Lifetime Achievement Award

Sponsored by the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior

The OB Division places a high value on Rigor, Relevance and Relationships. These guiding principles are relevant as criteria for the OB Division Career Awards for Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA) and Early to Mid-Career Scholarly Achievement Award  in that we expect nominees to demonstrate the high standards expected in the field.

Rigor

The scientific quality and methodological soundness of the work. Our field is based on robust, reliable, and valid methodologies and results.

  • The stature of the nominee as a scientist vis-à-vis other prominent scientists in the field.

Relevance

The impact of their work on the field and society.

  • Centrality of their research to field of OB
  • Influence of the nominee’s contributions to the science of Organizational Behavior
    • The importance/significance of the contribution
    • Publishing high-impact articles in the very best journals
    • The impact that the work has had on the work of students and colleagues
    • Dissemination Recognize efforts to disseminate research findings to a wider audience, including industry professionals and the public

Relationships

Collaborative efforts, leadership and involvement within the field and community.

  • Engagement in Academic Community: Active participation in academic discussions, conferences, and collaborations with other scholars.
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Consider contributions of bridging academic disciplines and spanning boundaries between research traditions, scholarly conversations, or between different societal stakeholder groups.
  • Leadership & Service to the Profession: Evaluate contributions to the field, such as:
    • Leadership roles in the OB division and/or AOM
    • Editorial roles (serving as an action/associate editor of leading journals, serving on editorial boards of top journals)
    • Involvement in professional organizations related to organizational behavior
    • Involvement in community organizations that apply organizational behavior expertise
  • Mentorship: Recognize the mentorship of students and junior faculty, as well as the fostering of a collaborative and supportive research and learning environment.

Ethical Conduct

Nominees are expected to not violate AOM's values in their professional or personal behavior. If allegations of ethical misconduct are identified, nominees will be asked to defer until the issues are resolved and apply in a later year.

The 2025 winner: John Mathieu

John E. Mathieu, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award for over three decades of transformative contributions to organizational behavior and team research. His work exemplifies sustained excellence that has fundamentally shaped our understanding of teams and organizational effectiveness.
 
Professor Mathieu is the recipient of the Joseph E. McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Groups, recognizing his enduring commitment to advancing the interdisciplinary science of team behavior. He also earned the Academy of Management's Research Methods Division Distinguished Career Award for his methodological expertise. He is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology, American Psychological Association, and Academy of Management.
 
Beyond his scientific rigor, Professor Mathieu practices engaged scholarship with Fortune 500 companies, the Armed Services (Army, Navy, Air Force), federal agencies (NRC, NASA, FAA, DOT), and diverse public/private organizations. His research has involved thousands of employees across 61 companies in 13 U.S. cities.


All past award winners: