Professor of Leadership
BA, MA (University of Heidelberg), PhD (University of St Gallen)
My research interests include the social dynamics between leaders and followers. I examine, for example, how charismatic leaders affect followers, how emotions spread through organisations, and how leaders build emotional intelligence into organisational systems. My research relies on experimental, archival, survey and field studies. I’m a member of the Organisational Behaviour subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which aspires to promote our understanding of behaviour within organisations and translate our scientific research into practical applications.
Professional experience
Jochen’s research has been published in top-tier academic outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He regularly writes for Harvard Business Review and his discoveries have been featured in two TEDx talks and the media around the world, for example, by the BBC, CNN, The Economist, The Financial Times, Le Monde, The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and Die Zeit.
In his research, teaching and consulting, Jochen has worked with a diverse set of companies and organisations including the Adecco Group, the Boston Consulting Group, British Telecom, Daimler, easyJet, the European Commission, Google, Grey, Jaguar Land Rover, L’Oréal, Media Arts Lab, Microsoft, Nordea, Rolls-Royce, Trivago, the UK’s Cabinet Office, and the World Bank. As a co-founder of the Global HR Valley, a future-of-work ecosystem that is part of the Reskilling Revolution of the World Economic Forum, he builds a platform together with prominent businesses, organisations and governments to prepare leaders and organisations for a changing world of work.
Jochen has lectured at all academic levels and received multiple best teacher awards. He has also taught at startup incubators such as Plug and Play in Silicon Valley and the Venture Café Foundation in Boston, as well as at prestigious military academies, such as the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK and the Center for Leadership in Germany. Jochen is amongst the founders of the Experimental Laboratory at Cambridge Judge Business School. He is an Associate Editor for the Academy of Management Discoveries and a member of the Editorial Board of The Leadership Quarterly; previously, he was a Consulting Editor for Emotion and served on the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal. He is a Subject Matter Expert of the Academy of Management and an executive board member of the International Society for Emotional Intelligence. He is also an expert member for the Emotion Revolution in the Workplace project by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
Previous appointments
Jochen’s primary appointment is with the University of Zurich, Switzerland, where he is a Full Professor, holds the Chair of Human Resource Management and Leadership, and serves as the Director of the Center for Leadership in the Future of Work. Previously, Jochen held the Chair of Leadership and HRM at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Düsseldorf, Germany; was a Research Associate at the Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland; and was a Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at Yale University in the United States.
Publications
Selected publications
- Landis, B., Fisher, C.M. and Menges, J.I. (2022) “How employees react to unsolicited and solicited advice in the workplace: implications for using advice, learning, and performance.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(3): 408-424 (DOI: 10.1037/apl0000876)
- Jachimowicz, J.M., Lee, J., Staats, B., Gino, F. and Menges, J.I. (2021) “Between home and work: commuting as an opportunity for role transitions.” Organization Science, 32(1): 64-85 (DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2020.1370)
- Landis, B., Kilduff, M., Menges, J.I. and Kilduff, G. (2018) “The paradox of agency: feeling powerful reduces brokerage opportunity recognition yet increases willingness to broker.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(8): 929-938 (DOI: 10.1037/apl0000299)
- Knight, A., Menges, J.I. and Bruch, H. (2018) “Organizational affective tone: a meso perspective on the origins and effects of consistent affect in organizations.” Academy of Management Journal, 61(1): 191-219 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.0671)
- Conroy, S., Becker, W. and Menges, J.I. (2017) “The meaning of my feelings depends on who I am: work-related identifications shape emotion effects in organizations.” Academy of Management Journal, 60(3): 1071-1093 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2014.1040)
- Menges, J.I., Tussing, D., Wihler, A. and Grant, A. (2017) “When job performance is all relative: how family motivation energizes effort and compensates for intrinsic motivation.” Academy of Management Journal, 60(2): 695-719 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2014.0898)
Journal articles
- Howe, L.C. and Menges, J.I. (2025) “Pitch imperfect: how investors respond to entrepreneur disclosure of personal flaws.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (forthcoming)
- McGuire, J., Bastardoz, N., Hentrup, L.J., De Cremer, D. and Menges, J.I. (2025) “The backdrop of leadership: how environmental awe influences charisma attributions.” Journal of Organizational Behavior (DOI: 10.1002/job.2849)
- McGuire, J., McAllister, D.J., Menges, J.I. and De Cremer, D. (2025) “The power and peril of awe in leadership: transforming follower identity and behavior.” Academy of Management Review (DOI: 10.5465/amr.2022.0282) (published online Mar 2025)
- van Zelderen, A.P.A., Masters-Waage, T.C., Dries, N., Menges, J. and Sanchez, D.R. (2025) “Simulating virtual organizations for research: a comparative empirical evaluation of text-based, video, and virtual reality video vignettes.” Organizational Research Methods (DOI: 10.1177/10944281241246770) (published online Apr 2024)
- Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H., Menges, J.I. and Le, J. (2025) “Uncomfortable but developing: how mindfulness moderates the impact of negative emotions on learning.” Academy of Management Learning and Education (forthcoming)
- Ward, G., Schwartz, A.H., Giorgi, S., Menges, J. and Matz S.C. (2025) “The role of negative affect in shaping populist support: converging field evidence from across the globe.” American Psychologist (DOI: 10.1037/amp0001326) (published online Jul 2024)
- Howe, L.C., Giurge, L.M., Wagner, A.F. and Menges, J.I. (2024) “CEOs showing humanity: seemingly generic human care statements in conference calls and stock market performance during crisis.” Academy of Management Discoveries. 10(4): 589-610 (DOI: 10.5465/amd.2021.0225)
- Howe, L.C. and Menges, J.I. (2024) “How family motivates people to do their best work.” Harvard Business Review, 3 July
- Menges, J.I., Howe, L.C., Hall, E., Jachimowicz, J.M., Parker, S.K., Takeuchi, R., Vadera, A.K., Whillans, A. and Cohen, S.K. (2024) “From the Guest Editors.” Academy of Management Discoveries, 10(3): 307-318 (DOI: 10.5465/amd.2024.0213)
- Mo, C.H., Jachimowicz, J.M., Menges, J.I. and Galinsky, A.D. (2024) “The impact of incidental environmental factors on vote choice: wind speed is related to more prevention-focused voting.” Political Behavior, 46: 1417-1442 (DOI: 10.1007/s11109-023-09865-y)
Books, monographs, reports and case studies
- Menges, J.I. (2009) Organizational-level affect: antecedents, boundary conditions, and consequences of emotional climates and competencies. Bamberg: Difo-Druck.
