Clive Fullagar, Ph.D.

Research Interests

I am an Organizational Psychologist who has been long interested in understanding why individuals become engaged in organizations and work. My initial research was undertaken on emergent labor organizations in South Africa. At that time, unions were the only political voice that was available for the large majority of black workers in South Africa. However, there was considerable risk involved in being an active member of the union. As a union member you could be fired without just cause, detained in prison, put under house arrest, and in some instances assassinated. I was interested in why workers would become involved with unions under these circumstances and researched a model of the causes and consequences of union commitment. When I came to the United States in 1988, my research question was flipped on its head. Instead of studying why workers joined unions I became interested in why workers were becoming disaffiliated with unions. My research has focused on applying basic social and organizational psychological models of behavior to understanding union involvement. This research has entailed longitudinal designs, sometimes as long as ten years, to sift out the causes and consequences of union engagement.

More recently my research has broadened its focus to investigate involvement or engagement in work. Drawing on recent developments in the field of positive psychology, I am currently researching what makes individuals become totally involved in work and the experience of “flow” in work-related activities. This interest has also spilled over into researching student engagement in academic activities. Specifically I am interested in trying to identify some of the individual and institutional determinants of engagement in work and the consequences of involvement, particularly psychological and physical well-being. This research has introduced me to new longitudinal research methods such as Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and the Daily Reconstruction Method (DRM).

Student Involvement

Most Industrial/Organizational graduate students are interested in non-academic (applied) jobs as opposed to academic (teaching and/or research) jobs. Consequently I try to get graduate students involved in such applied experiences as consultative work and the development of workshops and training programs with local organizations. I also encourage both graduate and undergraduate students to collaborate with me on research projects that I am currently engaged in, as well as developing their own independent research interests. My goal is to help students be successful in achieving their own goals.

Representative Publications (*indicates student co-author)

  • Fullagar, C., & *Egleston, D.O. (in press). Norming and Performing: Using Microworlds to Understand the Relationship Between Team Cohesiveness and Performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
  • Fullagar, C., Downey, R., *Wefald, A., & *Rupayana, D. (2006). Positive Psychology Applied to Work. In S. Rogelberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 630-633.
  • Fullagar, C., Gallagher, D.G., Clark, P.F., & Caroll, A. (2004). Union commitment and participation: A ten-year longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(4),   730-737.
  • Fullagar, C., Sumer, C., Sverke, M., & *Slick, R. (2003).  Managerial Sex Role Stereotyping: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 3(1), 93-107.
  • Fullagar, C., *Slick, R., *Sumer, C., & *Marquardt, P.  (1997). Union attitudes: Ideologues and Instrumentalists. In M. Sverke (ed.), The Future of Trade Unionism: International Perspectives on Emerging Union Structures. Aldershot, U.K.: Avebury Press.
  • Fullagar, C., Gallagher, D.G., Gordon, M.E., & Clark, P.F. (1995).  Impact of early socialization on union commitment and participation: A longitudinal study.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 147-157.
  • Fullagar, C., *McCoy, D., & *Shull, C. (1992). The socialization of union loyalty. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 13-26.
  • Barling, J., Fullagar, C., & Kelloway, E.K. (1992). The union and its members: A social psychological approach. New York: Oxford University Press.

Recent Presentations (*indicates student co-author)

  • Fullagar, C. (2007). Employee Engagement: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?. Paper presented at the 22nd  Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York, NY, April 27-29, 2007.
  • Fullagar, C. (2006). Flow Among Architecture Students: Promoting Well-Being at Work. Paper presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dallas, TX, May 5-7, 2006.
  • Downey, R.G., & Fullagar, C. (2006). Accenting the Positive: Is There Any Value to This Approach? Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, Miami FL, March 2-4, 2006.
  • Downey, R.G., & Fullagar, C. (2006). Graduate Training in Occupational Health Psychology at Kansas State University. Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, Miami FL, March 2-4, 2006.
  • Fullagar, C., Clark, P.F., & Gallagher, D.G. (2006). The Chicken and the Egg: Revisiting the Relationship Between Union Commitment and Union Participation. Paper presented the 58th Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, Boston MA, January 5-8, 2006.
  • *Schultz, M., *Herres, S., & Fullagar, C. (2005). A Look at the Reliability and Validity of the Task-Related Boredom Scale. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, May 26-29, 2005.
  • Fullagar, C., & *Hatfield, J. (2005). Occupational Health Psychology: Charting the Field. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Los Angeles, April 15-17, 2005.