Brian Lyons
Associate Professor of Management | Elon University
Elon, NC, UNITED STATES
Dr. Lyons is an expert in recruitment, selection, counterproductive work and off-duty behavior, and leadership effectiveness.
Biography
Dr. Brian D. Lyons is an Associate Professor of Management in the Love School of Business at Elon University. He joined the faculty in Fall 2014 after three years within the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University and four years within the Craig School of Business at Fresno State.
Dr. Lyons's research interests involve recruitment, selection, counterproductive work and off-duty behavior, and leadership effectiveness. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business and Psychology, Human Performance, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and the Journal of Managerial Psychology. His work has been featured in media outlets such as ESPN, NPR (Southern California), "The Current" Radio (CBC, Canada), The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tennessean, FiveThirtyEight.com, The Huffington Post-Canada, Deadspin, AOLnews.com, and the New York Daily News. Lyons is the recipient of the 2016 Dean's Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the 2017 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2019 Dean's Award for Excellence in Service.
Prior to entering academia, he conducted HR-related research for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC. He earned his doctorate in organizational studies from the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Areas of Expertise (3)
Management
Human Resource Management
Organizational Behavior
Media
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Education (3)
State University of New York (SUNY): Ph.D., Organizational Studies
University of Baltimore: M.S., Psychology
Southern Illinois University: B.A., Psychology
Media Appearances (3)
Tests only tell so much about Lamar Jackson
Louisville Courier-Journal online
2018-04-04
The April 4 article about Lamar Jackson, the Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Louisville, includes insights from Lyons, associate professor of management.
Using data to predict arrest rates of NFL draft picks
ESPN online
2016-04-12
The article discusses if there is a way to judge football players who have encountered off-the-field trouble or otherwise shown a concerning character trait. With the upcoming NFL draft, the author, Kevin Seifert, asks if it is possible for a data set to serve as a predictive tool for football players’ behavior.
How A Multiple-Choice Test Became A Fixture Of The NFL Draft
FiveThirtyEight online
2016-04-30
Lyons was interviewed for the article that discusses the correlation of NFL players’ performance and intelligence, as measured by the Wonderlic test, a multiple-choice test that is supposed to measure the intelligence of professional football player prospects each winter.
Event Appearances (3)
Seeking refuge: How LMX helps weather abusive behavior of Dark Triad leaders.
34th annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Washington, D.C.
Reexamining the base rate of demand for HR certifications in the United States.
34th annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Washington, D.C.
Dark Triad leadership and follower motives: Will you follow the devil you know?
33rd annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Chicago, Illinois
Articles (8)
Normalizing mistreatment? Investigating Dark Triad, LMX, and abuse
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
2019 Given that many subordinates work for leaders who mistreat them, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether leader–member exchange (LMX) influences the relationship between leaders’ dark triad (DT) traits and follower perceptions of abusive supervision. Drawing on theories of idiosyncratic and deviance credits, the authors posit that high LMX weakens the positive relationship between leaders’ DT traits and the perception of abusive supervision.
On the effectiveness of peer reporting policies
Journal of Managerial Psychology
2017 Unlike general codes of conduct, little is known about whether peer reporting policies achieve their intended purpose – that is, to increase the base rate of peer reporting counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). The purpose of this paper is to use a person-situation perspective to examine if and when peer reporting policies impact the base rate of peer reporting CWBs.
Box scores and bottom lines: Sports data can inform research and practice in organizations.
Journal of Business and Psychology
2017 In this introduction to the Special Issue on the use of sports data to inform research and practice in organizations, we first outline the state of research in this flourishing area to provide the need for this Special Issue. We note a similarity in the study of organizations and the study of sports and, in turn, how studies of sports can readily be compared to and applied to the study and practice of work in organizations.
Off-duty deviance: Organizational policies and evidence for two prevention strategies.
Journal of Applied Psychology
2016 Anecdotal evidence suggests that organizations are increasingly concerned with employee off-duty deviance (ODD), yet management research has rarely investigated this type of deviant behavior. We define ODD as behaviors committed outside the workplace or when off-duty that are deviant by organizational and/or societal standards, jeopardize the employee’s status within the organization, and threaten the interests and well-being of the organization and its stakeholders.
Not on my watch: Facilitating peer reporting through job attitudes and personality traits
International Journal of Selection and Assessment
2015 Because employees often conceal their misbehavior from management, counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) can be difficult to detect. Fortunately, peer reporting – which occurs when employees report their coworkers' misdeeds to organizational authorities – may enhance the detection of CWBs. Little is known, however, about the variables that facilitate peer reporting. Using a sample of working adults (N = 267), we examined job attitudes and personality traits as moderators of the relationship between CWB observations and CWB reporting. Our results suggest that most CWBs employees observe go unreported.
On the Predictive Efficiency of Past Performance and Physical Ability: The Case of the National Football League
Human Performance
Brian D. Lyons, Brian J. Hoffman, John W. Michel, & Kevin J. Williams
2011 This study investigated the criterion-related validity of past performance and physical ability tests over time in a physically demanding context, the National Football League (NFL). Results suggested that an indicator of past performance, collegiate performance, engendered a stronger relationship with future NFL performance than a variety of physical ability tests administered during the NFL Combine.
Not Much More Than g? An Examination of the Impact of Intelligence on NFL Performance
Human Performance
Brian D. Lyons, Brian J. Hoffman, & John W. Michel
2009 The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency and equity of general mental ability (GMA) in a nontraditional employment setting—professional football. The National Football League (NFL) uses a measure of GMA, the Wonderlic Personnel Test, to evaluate potential draftees in an assessment-style environment. A total of 762 NFL players, represented from three draft classes, were included in our sample.
The Relationship Between Financial History and Counterproductive Work Behavior
International Journal of Selection and Assessment
Edward S. Oppler Brian D. Lyons Debora A. Ricks Scott H. Oppler
2008 To reduce employee counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), organizations may choose to utilize a financial history (FH) instrument during the selection process. To date, no published empirical research has attempted to determine the validity of such a practice. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to determine if employees with FH concerns, which were identified during the selection process and their 5‐year subsequent reinvestigation, were more likely to engage in CWBs, which were objectively measured through an examination of misconduct cases.
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