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Gerard Seijts

Professor, Organizational Behaviour

Gerard Seijts

Contact Information

Expertise

  • Leadership
  • Leader Character
  • Teams and Decision-making

Research Publications

  • To search for publications by a specific faculty member, select the database and then select the name from the Author drop down menu.

Gerard Seijts received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1998. Prior to joining Ivey Business School in 2000, he was on the faculty at the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. Gerard is teaching on several leadership programs. For example, he has worked with organizations including Aecon, Intact Financial Corporation, OMERS, ATCO, Porter Airlines, Canadian Space Agency, Business Development Bank of Canada, Maple Leaf Foods, J.D. Irving Limited, EY Canada, Hutchison Ports, Deloitte, Hilti, A.S. Watson, AstraZeneca, and many others. He has also worked with government agencies in Canada, Hong Kong, Africa, and the Middle East on issues such as leadership and change. Gerard has taught EMBA, MBA and undergraduate courses in leadership, leading change, organizational behavior and performance management. 

His research activities, spanning journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers, cover a wide range of topics including leadership, leader character, change, goal setting, training and development, teams, organizational justice, and performance management. He also enjoys writing practitioner-oriented articles.

Gerard authored or co-authored several books including: Leadership on Trial: A Manifesto for Leadership Development; Good Leaders Learn: Lessons from Lifetimes of Leadership; Developing Leadership Character; The Character Compass: Transforming Leadership for the 21st Century; and Character: What Contemporary Leaders Can Teach Us about Building a More Just, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future.

Gerard is the recipient of awards for research, innovation in teaching, case writing, and outreach activities. 

Teaching

  • Leading People and Organizations (HBA, MBA and EMBA programs)
  • Cross-Enterprise Leadership (HBA and MBA programs)
  • Leading Change (HBA and MBA programs)
  • Learning From Leaders (HBA program)
  • Leadership Change (HBA and MBA programs)
  • Leadership Under Fire: Developing Leader Character (HBA and MBA programs)

Programs Taught

  • Executive Education
  • HBA
  • MBA
  • EMBA

Education

  • PhD, University of Toronto

Recent Refereed Articles

  • Seijts, G. H.; Milani, K. Y., 2024, "The character imperative: Creating a more just, prosperous, and sustainable future", Organizational Dynamics, August 53(3): 101012 - 101012.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Mohan, G.; Sosik, J. J.; Ruiz Pardo, A.; Barath, I., 2024, "The Effect of Character on Stress Coping Responses Through Motivation to Lead", Journal of Character and Leadership Development, August 11(2): 1 - 27.
  • Wright, T. A.; Emich, K.; Pearce, J. L.; Ramoglou, S.; Ashkanasy, N.; Bartunek, J. M.; Kunisch, S.; Denyer, D.; Foss, N. J.; Klein, P. G., et al., 2024, "Advocacy and the Search for Truth in Management Scholarship: Can the Twain Ever Meet?", Journal of Management Inquiry, January 33(1): 11 - 25.
  • Mohan, G.; Seijts, G. H.; Miller, R., 2023, "Does Leader Character Have a Gender?", Journal of Business Ethics, November 188: 169 - 186.
  • Seijts, G. H.; de Clercy, C.; Miller, R., 2023, "Character and Trust in Crisis Leadership: Probing the Relationships Among Character, Identification-Based Trust, and Perceptions of Effectiveness in Political Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic", Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, March 59(1): 127 - 154.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Young Milani, K., 2022, "The application of leader character to building cultures of equity, diversity, and inclusion", Business Horizons, September 65: 573 - 590.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Monzani, L.; Woodley, H. J. R.; Mohan, G., 2022, "The Effects of Character on the Perceived Stressfulness of Life Events and Subjective Well-Being of Undergraduate Business Students", Journal of Management Education, February 46(1): 106 - 139.
  • Monzani, L.; Seijts, G. H.; Crossan, M. M., 2021, "Character matters: The network structure of leader character and its relation to follower positive outcomes", PLOS One, September 16(9): e0255940 - e0255940.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Wright, T. A., 2021, "Why Character Matters", Organizational Dynamics, August 50(3): 100754 - 100754.
  • Bhardwaj, R.; Seijts, G. H., 2021, "Leader character in the boardroom", Organizational Dynamics, August 50(3): 100751 - 100751.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Young-Milani, K., 2021, "The myriad ways in which COVID-19 revealed character", Organizational Dynamics, August 50(3): 100765 - 100765.
  • Seijts, G. H.; de Clercy, C.; Mohan, G., 2021, "Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Character and Perceptions of Leader Effectiveness During the COVID-19 Crisis", Canadian Journal Of Behavioural Science-Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, July 53(3): 358 - 364.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Watson, T., 2021, "Enough. It’s time to hire (and develop) better judgment", Ivey Business Journal
  • de Clercy, C.; Seijts, G. H.; Nguyen, B., 2020, "Do Canadian and American Voters Evaluate Leader Character Similarly? Comparing Voters’ Perceptions of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Justin Trudeau", American Review of Canadian Studies, December 50(4): 498 - 521.
  • Seijts, G. H.; Espinoza, J.; Carswell, J., 2020, "Utility Analysis of Character Assessment in Employee Placement", Leadership and Organization Development Journal, September 41(5): 703 - 720.

For more publications please see our Research Database

Honours & Awards

  • Management Education and Development Evidence-Based Leadership Development Program Award, Academy of Management
  • The Ivey Emerging Academic Leadership Award, Ivey Business School
  • The Academy of Management Learning and Education Best Paper Award
  • Faculty Research Merit Award, Ivey Business School
  • MBAA Lawrence G. Tapp Excellence in Teaching Award, Ivey Business School
  • Reykjavik University, School of Business, Executive MBA program, Teacher of the Year
  • Ivey Teaching Innovation Award, Ivey Business School
  • Ivey Alumni Faculty Service Award, Ivey Business School

Experience

  • Professor, Western University, Ivey Business School (July 2013-present)
  • Associate Professor, Western University, Ivey Business School (July 2005-June 2013)
  • Assistant Professor, Western University, Ivey Business School (July 2000-June 2005)
  • Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba, I.H. Asper School of Business (June 1997-July 2000)

Research/Course Development

  • Leadership
  • Leader Character
  • Organizational Change
  • Training and Development
  • Performance Management
  • Team Processes

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