Ruth Kanfer

	Ruth Kanfer	(404) 894-5674
	Industrial/Organizational
	Ph.D. (1981) Psychology Arizona State University

Professor of Psychology

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My research interests pertain to the influence of motivation, personality, and emotion as these factors affect job training, work performance and worker well-being.  Past projects have examined the role of these factors and situational constraints as they affect skill training, job performance, and the development of workplace competencies. Recent projects have focused on adult development and workforce aging, job search-employment relations, team motivation, and emotional influences on job performance and well-being.  Current studies investigate the influence of non-ability traits on work adjustment among knowledge workers, age-related changes in work motivation, performance, and work well-being, and the taxonomic structure of motivational traits and self-regulatory skills.
 Affiliations
Academy of Management Association
American Psychological Association (Fellow)
American Psychological Society (Charter Fellow)
International Association of Applied Psychology
Personnel and Human Resources Research Group
Psychonomic Society
Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Fellow)
Society of Organizational Behavior
Sigma Xi
Recent Professional Activities
Current Editorial Boards:
Academy of Management Learning and Education
Applied Psychology: An International Review
Human Performance
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Representative, Academy of Management Board of Governors
Recipient of William R. Owens Best Scholarly Paper Award (2006), Society of Industrial
            and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
 
Selected Publications

• Chen, G., & Kanfer, R. (In Press).  Toward a systems theory of motivated behavior in work teams.  Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 26 (2006).
• Chen, G., Kirkman, B. L., & Kanfer, R., Allen, D., & Rosen, B. (In Press).  A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams.  Journal of Applied Psychology.

• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (2005).  Work competence:  A person-oriented approach.  In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 336-353).  New York: The Guilford Press.

• Heggestad, E. D., &  Kanfer, R., (2005).  The predictive validity of self-efficacy in training performance:  Little more than past performance.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 11, 84-97.

• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (2004). Aging, adult development and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 29, 1-19.
• Kanfer, R., and Kantrowitz, T. M. (2002). Emotion regulation: Command and control of emotions in work life. In R. Lord, R. Klimoski, & R. Kanfer (Eds.), Emotions in the workplace: Understanding the structure and role of emotions in organizational behavior (pp. 443-472). San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass.
• Kanfer, R., and Kantrowitz, T. M. (2002). Ability and non-ability predictors of performance. In S. Sonnentag (Ed.), Psychological Management of Individual Performance: A Handbook in the Psychology of Management in Organizations (pp. 27-50) England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
• Franco, L. M., Bennett, S., & Kanfer, R. (2002). Health sector reform and public sector health work motivation: A conceptual framework. Social Science and Medicine, 54, 1255-1266.
• Kanfer, R., Wanberg, C., & Kantrowitz, T. M. (2001). Job search and employment: A personality-motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 837- 855.
• Kanfer, R. (2001). I/O Psychology: Working at the basic-applied psychology interface. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 235-240.
• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (2000). Individual differences in work motivation: Further explorations of a trait framework. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49, 470-482.
• Kanfer, R. & Heggestad, E. (1997). Motivational traits and skills: A person-centered approach to work motivation. In L. L. Cummings and B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 19, pp. 1-57). JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.
• Kanfer, R., Ackerman, P. L., & Heggestad, E. (1996). Motivational skills and self-regulation for learning: A trait perspective. Learning and Individual Differences, 8, 185-209.
• Kanfer, R., Ackerman, P. L., Murtha, T., & Goff, M. (1995). Personality and intelligence in industrial and organizational psychology. In D. H. Saklofske & M. Zeidner (Eds.), International Handbook of Personality and Intelligence (pp. 577-602). New York: Plenum.
• Ackerman, P. L., & Kanfer, R. (1993). Integrating laboratory and field study for improving selection: Development of a battery for predicting Air Traffic Controller success. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 413-432.

• Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation theory and Industrial/Organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette and L. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Volume 1. Theory in industrial and organizational psychology (pp.75-170). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (1989). Motivation and cognitive abilities: An integrative/aptitude-treatment interaction approach to skill acquisition. Journal of Applied Psychology - Monograph, 74, 657-690.

Frequently Taught Courses
Psych 7203: Organizational Psychology
Psych 7201: Industrial/Organizational Psychology Seminar
Seminar: Work Motivation and Emotion

Contact Information

Dr. Ruth Kanfer School of Psychology Georgia Institute of Technology 654 Cherry Street Atlanta, GA 30332-0170

Telephone: (404) 894-5674 Fax: (404) 894-8905 E-mail: Office Location: 226 J.S. Coon Bldg. Lab Information: Kanfer-Ackerman Laboratory