Naomi B. Rothman

Naomi Rothman earned a doctorate in organizational behavior at New York University's Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s in sociology at the University of California at Davis. Before joining Lehigh’s faculty, Rothman was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Her research examines the unexpected ways that people (e.g., leaders) make higher quality decisions and influence others to do so through their use of emotions and power; specifically how the experience and expression of complex emotions (e.g., emotional ambivalence) and complex states of power (e.g., power with perspective taking) drive effective decision making.

She has published in Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Annals, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Cognition and Emotion, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Negotiation and Conflict Management, and in edited books, including Research on Managing Groups and Teams, and Voice and Silence in Organizations.

Education

• University of California at Davis, B.A.
• Stern School of Business, New York University, Ph.D.

Research Interests

• Social consequences of emotions in the work place
• Power
• Negotiations
• Justice

• Rothman, N.B., & Pratt, M.G. (Forthcoming). Transforming Information Uncertainty into Employee Well-Being and Resilience: The Importance of Cultivating a Culture of Emotional Ambivalence. Handbook of Uncertainty Management in Work Organizations.
• Rothman, N.B., Barker Caza, B., Melwani, S. & Walsh, K. (2021, September 14). Embracing the Power of Ambivalence. Harvard Business Review. HBR.Org
• Melwani, S. & Rothman, N.B. (2021). The Push-and-Pull of Frenemies: When and Why Ambivalent Relationships Lead to Helping and Harming, Journal of Applied Psychology. (Accepted June 14, 2020)
• Rothman, N.B. & Melwani, S. (2017). Feeling Mixed, Ambivalent, and In Flux: The Social Functions of Emotional Complexity for Leaders, Academy of Management Review, Special Issue on Integrating Affect and Emotion in Management Theory, 42, 259-282. (Accepted Feb 21, 2016; Published Online March 25, 2016)
• Rothman, N.B., Pratt, M.G., Rees, L. & Vogus, T.J. (2017). Understanding the Dual Nature of Ambivalence: Why and When Ambivalence Leads to Good and Bad Outcomes, Academy of Management Annals. 11, 33-72. (Accepted October 19, 2016)
• Methot, J. R., Melwani, S., & Rothman, N. B.  (2017). The Space Between Us: A Social-Functional Emotions View of Ambivalent and Indifferent Workplace Relationships, Journal of Management. XX, XX-XX. (Accepted December 2, 2016).
• Belkin, L. & Rothman, N.B. (2017). Do I Trust You? Depends on What you Feel: Interpersonal Effects of Emotions on Initial Trust at Zero-Acquaintance, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 10, 3-27. (Accepted October 26, 2016)
• Rothman, N.B. & Magee, J.C. (2016). Affective Expressions in Groups and Inferences about Members’ Relational Well-Being: The Effects of Socially Engaging and Disengaging Emotions, Cognition & Emotion, Special Issue on Emotions in Groups, 30, 150-166. 
• Rothman, N.B., & Northcraft, G. (2015). Unlocking Integrative Potential: Expressed Emotional Ambivalence and Negotiation Outcomes, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, 126, 65-76.
• Vogus, T., Rothman, N.B., Sutcliff, K., & Weick, K. (2014). The Affective Foundations of High Reliability Organizing. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(4): 592-596.
• Galinsky, A.D., Magee, J.C., Rus, D., Rothman, N.B., and Todd, A.R. (2014). Accelerating with Steering: The Synergistic Benefits of Combining Power and Perspective-Taking, Social Psychological and Personality Science published online 11 February 2014. DOI: 10.1177/1948550613519685
• Blader, S., & Rothman, N.B. (2013). Paving the Road to Preferential Treatment with Good Intentions: Empathy, Accountability and Fairness, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50, 65-81.
• Rees, L., Rothman, N.B., Lehavy, R., & Sanchez-Burkes, J. (2013). The Ambivalent Mind Can Be a Wise Mind: Emotional Ambivalence Increases Judgment Accuracy, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 360-367.
• See, K.E., Morrison, E.W., Rothman, N.B., & Soll, J.B. (2011). The detrimental effects of power on confidence, advice taking, and accuracy, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 116, 272-285.
• Rothman, N.B. (2011). Steering Sheep: How Expressed Emotional Ambivalence Elicits Dominance in Interdependent Decision-Making Contexts, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 116, 66-82.
• Wiesenfeld, B.M., Rothman, N.B., Wheeler-Smith, S.L., & Galinsky, A.D. (2011). Why fair bosses fall behind. Harvard Business Review. July-August, 2011.
• Peters, M., Rothman, N.B., & Northcraft, G. B. (2011). Beyond Valence: The Effects of Group Emotional Tone on Group Negotiation Behaviors and Outcomes. In E. Mannix, M. Neale, and J. Overbeck (Eds.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Negotiation & Groups. United Kingdom: Emerald.
• See, K.E., Rothman, N.B., & Soll, J.B. (2010). Powerful and unpersuaded: The implications of power for confidence, advice taking, and accuracy. In L. A. Toombs (Ed.), Proceedings of the Seventieth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (CD), ISSN 1543-8643.
• Blader, S., Wiesenfeld, B., Rothman, N.B., Wheeler-Smith, S. (2010). Social Emotions and Justice: How the Emotional Fabric of Groups Determine Justice Enactment and Reactions." In E. Mannix, M. Neale, and E. Mullen (Eds.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Justice & Groups. United Kingdom: Emerald.
• Morrison, E.W. & Rothman, N.B. (2009). Silence and the Dynamics of Power. In J. Greenberg & M.S. Edwards (Eds.), Voice and Silence in Organizations. United Kingdom: Emerald.
• Rothman, N.B. & Wiesenfeld, B.M. (2007). The Social Consequences of Expressing Emotional Ambivalence in Groups and Teams. In E. Mannix, M. Neale & C. Anderson (Eds.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Affect & Groups. Oxford: Elsevier.
• Horowitz, S., Buchanan, S., Alexandris, M., Anteby, M., Rothman, N., Syman, S. & Vural, L. (2005). The rise of the freelance class: The new constituency of workers building a social safety net. Report, Working Today, Brooklyn, NY, 2005.

In the News

• The Enduring Value of Emotional Ambivalence, Lehigh University
• Work Frenemy Can Make You Better at Your Job, New York Magazine
• Why You Should Make a Frenemy, New York Magazine
• Love Thy Office Frenemies, NPR
• Frenemies Motivate Us to Work Harder, Harvard Business Review
• Why Fair Bosses Fall Behind, Harvard Business Review
• Research is Growing at Lehigh University, PR Newswire
• To Lead or Not to Lead?, Lehigh University

ilLUminate Posts

• The Deliberation Paradox: When Thinking Before Acting is a Liability
• In Praise of Ambivalence: A Complex Emotion for a Complex World

Awards

• Carl & Ingeborg Beidleman Research Award in Business & Economics
• 40 Best Undergraduate Business School Professors Under 40, Poets&Quants