Academy Fellow

Professor Cheri Ostroff received her PhD in Organizational Psychology from Michigan State University in 1987. After holding positions at the University of Minnesota, Arizona State University, Teachers College Columbia University, and the University of Maryland, Cheri moved to Australia in 2013. Over the past decade, she was a valued member of the University of South Australia’s Centre for Workplace Excellence, including a stint as Centre Director. 

Cheri was an innovative and high-impact scholar of management and organisational psychology. Her research interests addressed the interplay between people and their contexts. Cheri’s research program was multidisciplinary and wide-ranging, contributing to the academic literatures on organisational culture, HR management systems, diversity, fit and many other topics. Her work was always characterised by methodological rigour and provocative theorising. 

Cheri relished the opportunity to investigate organisational issues within novel contexts, including military training, surgical operating theatres and nuclear power plants. In the last years of her life, Cheri focused her research on health care systems and became a strong advocate for patient-centred care. She served as a consumer advisor within the Gastro-Intestinal Cancer Centre’s Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group. 

Her contributions were recognised by the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology in Applied Research (American Psychological Association), the Distinguished Early Career Contribution Award (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology), a Scholarly Achievement Award (HR Division, Academy of Management), and the 2014 Decade Award for the most cited article in 10 years (Academy of Management Review).

Throughout her career, Cheri displayed a strong commitment to mentoring and supporting colleagues and students. She leaves a lasting legacy embodied in generations of academics who were inspired by her commitment to impactful research and value-driven scholarship.

Written by Professors Carol T. Kulik and Marie Wilson

Research Professor, UniSA Business, University of South Australia, 2013-2025

Visiting Professor, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 2015-2016

Professor, Department of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of Management, University of Maryland, 2005-2013

Professor, Department of Organization & Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2000-2005

Professor, Department of Management, Arizona State University, 1999-2000; Associate Professor, 1995-1999

Associate Professor, Labor and Industrial Relations Department, University of Minnesota, 1993-1995; Assistant Professor, 1987-1993

Fellow, American Psychological Association

Fellow, Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology in Applied Research/Psychometrics, American Psychological Association 1994

Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award, Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology 1994

Scholarly Achievement Award, Human Resources Division, Academy of Management, 2005

Division Chair Track, Organizational Behavior, Academy of Management, 2009-2014

Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award, UniSA Business School, 2015

Decade Award, Academy of Management Review, for most influential paper published in 10 years, 2015

1. Ostroff, C. 2018. Contextualizing context in organizational research. In S.E. Humphrey and J.M. LeBreton (Eds.), Handbook of Multilevel Theory, Measurement, and Analysis. APA Publications.
2. Fulmer, C.A. & Ostroff, C. 2017. Trust in direct leaders and top leaders: A trickle-up model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 648-657
3. Schneider, B. Gonzalez-Roma, V., Ostroff, C., West, M. 2017. A history of organizational culture and climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 468-482
4. Ostroff, C. & Bowen, D.E. 2016. Is there Strength in HR system Strength? Academy of Management Review. 41, 196-214
5. Ostroff, C. & Schulte, M. 2014c). A configural approach to the study of culture and climate. In B. Schneider & K.M. Barbera (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate (pp 532-552). Oxford University Press.