Prof. Tony Kong

Dejun “Tony” Kong (Ph.D. in Business Administration, Washington University in St. Louis, USA) is an Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.

Tony is interested in exploring how to promote individuals’ prosocial behaviors (to advance others’/collective interests). His research focuses largely on trust in various social interactions (e.g., negotiations, leadership, teams, cross-cultural settings, etc.), positive psychology in organizations (e.g., humor, gratitude, passion, authenticity, etc.), and behavioral ethics (moral emotions, prosocial/antisocial behaviors, and diversity/equity/inclusion). He has published over 60 journal articles. According to Elsevier BV and Stanford University, Tony is one of the top 2 percentile scientists (based on single years) worldwide. His research has appeared in numerous journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management, Journal of Personality, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organizational Psychology Review, and Psychological Science. In 2016, his co-edited book “Leading through Conflict: Into the Fray” was published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Tony has received numerous research, teaching, and service awards. For example, he received the Most Influential Article Award 2023, the Best Conflict-in-Context Paper Award 2022, and the Most Influential Article (runner-up) Award 2021 from the Academy of Management’s (AOM) Conflict Management Division. In 2024, he received the Best Paper Award from the Leeds School of Business’s Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. In 2020, he received the University of South Florida’s Women and Leadership Initiative (WALI) research award. In 2019, he was selected by Poets & Quants as a “40 under 40” best business professor in the world. He was also named an Ascendant Scholar in 2019 by the Western Academy of Management, a Rutgers Research Fellow, and a University of Louisville’s Rechter Fellow for Leadership.

Tony has actively engaged in various kinds of leadership and service work for his professional and local communities. In 2024, he was elected to be the new leader of the AOM’s Conflict Management Division. He has been serving as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Management and Journal of Organizational Behavior, and on the editorial review boards of many other journals, such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Organization Science. He received an Outstanding ERB Reviewer Award 2023 from Organization Science. Additionally, he was a Rep-at-Large of the International Association for Conflict Management, chairing multiple awards committees. Before moving to Colorado, he served as a trustee of St. Anthony’s Hospital in Florida.

He has strong commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), such as serving as an Ambassador-at-Large for the AOM Diversity & Inclusion Theme Committee, organizing an AOM workshop on “Inclusive Collaborations and Classrooms,” and co-creating a university-wide DEI pedagogy training module.