Alan Witt

Professor

Bio

Alan Witt is Professor of Management & Leadership, Public Policy, and Psychology at the University of Houston. He holds a Ph.D. degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Tulane University.

He was a human resources director in the financial services sector and has consulted with public sector organizations at the local, state, and federal levels and with private sector organizations ranging from small professional firms and family-owned businesses to multi-national banks, international airlines, and multi-national telecommunications companies.

Professor Witt has authored over 400 journal articles, chapters, government technical reports, and professional papers. He was:

• Named Fellow (2005), American Psychological Association
• Named Fellow (2005), Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• One of two UH faculty (Leanne Atwater being the other) listed among the top 2% of most cited scholars in industrial and organizational psychology textbooks (http://bauerticker.uh.edu/faculty-staff/two-bauer-management-profs-in-top-2-percent-most-cited/)
• One of 132 UH faculty listed among the most cited scholars in the world, reflecting being in the top 2% of the subfield discipline (https://www.egr.uh.edu/news/202011/papers-cullen-college-engineering-professors-make-grade-analysis-finds)

Research Interests

• Professor Witt's research focus is on strategy-cultural alignment. That is, how can leaders shape the work culture so that employee values, priorities, and behavioral norms enable successful implementation of the organization's strategy? Accordingly, his work involves several areas of management and leadership:

  Work Climate

• Leadership
• Diversity/Inclusion
• Organizational Politics
• Job Attitudes/Engagement
• Health, Well-Being, Work-Family Balance, and Safety
• Justice/Fairness and Hostile/Toxic Work Environments
  
  

  Employee Behavior

• Teams
• Personality
• Job Performance
• Customer Service
• Counterproductive Work Behavior
• Emotional Intelligence/Social Effectiveness
  
  

  Technical Issues

• Human Resources
• Methodological Issues

Publications

• Colbert, A., & Witt, L. A. (In press). The role of goal-focused leadership in enabling the expression of conscientiousness. Journal of Applied Psychology.
• Witt, L. A., & Spitzmueller, C. (2007). Person-situation predictors of maximum and typical performance. Human Performance, 20, 1-11.
• Witt, L. A., & Carlson, D. (2006). The work-family interface and job performance: Moderating effects of conscientiousness and perceived organizational support. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 11, 343-357.
• Witt, L. A., & Ferris, G. R. (2003). Social skill as moderator of the conscientiousness-performance relationship: Convergent results across four studies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 809-820.
• Witt, L. A., Kacmar, K. M., Carlson, D. S., & Zivnuska, S. (2002). Interactive effects of personality and organizational politics on contextual performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 911-926.
• Hochwarter, W. A., Witt, L. A., & Kacmar, M. K. (2000). Perceptions of organizational politics as a moderator of the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 472-478.
• Witt, L. A. (2002). The interactive effects of extroversion and conscientiousness on job performance. Journal of Management, 28, 835-851.
• Witt, L. A. Burke, L. A., Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (2002). The interactive effects of conscientiousness and agreeableness on job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 161-169.
• Mount, M. K., Witt, L. A., & Barrick, M. R. (2000). Incremental validity of empirically keyed biodata scales over GMA and the five factor personality constructs. Personnel
• Witt, L. A. (1998). Enhancing organizational goal congruence: A solution to organizational politics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 666-674.

Working Papers

Colbert, A., & Witt, L. A. (In press). The role of goal-focused leadership in enabling conscientiousness. Journal of Applied Psychology.

Contact Info

Phone:

713-743-3253

Email:

witt@uh.edu

Room:

126 Heyne Bldg

Website:

Visit Web Site

Education

PhD, Tulane University