of advisor-advisee research overlap for emerging scientists’ performance by constructing a novel, bibliometric-record-based dataset on 15,271 U.S.
Research From Smith Explores Partisan Lean in the Workplace
Reuben Hurst introduces VRscores, a public database linking voter registrations to 24.5 million U.S. workers, revealing partisan leanings across employers and suggesting workplaces may foster sustained interaction between Democrats and Republicans, potentially moderating political polarization.
The referral penalty: Decreased perceptions of merit undermine helping behavior towards referred employees
Employee referrals are commonly used by organizations due to their numerous benefits. However, it remains unclear how organizational incumbents, who are uninvolved in the hiring process, perceive and react to referral beneficiaries. Although traditional views suggest that the presence of a referral signals merit, incumbents’ perceptions may differ.