Call for Scholarly Program Submissions: Organizational Behavior (OB)

Call for Submissions for the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management   

Program Development Team

Program Chair: Ronald F. Piccolo, University of Central Florida  

Symposium Chair: Rebecca Bennett, University of Central Florida

Division Leadership

Division Chair: Sigal Barsade, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Past Division Chair: Christina Gibson, Pepperdine University

Division Chair-elect: Daan van Knippenberg, Drexel University

We welcome submissions for inclusion in the OB Division’s scholarly program at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM). Details about the mission and research domain of the OB Division can be found here.

Submission Timeline

Theme for AOM’s Annual Meeting

20/20: Broadening our Sight The Academy of Management aims to “inspire and enable a better world through our scholarship and teaching about management and organizations.” The scholarly program for the annual meeting in 2020 will encourage scholars to use the collective capabilities of its members to broaden the Academy’s vision and see beyond persistent dichotomies that curtail intellectual progress. Click here for more information.

OB Division Spotlight: Affect in Organizations – 2020

The OB Division will continue the Spotlight, an initiative to focus attention on a pertinent issue that is relevant to organizational research and practice. For the 2020 meeting, our Spotlight is on Affect in Organizations. This Spotlight will encompass scholarly research on the many facets of moods, emotions and trait affect in organizations, and how they influence individual, groups and organizational outcomes at work. All topics and methods related to affect are welcome. This includes, but is not limited to emotional contagion, emotional culture, emotional intelligence, emotional labor, emotional regulation, group/team affect, and the influence of affect on creativity, decision making, performance, leadership, negotiation, prosocial behavior, and other organizationally relevant outcomes. We invite submitters to propose sessions that are engaging, provocative, and meaningful.   Sessions can also be practically oriented. If you have any questions, please contact the Organizational Behavior Division Chair Sigal G. Barsade.

Description of Paper and Symposia Submissions

The scholarly program at AOM’s annual meeting consists primarily of  two types of sessions: paper sessions and symposia.

1. Paper sessions are composed of presentations of original and fully developed manuscripts. Author(s) submit a manuscript for consideration to be included in the annual meeting’s scholarly program. If accepted, the manuscript is assigned by the Program Chair to a session that includes other manuscripts on related topics. 
2. Symposia can be one of three different formats: panel, presenter, or showcase.  
1. Panel Symposia: The purpose of a Panel Symposium is to engage a group of panelists in an interactive discussion. There are no titles associated with the panelists’ presentations. Proposals for panel discussions should include clear descriptions of the topics to be discussed and the procedures that will be used to manage the discussion among panelists and the audience.
2. Presenter Symposia: Presenter symposia involve a series of authored papers on a preset theme. In a Presenter Symposium, titles and authors / presenters are associated with each presentation. Presenter symposia can involve co-authored presentations. Co-authors will be listed in the printed program.
3. Showcase Symposia: Showcase symposia should be the very best symposium submissions received and should be expected to attract a large audience. They do NOT need to address the conference theme. Each Division Program Chair may select up to 10% of symposia accepted by their division to be designated as showcase symposia.

Additional details about the submission process can be found  here.

Direct any questions about the submission process to the Program Chair (Ron Piccolo) or the OB Division’s Symposium Chair (Rebecca Bennett).

Innovative Formats for Paper Sessions 

The OB Division has joined an Academy-wide effort to enliven the scholarly paper sessions at the annual meetings by introducing alternatives to the traditional format (i.e., where each author presents his or her paper for 15 minutes, with discussion and questions at the end). We are using this opportunity to notify submitters about the different, innovative paper-session formats that the OB Division is encouraging session chairs to use at the 2020 meetings. These include:

1. Short Introductions plus Break Out Discussion (3-4 papers per session):  Presenters of each paper give a 3-minute introduction.  After all papers have been introduced, presenters move to break out groups to take questions and further discuss the papers.  Audience members can join any group they choose.  After 30 minutes of discussion, audience members have the opportunity to switch groups for a second round of discussion.
2. Insights First Presentations (3-4 papers per session): Presenters devote the first half of their presentation to discussing their insights and findings, focusing on what they discovered.  Presenters use the second half of their presentation to discuss implications and future research directions. Lengthy literature reviews are not included. Audience members ask questions and make comments between each presentation.
3. Questions First Presentations (3-4 papers per session):  Each presenter starts with a list of 1-3 questions they would like answered about their findings and insights.  They then deliver a 10-minute presentation that provides information relevant to answering their questions.  Audience members then take up to 15 minutes to provide ideas for answering one or more of the questions.  This process is repeated for each paper.

We invite the chairs of the paper session to choose and coordinate these new session formats.  Alternative formats may also be proposed by session chairs, working with input from the presenters in their session.

OB Division Awards

Following is a list of awards that are celebrated during the annual meeting of AOM:

1. Best Paper Award, recognizing the best overall paper (may be co-authored; sponsored by Sage Publications on behalf of Group & Organization Management)
2. Best Dissertation-Based Paper Award,* given to the best paper based on a doctoral dissertation completed within the past three years (must be sole-authored; sponsored by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Journal of Organizational Behavior)
3. Most Innovative Student Paper Award,* for the best paper in which a student was in the lead role (a student must be the sole or first-author; sponsored by Sage Publications)
4. Outstanding Paper with Practical Implications for Management Award, for the paper with the most significant managerial implications (may be co-authored; sponsored by Mercer Workforce Sciences Institute)
5. Best Paper with International Implications Award, recognizing the paper whose theme and content best reflects an awareness of business and management across national boundaries (may be co-authored; sponsored by the Oxford Centre for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University.
6. Best Symposium Award, given to the symposium on the Academy program that best exemplifies interesting, important, and high-impact research (sponsored by the Organizational Behavior Division)
7. Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award, recognizing significant research achievement during one's early to mid-career stage
8. Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing significant research achievement across one's career (sponsored by the Organizational Behavior Division)
9. Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior Award (sponsored by the Emerald Group Publishing on behalf of the Journal of Managerial Psychology)
10. Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Publication in Organizational Behavior Award (sponsored by the Google’s People Innovation Lab
11. Organizational Behavior Mentorship Award, recognizing a scholar who has excelled at helping others achieve their career objectives (sponsored by the Antwerp Management School)

Please note: To be considered for any of the following awards, you could select the appropriate Orientation when you submit your paper in the online Submission Center, as follows:

1. for the Best Dissertation-Based Paper Award, select "Newman Award Nominee"
2. for the Most Innovative Student Paper Award, select "Student Paper"
3. for the Most Outstanding Practical Implications for Management Award, select "Practice"
4. for the Best Paper with International Implications Award, select "International."

Visit the OB Division website for additional information about the Division, criteria for these awards, or past winners.