About Paul

Paul Spector has had a varied career as an academic (business and psychology) and practitioner. He currently has three part-time roles.

  • Teaching Executive Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) students in USF’s Muma College of Business.
  • Co-PI on an NSF research grant in the USF Department of Electrical Engineering to improve the professional preparation of engineering students.
  • Organizational Science Consultant, Florida Health Sciences Center-Tampa General Hospital, helping to make the hospital a better place to work.

Paul was born in New York City and moved with his family to Sarasota, Florida when he was 9. He attended the University of South Florida where he received a BA in psychology and an MA and PhD in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. After spending seven years in a variety of academic and practitioner positions, he returned to the USF Psychology Department in 1982 where he retired in 2020 as a distinguished professor. During that time he served for 15 years as the director of the USF I-O psychology doctoral program and was the founding director of the interdisciplinary occupational health psychology (OHP) program. The OHP program bridges the Psychology Department with the NIOSH-funded USF Sunshine Education and Training Center (ERC), housed in the College of Public Health.

Paul explains how he became an I-O psychologist

Paul’s research interests include both the content and methodology of the field. Content areas concern the impact of jobs on the behavior and well-being of employees, including accidents/injuries, counterproductive work behavior, job satisfaction, job stress, and workplace violence. He’s written books on both methodology and content, including an I-O psychology textbook Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice. A complete list of his publications can be found in Google Scholar and ResearchGate.

In 2019 Paul began blogging to reach a broader audience than his academic papers and books. He blogs about business, IO psychology and business. More information and a place to subscribe are here.

Paul’s work has been highly influential in the fields of business management and I-O psychology. The Academy of Management Research Methods Division awarded him a lifetime achievement award in 2014, and the Academy of Management Human Resources Management Division awarded him a lifetime mentoring award in 2013. His acceptance address can be found here: Part 1 Part2. He is a fellow of several scientific and professional societies, including American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Psychological Association (APA), Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Southern Management Association. He was listed among the 10 most influential scholars in business and management worldwide in a 2012 Indiana University and a 2019 Stanford University study.