Sara Jansen Perry, Ph.D.
The Ben Williams Professor in Management; Professor of Management | Baylor University
Waco, TX, UNITED STATES
Nationally known researcher who studies employee stress & well-being, including the role of remote/hybrid work & leadership
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Biography
A professor of management in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, Dr. Sara Jansen Perry is a nationally recognized researcher on employee stress and well-being, including the role of remote/hybrid work and leadership, and has published articles in numerous top journals such as Journal of Management and Journal of Applied Psychology. She is co-author of "Organized Innovation: A Blueprint for Renewing America's Prosperity" (Oxford University Press).
Dr. Perry has been consulted by The New York Times, Washington Post, Fast Company and other media outlets for her expertise on remote work and employee stress. She also consults with both private and public organizations on best practices in remote and hybrid work and managing the employee experience overall.
In addition, she helps oversee the Human Resource Management major at Baylor and teaches classes related to conflict resolution, negotiation, talent acquisition and employee relations.
Areas of Expertise (15)
Return to Office
Work From Home
WFH
Great Resignation
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Management
Organizational Behavior
Negotiation
Innovation
Leadership
Statistics
Data Analytics
Employee Stress and Health
Remote Work
Hybrid Work
Accomplishments (5)
Brent Clum Research Award (professional)
Awarded in 2023 for research productivity among tenured faculty in the Hankamer School of Business
Outstanding Faculty Award - Scholarship (professional)
Awarded in 2017 by Baylor University for outstanding scholarship
Young Researcher Award (professional)
Awarded in April 2017 by Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business
Best Presentation Award (professional)
Awarded in June, 2015 by ASEE Engineering Management track
Best Paper in Innovation Track (professional)
Awarded by the Southern Management Association.
Education (3)
University of Houston: Ph.D., Industrial and Organizational Psychology
University of Houston: M.A., Industrial and Organizational Psychology
University of Missouri Columbia: B.S., Computer Science
Affiliations (6)
- Academy of Management
- American Psychological Association
- American Society of Engineering Education
- Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychologists
- Society of Human Resources Management
- Southern Management Association
Links (4)
Media Appearances (12)
Living the dream: work in the 21st century will be much more fun
PassW0RD (UK) online
2023-01-23
AUDIO: Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management at Baylor and scholar on remote/hybrid work, is a guest on the UK PassW0rd radio program that focuses on the future of work. Perry’s interview runs from 23:10-32:43 and again from 34:17-36:49.
Finding work-life balance with remote work
Phys.org online
2022-11-17
Baylor remote/hybrid work expert Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management, is quoted about the positives and challenges of remote work, suggesting that businesses who help employees respond to these challenges will benefit with a more productive and healthier workforce.
How work gossip has changed in the age of hybrid work
Fast Company online
2022-11-08
Add another benefit to working from home: With fewer serendipitous watercooler conversations, a fully remote team may slow down office gossip, says Sara J. Perry, professor of management at Baylor University, but it may be a little more complicated with hybrid teams.
Future of Work Wednesdays: A Conversation About Hybrid Work with Dr. Sara Perry of Baylor University
Robin online
2022-06-15
Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management at Baylor, is interviewed about the future of hybrid work and its various challenges and opportunities.
One Simple Practice Change Could Remove Hybrid Working Stress
CMS Wire online
2022-05-23
Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management who researches employee stress and remote work, is quoted in this article about tension related to hybrid work. Perry said it can be tied to a lack of autonomy or employee choice as research shows that workers want flexibility and the opportunity to work in the way that suits them best.
Hating hybrid work? Here’s how to make it less painful.
The Washington Post online
2022-04-13
Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management and an expert in employee stress and well-being, remote work and leadership, is among the work experts quoted in this article about how employees can successfully navigate the challenges of hybrid work.
7 Traits of High-Quality Remote Job Candidates
Business 2 Community online
2021-06-22
This article about business leaders and recruiters alike being able to recognize traits that indicate a candidate will be successful in a remote role cites a recent study by Baylor management professor Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., which found that individuals with both high amounts of emotional stability and autonomy were best able to cope with strain (i.e., exhaustion, disengagement and dissatisfaction) in a remote work environment.
The Pandemic Challenged Conventional Thinking About Work. Can We Go Back To Business As Usual?
“The Source” Texas Public Radio online
2021-06-08
AUDIO: Remote work expert Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management at Baylor, is a guest on “The Source” on Texas Public Radio to discuss the future of work in a post-pandemic world and if the traditional workplace will – or should – return to its pre-COVID ways.
Why Control Over Boundaries Is Key To Successful Work-Life Balance
Forbes online
2020-08-14
This article references a study conducted by Baylor researchers Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of management and Emily Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of management, Hankamer School of Business, on “Stress in remote work: two studies testing the Demand-Control-Person model,” which analyzed the autonomy of remote workers in relation to their stress levels and emotional stability.
