Chelsea Willness
Positions
Professor
Haskayne School of Business, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources [OBHR]
Interim Director
Haskayne School of Business, Master of Management [MMgmt]
Contact information
Web presence
For media enquiries, contact
Lauren Steeves
Senior Marketing and Communications Strategist
Phone: (403) 220-6153
Email: lauren.steeves@ucalgary.ca
Background
Credentials
PhD, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, University of Calgary,
MSc, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, University of Calgary,
BA Hon, Psychology, University of Saskatchewan,
Biography
Dr. Willness joined Haskayne School of Business in July 2023. She has held two national research grants (SSHRC) for her research on how stakeholders—like job seekers, employees, or consumers—respond to organizations' environmental practices and community involvement (e.g., corporate social responsibility or CSR). She has published this work in top journals and book chapters, and presented to academic and professional audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. She is currently a member of a $2.5M SSHRC international research partnership focusing on monitoring and evaluating climate communication and education (MECCE).
From 2020 – 2022, Dr. Willness served as University Secretary & Chief Governance Officer for the University of Saskatchewan. For more than a decade, she has been actively involved in governance initiatives in the not-for-profit sector. She has consulted for a wide variety of organizations in areas such as CSR, governance, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. She holds the national ICD.D designation, as well as certificates in climate governance and board oversight of climate change.
Chelsea is a passionate champion of community-engaged scholarship and teaching. She received University, college, and international teaching awards for this work while at USask. She was also awarded an Innovation in Teaching Award from the Academy of Management for her design and implementation of HR courses that integrate community-based experiential learning.
Highlights of Dr. Willness's research areas and applied expertise:
- Environmental and social sustainability
- Corporate social responsibility, particularly CSR authenticity
- Non-profit, corporate, and post-secondary governance
- Climate risk and organizations/boards/leadership
- Attracting, selecting, and retaining talent
- Organizational reputation and image
- Community partnerships and stakeholder engagement
- Evidence-based decision making processes
- Strategic planning
- Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology
Research
Areas of Research
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Publications
- Publication list is a representative selection only. Please see Google Scholar for more information.
- Predisposed, exposed, or both? How prosocial motivation and CSR education are related to prospective employees’ desire for social impact in work (forthcoming). Glavas, A., Hahn, T., Jones, D. A., & Willness, C.R. Business & Society. (2023)
- How Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation can enhance community-engaged teaching and learning. Willness, C.R., Boakye-Danquah, J., & Nichols, D. Academy of Management Learning & Education. 112-131. (2023)
- Corporate social responsibility at the individual level of analysis: Research findings that inform responsible management “in the wild”. Willness, C.R., Jones, D.A., Strah, N., & Rupp, D. In O. Laasch, D. Jamali, R. E. Freeman, & R. Suddaby (Eds). Research Handbook of Responsible Management. (2020)
- Employee (dis)engagement in corporate social responsibility. Glavas, A., & Willness, C.R. In D. Haski-Leventhal, L. Roza, & S. Brammer (Eds). Employee Engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility. (2020)
- When CSR backfires: Understanding stakeholders’ negative responses to corporate social responsibility. Willness, C.R. In A. McWilliams, D.E. Rupp, D.S. Siegel, G. Stahl, & D.A. Waldman, Eds. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility: Psychological and Organizational Perspectives. (2019)
- Community-based partnership for capacity building: Stakeholder engagement through governance and leadership. Willness, C.R. In J. Allen & R. Reiter-Palmon, Eds. The Cambridge Handbook of Organizational Community Engagement and Outreach. (2019)
- Human resource management practices and voluntary turnover: A study of internal workforce and external labor market contingencies. Schmidt, J.A., Willness, C.R., Jones, D.A., & Bourdage, J. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 571-594. (2018)
- Strategic HR system differentiation between jobs: The effects on firm performance and employee outcomes. Schmidt, J.A., Pohler, D.M., & Willness, C.R. Human Resource Management. 65-81. (2018)
- When corporate social responsibility (CSR) meets organizational psychology: New frontiers in micro-CSR research, and fulfilling a quid pro quo through multilevel insights. Jones, D.A., Willness, C.R., & Glavas, A. Frontiers in Psychology. (2017)
- Illuminating the signals job seekers receive from an employer’s community involvement and environmental sustainability practices: Insights into why most job seekers are attracted, others are indifferent, and a few are repelled. Jones, D.A., Willness, C.R., & Heller, K.W. Frontiers in Psychology. 1-16.. (2016)
- Why are job seekers attracted by corporate social performance? Experimental and field tests of three signal-based mechanisms. Jones, D.A., Willness, C.R., & Madey, S. Academy of Management Journal. 383-404. (2014)
- Corporate environmental sustainability and employee recruitment: Leveraging “green” business practices to attract talent. Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. In A. H. Huffman & S. R. Klein (Eds.), Green Organizations: Driving Change with I-O Psychology. (2013)
- Corporate social responsibility, organizational reputation, and recruitment. Jones, D.A., & Willness, C.R. In K. Y. T. Yu & D. Cable (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Recruitment. (2013)
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