Modupe Akinola
Modupe Akinola is the Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and Faculty Director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Professor Akinola worked in professional services at Bain & Company and Merrill Lynch.
Professor Akinola examines how organizational environments—characterized by deadlines, multi-tasking, and other attributes such as having low status—can engender stress, and how this stress can have spillover effects on performance. She uses a multimethod approach that includes behavioral observation, implicit and reaction time measures, and physiological responses (specifically, hormonal and cardiovascular responses) to examine how cognitive outcomes are affected by stress.
In addition, Professor Akinola examines workforce diversity. Specifically, she examines the strategies organizations employ to increase the diversity of their talent pool. She also explores biases that affect the recruitment and retention of minorities in organizations.
Primary Interests:
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Gender Psychology
- Group Processes
- Intergroup Relations
- Interpersonal Processes
- Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
- Organizational Behavior
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Social Cognition
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Image Gallery
Video Gallery
Setbacks Can Spur Leaps Forward
Select video to watch
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Setbacks Can Spur Leaps Forward
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Rethinking Stress
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How to Handle Stress When You Need to Be Your Best (GMA)
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The Future of Work
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Feedback Doesn't Have to Be Stressful
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Columbia Business School Faculty Profile
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Three-Minute Insights (DealBook Conference 2015)
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On Being the Stress Advisor in "Limitless" with Chris Hemsworth
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On the Impact of Stress
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What Is Stress?
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How Inclusive Leadership Elevates Diverse Teams
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On Embracing Differences and Giving Feedback in a Diverse Environment
Journal Articles:
- Akinola, M., Fridman, I., Mor, S., Morris, M., & Crum, A. J. (2016). Adaptive appraisals of anxiety moderate the association between cortisol reactivity and performance in salary negotiations. PLoS ONE, 11(12), e0167977.
- Akinola, M., Kapadia, C., Lu, G. J., & Mason, M. F. (2019). Incorporating physiology into creativity research and practice: The effects of bodily stress responses on creativity in organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 33(2), 163-184.
- Akinola, M., Martin, A., & Phillips, K. (2018). To delegate or not to delegate: Gender differences in affective associations and behavioral responses to delegation. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), 1467-1491.
- Akinola, M., & Mendes, W. B. (2013). It’s good to be the king: Neurobiological benefits of higher social standing. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(1), 43-51.
- Akinola, M., & Mendes, W. B. (2012). Stress-induced cortisol facilitates threat-related decision making among police officers. Behavioral Neuroscience, 26(1), 167-174.
- Akinola, M., Page-Gould, E., Mehta, P. H, & Liu, Z. (2018). Hormone-diversity fit: Testosterone moderates the effect of diversity on group performance. Psychological Science, 29(6), 859-867.
- Akinola, M., Page-Gould, E., Mehta, P. H., & Lu, G. J. (2016). Collective hormonal profiles predict group performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(35), 9774-9779.
- Casto, K. V., Edwards, D. A., Akinola, M., Davis, C., & Mehta, P. H. (2020). Testosterone reactivity to competition and competitive endurance in men and women. Hormones & Behavior, 123, 104665.
- Chang, E. H., Milkman, K. L., Chugh, D., & Akinola, M. (2019). Diversity thresholds: How social norms, visibility, and scrutiny relate to group composition. Academy of Management Journal, 62(1), 144-171.
- Crum, A. J., Akinola, M., Turnwald, B. P., Kaptchuk, T. J., & Hall, K. T. (2018). Catechol-O- Methyltransferase moderates effect of stress mindset on affect and cognition. PLoS ONE, 13(4), e0195883.
- Crum, A. J., Jamieson, J. P., & Akinola, M. (2020). Optimizing stress: An integrated intervention for regulating stress responses. Emotion, 20(1), 120-125.
- Crum, A. J., Phillips, D. J., Goyer, J. P., Akinola, M., & Higgins, E. T. (2016). Transforming water: Social influence moderates psychological, physiological, and functional response to a placebo product. PLoS ONE, 11(11), e0167121.
- Goyer, J. P., Akinola, M., Grunberg, R., & Crum A. J. (2022). Thriving under pressure: The effects of stress-related wise interventions on affect, sleep, and exam performance for college students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Emotion, 22(8), 1755-1772.
- Gruber, J., Mendle, J., Lindquist, K. A., Schmader, T., Clark, L. A., Bliss-Moreau, E., Akinola, M... (2021). The future of women in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(3), 483-516.
- Milkman, K. L., Patel, M. S., Gandhi, L., Graci, H. N., Gromet, D., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Akinola, M... (2021). A megastudy of text-based nudges encouraging patients to get vaccinated at an upcoming doctor’s appointment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (20), e2101165118.
- Patel, M. S., Milkman, K. L., Gandhi, L., Graci, H. N., Gromet, D., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Rothschild, B. A., Akinola, M... (2023). A randomized trial of behavioral nudges delivered through text messages to increase influenza vaccination among patients with an upcoming primary care visit. American Journal of Healthcare Promotion, 37 (3), 324-332.
Other Publications:
- Rosette, A. S., Akinola, M., & Ma, A. (2018). Subtle discrimination in the workplace: Individual-level factors and processes. In E. King & A. Colella (Eds.), Oxford Handbook on Discrimination (pp.7-24). New York: Oxford University Press.
Courses Taught:
- Advanced Micro Seminar in Social Interactions in Groups and Organizations
- Executive Ethics (Session on Stereotyping and Discrimination in Organizations)
- Global Immersion: Lessons from Rwanda on Conflict, Leadership, Change, and Business Opportunities
- Lead: People, Teams, Organizations
- Success, Satisfaction and Sustainability
Modupe Akinola
Columbia Business School
346 Kravis Hall
665 West 130th Street
New York, New York 10027
United States of America
- Work: (212) 854-0756
- Mobile: (617) 233-4020
- Skype Name: mnakinola