Social Psychology Network

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Don VandeWalle

Don VandeWalle

Don Vandewalle is an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Southern Methodist University, and the past chair of the Management and Organizations Department at the Cox School of Business (2006-2014).

Education: Don earned his BA degree from Park College with Magna Cum Laude and departmental honors and received the Parker Memorial Award for the Outstanding Graduating Senior. Don earned his Ph.D. in organizational behavior and strategic management from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. During his Ph.D. program, Don was the recipient of dissertation fellowships from the University of Minnesota Graduate School, the Carlson School of Management, and the Richard D. Irwin Foundation.

Research: Don's research focuses on feedback, achievement motivation, leadership, and growth mindset theory. His research has been published in leading research journals, including Current Directions in Psychological Science, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Management, and Personnel Psychology. Five of his international conference papers have won Best Paper Awards from Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Teaching: Since 2008, Don has taught the first-semester organizational behavior course for the nationally ranked Cox EMBA Program (Bloomberg Businessweek #3 ranking) and an undergraduate leadership course at the SMU-In-Taos Campus. Don has earned the Cox Distinguished MBA Teaching Award the past six years (2011-2016), the Cox Most Valuable EMBA Professor Award, the Cox Teaching Innovation Award, the SMU President's Outstanding Faculty Award, and the SMU Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Award. In 2010, Don was the second Cox professor in the span of a decade inducted into SMU's Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and in 2012, he received the SMU Distinguished University Citizen Award. Prior to SMU, Don was awarded the College of Liberal Arts Teacher Recognition Award from the University of Kansas, the Master Teacher Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development at the University of Texas, and the Award of Excellence from Kansas State Board of Education.

Service: Don's university service at SMU includes six years as a senator on the SMU Faculty Senate, chair of the Southern Accreditation Committee Finance Committee, chair of the SMU University Benefits Committee, chair of the Faculty Senate Academic Calendar Committee, chair of the Senate Committee on Committees, and membership on the SMU Faculty Senate Executive Committee. In 2003-2004, Don was a member of the President's Committee on Investment in Faculty Excellence—this committee produced an extensive report on the strategic plan for enhancing the excellence and national stature of the faculty via the upcoming SMU Centennial Capital Campaign. In 2012, Don received the SMU Distinguished University Citizen Award.

Primary Interests:

  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Person Perception
  • Self and Identity
  • Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

  • Ashford, S. J., Blatt, R., & VandeWalle, D. (2003). Reflections on the looking glass: A review of research on feedback-seeking behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 29, 773-799.
  • Brett, J. F., & VandeWalle, D. (1999). Goal orientation and goal content as predictors of performance in a training program. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 863-873.
  • Cron, W., Slocum, J., VandeWalle, D., & Fu, Q. (2005). The role of goal orientation on negative emotions and goal setting when initial performance falls short of one’s performance goal. Human Performance, 18, 55-80.
  • Dineen, B. R., Vandewalle, D., Noe, R. A., Wu, L., and Lockhart, D. (2018). Who Cares about Demands-Abilities Fit? Moderating Effects of Goal Orientation on Recruitment and Organizational Entry Outcomes. Personnel Psychology. 71, 201-224
  • Heslin, P. A., Latham, G. P., & VandeWalle, D. (2005). The effect of implicit person theory on performance appraisals. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 842-856.
  • Heslin, P. A., & VandeWalle, D. (2008). Managers' implicit assumptions about personnel. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
  • Heslin, P. A., VandeWalle, D., & Latham, G. P. (2006). Keen to help? Managers’ implicit person theories and their subsequent employee coaching. Personnel Psychology, 59, 871-902.
  • Heslin, P. A., & Vandewalle, D. (2011). Performance appraisal procedural justice: The role of a manager's implicit person theory. Journal of Management, 1694-1718.
  • Heslin, P. A., & Vandewalle, D. (2011). Performance appraisal procedural justice: The role of manager's implicit person theory. Journal of Management, 37, 1694-1718.
  • Pinkley, R. L., Conlon, D. E., Sawyer, J., Sleesman, D. J., Vandewalle, D., Kuenzi, M. (2019). The Power of Phantom Alternatives: How What Could Be Haunts What Is. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Making. 151, 34-48.
  • VandeWalle, D. (2003). A goal orientation model of feedback-seeking behavior. Human Resource Management Review, 13, 581-604.
  • VandeWalle, D. (2001). Goal orientation: Why wanting to look successful doesn’t always lead to success. Organizational Dynamics, 30, 162-171.
  • VandeWalle, D. (1997). Development and validation of a work domain goal orientation instrument. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57, 995-1015.
  • VandeWalle, D., Brown, S., P., Cron, B., & Slocum, J. (1999). The influence of goal orientation and self-regulation tactics on sales performance: A longitudinal field test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 249-259.
  • VandeWalle, D., Cron, W. L., & Slocum, J. W. (2001). The role of goal orientation following performance feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 629-640.
  • VandeWalle, D., & Cummings, L. L. (1997). A test of the influence of goal orientation on the feedback-seeking process. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 390-400.
  • VandeWalle, D., Ganesan, S., Challagalla, G. N., & Brown, S. P. (2000). An integrated model of feedback-seeking behavior: Disposition, context, and cognition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 996-1003.
  • Vandewalle, D. (2012). A growth and fixed mindset exposition of the value of conceptual clarity. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 5, 301-305.
  • Vandewalle, D., Nerstad, C. & Dysvik, A. (2019) Goal Orientation: A Review of the Miles Traveled, and the Miles to Go. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 115–144.

Other Publications:

  • Heslin, P. A., Carson, J. B., & Vandewalle, D. (2009). Practical applications of goal-setting theory to performance management. In J. W. Smithers and M. London (Eds.), Performance Management: Putting Research into Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Courses Taught:

  • BA 6325: Organizational Behavior (for SMU @ COX Executive MBA degree)
  • MNO 4371: Leadership and Culture (for SMU-in-Taos program)
  • MNO 6202: Managing Organizations (for SMU @ COX MBA and PMBA degrees )

Don VandeWalle
Management and Organizations Department
Cox School of Business
P.O. Box 750333
Dallas, Texas 75220-5049
United States of America

  • Phone: (214) 768-1239
  • Fax: (214) 768-4099

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