Tony Kong Wins Academy of Management’s Conflict Management Division “Most Influential Article Award (2015 to 2018)”

This summer, Tony Kong, associate professor of Organizational Leadership at the Leeds School of Business, has been awarded the Academy of Management’s Conflict Management Division “Most Influential Article Award (2015 to 2018)” for his paper “Strategic Consequences of Emotional Misrepresentation in Negotiation: The Blowback Effect,” published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2016.

In the paper, Kong and his co-authors examine the strategic consequences of emotional misrepresentation in negotiation. The researchers argue that negotiators who misrepresent their emotions (e.g., by pretending to be angry when they are not) may achieve short-term gains, but they are likely to experience negative blowback effects in the long run.

Kong’s research has important implications for negotiators in a variety of settings. The research demonstrates that emotional (particularly, anger) misrepresentation can be a risky strategy, and that negotiators who are dishonest about their emotions are less likely to build trust and achieve long-term success. After all, negotiations should be dialogues depending on trust and collaborative problem-solving.

The Academy of Management’s Conflict Management Division “Most Influential Article Award” is given annually to the article that has had the greatest impact on the field of conflict management in a period of 4 years.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Tony Kong on this well-deserved award!