Melissa Williams 
Associate Professor of Organization & Management | Emory University, Goizueta Business School
Atlanta, GA, UNITED STATES
Expert on social identities (gender, race, culture, stigma) and workplace hierarchies.
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Biography
Melissa J. Williams joined the Goizueta faculty in 2011, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She earned a PhD in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Williams studies what happens when social identities (gender, race, stigma, or national culture) collide with workplace hierarchies. She also investigates the consequences of putting people in positions of power and leadership. Her research has been published in top journals (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Bulletin, Journal of Management), and covered in major media outlets (Forbes, The New York Times, Wall St. Journal). She is currently an Associate Editor at Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and serves as Area Coordinator for the Organization & Management area at Goizueta. Professor Williams can be reached directly at mjwilliams (at) emory.edu.
Education (2)
University of California, Berkeley: PhD, Social / Personality Psychology 2008
Rice University: BA, Psychology 1995
Areas of Expertise (6)
Gender Wage Gap
Women in the Workplace
Diversity & Inclusion
Evidence-Based Management
Social Psychology
Power & Leadership
Publications (17)
When the boss steps up: Workplace power, task responsibility, and engagement with unpleasant tasks
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision ProcessesWilliams, M. J., Lopiano, G., & Heller, D.
2022
Interdependence and reflected failure: Cultural differences in stigma by association☆
Journal of Experimental Social PsychologyHe, T., & Williams, M. J.
2021
Destigmatization and Its Imbalanced Effects in Labor Markets
Management ScienceNegro, G., Williams, M. J., Pontikes, E., & Lopiano, G.
2021
The face of STEM: Racial phenotypic stereotypicality predicts STEM persistence by—and ability attributions about—students of color.
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyWilliams, M. J., George-Jones, J., & Hebl, M. R.
2019
Sexual aggression when power is new: Effects of acute high power on chronically low-power individuals
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyWilliams, M. J., Gruenfeld, D. H., & Guillory, L.
2017
The subtle suspension of backlash: A meta-analysis of penalties for women's implicit and explicit dominance behavior
Psychological BulletinWilliams, M. J., & Tiedens, L. Z.
2016
Serving the self from the seat of power: Goals and threats predict leaders’ self-interested behavior
Journal of ManagementWilliams, M. J.
2014
When "mom's the boss": Control over domestic decision making reduces women's interest in workplace power
Group Processes and Intergroup RelationsWilliams, M. J., & Chen, S.
2014
Selectively friending: Racial stereotypicality and social rejection
Journal of Experimental Social PsychologyHebl, M. R., Williams, M. J., Sundermann, J., Kell, H., & Davies, P. G.
2012
Fundamental(ist) attribution error: Protestants are dispositionally focused
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyLi, Y. J., Johnson, K. A., Cohen, A. B., Williams, M. J., Knowles, E. D., & Chen, Z.
2012
The masculinity of money: Automatic stereotypes predict gender differences in estimated salaries
Psychology of Women QuarterlyWilliams, M. J., Paluck, E. L., & Spencer-Rodgers, J.
2010
Cultural differences in expectations of change and tolerance for contradiction: A decade of empirical research
Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSpencer-Rodgers, J., Williams, M. J., & Peng, K.
2010
Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyWilliams, M. J., & Eberhardt, J. L.
2008
Gender clues and cues: Online interactions as windows into lay theories about men and women
Basic and Applied Social PsychologyWilliams, M. J., & Mendelsohn, G. A.
2008
Not yet human: Implicit knowledge, historical dehumanization, and contemporary consequences.
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyGoff, P. A., Eberhardt, J. L., Williams, M. J., & Jackson, M. C.
2008
Culture and group perception: Dispositional and stereotypic inferences about novel and national groups
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologySpencer-Rodgers, J., Williams, M. J., Hamilton, D. L., Peng, K., & Wang, L.
2007
Warding off the attacker: Self-defense in theory and in practice
Journal of Applied Social PsychologyWilliams, M. J., & Hebl, M. R.
2005
Research Spotlight
In the News (8)
Stereotypes about STEM ability impact retention of minorities in STEM majors, jobs
Atlanta Business Chronicle online
March 25, 2019
The Price Women Leaders Pay for Assertiveness—and How to Minimize It
Wall Street Journal online
May 30, 2016
Working Moms Study: Household Managers Found To Have Less Ambition At Work
The Huffington Post online
Jan., 22, 2013
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