- Menges, J.I., Ebersbach, L. and Welling, C. (2008) Erfolgsfaktor Emotionales Kapital – Menschen begeistern, Ziele erreichen [Emotional capital, a success factor: inspire people, reach goals]. Bern: Haupt Verlag.
- Menz, M., Ebersbach, L. and Menges, J.I. (2007) Mergers und acquisitions: von der Strategie zur Integration [Mergers and acquistions: from strategy to integration]. Bern: Haupt Verlag.
Book chapters
- Menges, J.I. (2017) “Charisma.” In: Moghaddam, F.M. (ed.) The SAGE encyclopedia of political behavior: vol.1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp.81-84
- Walter, F., Vogel, B. and Menges, J.I. (2013) “A theoretical examination of mixed group mood: the construct and its performance consequences.” In: Zerbe, W.J., Ashkanasy, N.M. and Härtel, C.E.J. (eds.): Research on emotions in organizations: vol.9: Individual sources, dynamics, and expressions of emotion. Bingley: Emerald, pp.119-152
- Menges, J.I. (2012) “Organizational emotional intelligence: theoretical foundations and practical implications.” In: Härtel, C.E.J., Zerbe, W.J. and Ashkanasy, N.M. (eds.): Research on emotions in organizations: vol.8. Bingley: Emerald, pp.355-373
- Menges, J.I. and Bruch, H. (2009) “Organizational emotional intelligence and performance: an empirical study.” In: Härtel, C.E.J., Zerbe, W.J. and Ashkanasy, N.M. (eds.): Research on emotions in organizations: vol.5. Bingley: Emerald, pp.181-209
Awards and honours
- Best Entrepreneurship Implications Paper Award (for the paper “Investors increase financial support to entrepreneurs who share a personal shortcoming” with Lauren Christine Howe), Organizational Behavior Division, Academy of Management, 2022
- Highly Commended Paper Award, Emerald Literati Awards, 2019
- Annual Prize for the Best Leadership-related Article, Institute for Leadership, Ivey Business School, 2019
- Teaching Prize, MBA Programme, University of Cambridge Judge Business School, 2018
- Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management Journal, 2017
- Academy of Management Annals Best Article Award, 2015
- Academy of Management Best Paper Award, Managerial and Organizational Cognition Division, 2013
- Finalists for the SAGE Best Paper Award, 2013
- Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence, 2010
- Best Paper Award, International Conference on Emotions and Organisational Life, INSEAD, 2008
- German Study Award (Deutscher Studienpreis), 2007
- German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) Scholarship, 2002-2005
- Baden-Württemberg Stipend (Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg) Scholarship, 2002-2003
News and insights
AI and technology
Beyond AI: what about the human side of the future of work?
How the focus on artificial intelligence and other technologies risks obscuring the essential role that human emotion and ingenuity play in how the modern workplace will develop.
Faculty news
Why voters’ feelings matter in elections
Politicians and pollsters alike should pay greater attention to sadness, fear and despair among voters, after a large-scale study co-authored by Cambridge Judge Business School academic Dr Jochen Menges highlighted the power of negative emotions in predicting election results.
Family spurs employees on at the workplace but has too often been seen as competing with work for time and energy, says a new Harvard Business Review article by Jochen Menges.
Media coverage
Phys.org | 3 November 2022
Why keeping it in the family can be good news when it comes to CEOs
A study co-authored by Jochen Menges, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Cambridge Judge Business School, is mentioned in this article about CEOs in family firms. According to the study “Research suggests that firms with family CEOs differ from other types of businesses, yet surprisingly little is known about how employees in these firms feel and behave compared to those working in other firms.”
“There has long been a conundrum in family business research: why do many such firms thrive despite anachronistic management structures and low investment in employees?” says Jochen. “This study helps unlock that paradox by focusing on the positive role of emotions tied to family CEOs.”
The Times | 15 September 2022
Why admitting your flaws may earn your start-up more investment
Cambridge Judge Business School is mentioned in this article about how showing nerves when pitching may secure start-up founders more money from investors than if their presentations are perfect. The study is co-authored by Jochen Menges, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour .
Workplace Insight | 1 August 2022
Employees who practice mindfulness are more likely to think their job is stimulating
Study titled “It’s so boring – or is it? Examining the role of mindfulness for work performance and attitudes in monotonous jobs”, co-authored by Jochen Menges, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Cambridge Judge Business School, is mentioned in this article about employees practicing mindfulness at work.
“Monotonous jobs are held by millions of people around the world and more research needs to be done about those jobs. Our research now seeks to redress the balance in favour of blue-collar workers. We find that more mindful employees perceive their monotonous job as less boring and have higher job satisfaction and are thus less likely to leave,” Jochen says.