WHU - Startseite | Logo

Professor Pisitta Vongswasdi

Chair of Leadership & Society

Chairholder

Phone: +49 211 44709 819
Email: Pisitta.Vongswasdi[at]whu.edu

Chairholder

Phone: +49 211 44709 819
Email: Pisitta.Vongswasdi[at]whu.edu

Short biography:
Dr. Pisitta Vongswasdi obtained a Bachelor (BA)’s degree in Economics from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), and later received a Master of Science (MSc)’s degree in Sociology from University of Oxford (UK). She then worked as a strategy analyst in Bangkok, and returned to the world of research by serving as a research associate in Organizational behavior at INSEAD business school based in Singapore. Before joining WHU, she received a PhD in Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (the Netherlands) in 2020. During her PhD, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business’s Experiential Leadership Development Lab in the US. She now lives in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Research interests:
Dr. Pisitta’s research program is in the field of Organizational Behavior, with a focus on the following areas: First, in the area of leadership development, her research looks at how challenging experiences contribute to the development of leadership awareness, identity, and skills. Second, in the area of diversity management, she explores the challenges and opportunities of diversity. Her work demonstrates how leaders can leverage diversity for team and collective performance. Additionally, she examines how to foster inclusivity from an identity perspective and identifying ways to mitigate discrimination and reduce inequality in different contexts. Finally, her work on the topic of mindfulness in the workplace goes beyond the well-proven impact of mindfulness on well-being outcomes to demonstrating its effects on learning, performance, and both productive and counterproductive behaviors in organizations. For these different areas of research, she looks for insights into these phenomena in different contexts (e.g., teamwork, leadership, entrepreneurship, education), using both quantitative (experiments, surveys, archival, interventions) and qualitative (interviews, observations) methods.

Publications

Journal of Applied Psychology

Beyond the prototype

Vongswasdi, P., De Groote, J., Heinrich, J., Ladge, J. (2025), Beyond the prototype: unpacking the intersectional identity and image work of female minority founders in a startup context, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 110 (5), pp. 697–722.

Organizational Dynamics

Wong, M. W., Vongswasdi, P. (2025), Building legacy through brand change: insights from multigenerational family businesses, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 54 (1), 101078.

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Uncomfortable but developing

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H. L., Menges, J., Lê, J. (2025), Uncomfortable but developmental: how mindfulness moderates the impact of negative emotions on learning, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 24 (2), pp. 197–223.

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Beyond developing leaders

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H. L., Claeys, J., Anisman-Razin, M., Van Dierendonck, D. (2024), Beyond developing leaders: toward a multi-narrative understanding of the value of leadership development programs, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 23 (1).

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings

Zhang, K., Choi, E., Vongswasdi, P. (2024), When and why employees can (cannot) learn from their errors: from a cognitive rumination perspective, Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, Vol. 2024 (1).

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H., Shemla, M., Hoever, I., Khattab, J. (2023), Influencing diversity beliefs through a personal testimonial, promotion‐focused approach, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 44 (1), pp. 1-18.

Journal of Applied Psychology

Shaffakat, S., Otaye-Ebede, L., Reb, J., Chandwani, R., Vongswasdi, P. (2022), Mindfulness attenuates both emotional and behavioral reactions following psychological contract breach: a two-stage moderated mediation model, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 107 (3), pp. 425–443.

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

Leroy, H. L., Anisman-Razin, M., Avolio, B. J., Bresman, H., Bunderson, J. S., Burris, E. R., Claeys, J., Detert, J. R., Dragoni, L., Giessner, S. R., Kniffin, K. M., Kolditz, T., Petriglieri, G., Pettit, N. C., Sitkin, S. B., Van Quaquebeke, N., Vongswasdi, P. (2022), Walking our evidence-based talk: the case of leadership development in business schools, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 29 (1), pp. 5-32.

Communication Research and Practice

Woodward, I., Vongswasdi, P. (2017), More that unites than divides: intergenerational communication preferences in the workplace, Communication Research and Practice, Vol. 3 (4), pp. 358-385.

Journal of Applied Psychology

Beyond the prototype

Vongswasdi, P., De Groote, J., Heinrich, J., Ladge, J. (2025), Beyond the prototype: unpacking the intersectional identity and image work of female minority founders in a startup context, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 110 (5), pp. 697–722.

Organizational Dynamics

Wong, M. W., Vongswasdi, P. (2025), Building legacy through brand change: insights from multigenerational family businesses, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 54 (1), 101078.

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Uncomfortable but developing

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H. L., Menges, J., Lê, J. (2025), Uncomfortable but developmental: how mindfulness moderates the impact of negative emotions on learning, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 24 (2), pp. 197–223.

Academy of Management Learning & Education

Beyond developing leaders

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H. L., Claeys, J., Anisman-Razin, M., Van Dierendonck, D. (2024), Beyond developing leaders: toward a multi-narrative understanding of the value of leadership development programs, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 23 (1).

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings

Zhang, K., Choi, E., Vongswasdi, P. (2024), When and why employees can (cannot) learn from their errors: from a cognitive rumination perspective, Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, Vol. 2024 (1).

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Vongswasdi, P., Leroy, H., Shemla, M., Hoever, I., Khattab, J. (2023), Influencing diversity beliefs through a personal testimonial, promotion‐focused approach, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 44 (1), pp. 1-18.

Journal of Applied Psychology

Shaffakat, S., Otaye-Ebede, L., Reb, J., Chandwani, R., Vongswasdi, P. (2022), Mindfulness attenuates both emotional and behavioral reactions following psychological contract breach: a two-stage moderated mediation model, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 107 (3), pp. 425–443.

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

Leroy, H. L., Anisman-Razin, M., Avolio, B. J., Bresman, H., Bunderson, J. S., Burris, E. R., Claeys, J., Detert, J. R., Dragoni, L., Giessner, S. R., Kniffin, K. M., Kolditz, T., Petriglieri, G., Pettit, N. C., Sitkin, S. B., Van Quaquebeke, N., Vongswasdi, P. (2022), Walking our evidence-based talk: the case of leadership development in business schools, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 29 (1), pp. 5-32.

Communication Research and Practice

Woodward, I., Vongswasdi, P. (2017), More that unites than divides: intergenerational communication preferences in the workplace, Communication Research and Practice, Vol. 3 (4), pp. 358-385.

WHU - Startseite | Logo