Introverts vs. extroverts: How personality traits affect working from home
CTV online
2020-06-04
Baylor management professor Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., an expert source on working from home, is interviewed for this article about her 2018 study, which found that employees with low emotional stability have a harder time thriving in remote work settings.
How to Work From Home, if You’ve Never Done It Before
The New York Times
2020-03-12
Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., professor in Baylor University's management department, is a featured expert in this story about the challenges of working from home and remote work as a result of coronavirus as well as important practical considerations of a work-from-home environment.
Out of Office: Is Remote Work Stressing You OUT?
Remotely One online
2020-01-29
An article by Sara J. Perry, Ph.D., assistant professor of management, who is an expert on issues of work-life balance. In this article, she addresses her research – and the research of others – regarding remote work.
Articles (6)
Adapting boundary preferences to match reality of hybrid work: A latent change score analysis☆☆
Journal of Vocational BehaviorMin (Maggie) Wan, Dawn S. Carlson, Sara Jansen Perry, Merideth J. Thompson, Yejun (John) Zhang, K. Michele Kacmar
2025-01-09
The hybrid work trend, where employees work from home and from the workplace, brings substantial changes to how employees manage their work and family lives, as well as the boundary between those roles. An important yet overlooked question is how hybrid workers, whose work environment overlaps with their home environment for at least part of every work week, navigate and adapt to work-family stressors over time. Drawing upon adaptation theory and boundary theory, we examine how work-family conflict triggers changes in boundary integration preferences, which further contribute to changes in work-family balance satisfaction. Moreover, we investigate the moderating role of spousal interaction, examining ways it shapes the preference-satisfaction relationship.
Love on the rocks: Unraveling effects of remote employees' work–family conflict on couples' divorce intentions
Applied PsychologyMin (Maggie) Wan, Dawn S. Carlson, K. Michele Kacmar, Sara Jansen Perry, Merideth J. Thompson
2024-03-02
This research examines the detrimental impact of remote employees' work-to-family conflict (WFC) on divorce intentions for both the remote employee and spouse. Building upon the spillover-crossover framework and relative deprivation theory, we examine the paths of spillover to the remote employee's divorce intentions, crossover influences of a remote employee's WFC on divorce intentions through the spouse (i.e., relative deprivation, resentment toward the employee's remote work, and relationship tension), and crossback of the remote employee's WFC through the spouse and back to their own divorce intentions.
When work and family collide: ‘Resource Caravans’ of personal and contextual resources in remote work
New Technology, Work and EmploymentDawn S. Carlson, Sara J. Perry, Micki Kacmar, Min (Maggie) Wan, Merideth J. Thompson
2023-06-07
Research on remote work remains without consensus as to its benefits, with continued questions about which factors may enable it to be more beneficial to employees working remotely. Applying Conservation of Resources theory, we explore the impact of ‘resource caravans’ on ‘work–family balance’ and subsequent ‘well-being’ in a sample of 446 remote workers. Our findings contribute to ongoing sociological debates by showing exactly how flexibility and control play a role in the remote workplace.
Facing an Unexpected Negotiation Partner: the Impact of Hiring Manager Gender Role Violation on Job Candidates
Journal of Business and PsychologySara Jansen Perry, Emily M. Hunter, Abigail R. Corrington & Michelle “Mikki” R. Hebl
2022-12-02
We conducted three studies to explore how job candidates perceive and respond to hiring managers who commit gender role violations during salary negotiations, extending previous studies restricted to economic outcomes and backlash effects by focusing on a range of job candidate reactions. We apply expectancy violation and role incongruity theories to suggest that job candidates respond more strongly to hiring managers who violate gender role expectations than those who conform to expectations. We suggest that this reaction is more negative in response to agentic female hiring managers than any other type and more positive in response to communal male hiring managers than any other type.
Interruptions in Remote Work: a Resource-based Model of Work and Family Stress
Journal of Business and PsychologySara Jansen Perry, Dawn S. Carlson, K. Michele Kacmar, Min (Maggie) Wan & Merideth J. Thompson
2022-09-23
We use the conservation of resources (COR) theory to propose a work-family model of stress in remote work. We propose that interruptions from family are a unique hindrance stressor, detrimental for the employee’s challenge and hindrance stress responses in remote work, which, in turn, have distinct effects on resource-oriented attitudes and states of both the employee and spouse.
Disparate Safety Enforcement: Curvilinear Effects, Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions of Supervisor-Rated Leader–Member Exchange
Journal of ManagementSara Jansen Perry, Natalia M. Lorinkova, Melih Madanoglu
2021-12-23
Across three studies, we integrate relational leadership theory with affective events theory to examine the leader perspective in dyadic relationships and how this perspective influences differential leader behaviors directed toward each subordinate in terms of safety enforcement.
