Sigal G. Barsade (28 August 1965 – 6 February 2022) was an Israeli-American business theorist and researcher, and was the Joseph Frank Bernstein Professor of Management at

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

. In addition to research, she worked as a speaker and consultant to large corporations across a variety of industries, such as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, IBM, KPMG and

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment banki ...

, healthcare organizations such as

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Gl ...

and

Penn Medicine The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) is a major multi-hospital health system headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. UPHS and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania together comprise Penn Medicine, ...

, and public and nonprofit corporations such as the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

. At the peak of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Barsade co-chaired a task force of scholars aiming to utilize behavioral science to increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake.

Career

Barsade's interest in organizational behavior began at a young age. Her father would recount tales of his experiences at work during family dinners, often commenting on his approach to leadership and managerial decision making. Barsade graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

(''magna cum laude'', Phi Beta Kappa) in 1986, where her senior honors thesis under Dr. Bert Raven and an elective course in industrial/organizational psychology began her career in the field of

organizational behavior Organizational behavior (OB) or organisational behaviour is the: "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself".Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. W. (1995) ...

.Barsade, S. G. (2021). What I have learned... in my journey as a scholar. In X.Chen & K. Steensma (Eds.), A Journey Toward Influential Scholarship: Insights from Leading Management Scholars (pp. 71-89). Oxford University Press. After a series of positions in industrial and start-up organizations, she enrolled for her PhD in Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public university ...

, where her two mentors included Professors Barry M. Staw and Charles A. O’Reilly. She received the Hayase Award at UC Berkeley in 1992. Her most highly cited article, “The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior,” is based on her dissertation work at Berkeley, focusing on the use of multiple methodologies triangulating in on a novel theoretical construct of contagion. This paper was cited by Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators as one of the most cited papers, and chosen as a “Fast Moving Front” on ScienceWatch in May, 2009. Barsade was a scholar of

emotional contagion Emotional contagion is a form of social contagion that involves the spontaneous spread of emotions and related behaviors. Such emotional convergence can happen from one person to another, or in a larger group. Emotions can be shared across indivi ...

emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information ...

, and organizational culture, and is credited with coining the term “affective revolution in organizations” to capture the growing body of research on emotions in organizations and groups. She co-created and co-led Wharton's teamwork and leadership course for MBA students with

Nancy Rothbard Nancy Paige Rothbard is the Deputy Dean and David Pottruck Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She studies the impact of emotions on work, specifically in areas of workplace motivation, teamwork, and ...

. She was the Joseph Frank Bernstein Professor of Management at the

and was previously an Associate Professor of Management at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Barsade also contributed in various capacities at the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

, most recently as OB Division Chair. Barsade mentored women and junior scholars, supported the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brut ...

movement, served as a board member at several organizations and charities, and as an expert witness. She also helped co-found the CT Children's Museum.

Personal life

Barsade died on February 6, 2022, at the age of 56, after two years with

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is one of the most aggressive types of cancer that begin within the brain. Initially, signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality cha ...

Honors

An award-winning researcher, Barsade received prestigious accolades for her scholarly work including the “2020 ASQ Award for Scholarly Contribution” and the “2017 Academy of Management Perspectives Decade Award”.

Select publications

Research articles by Sigal Barsade, Wharton School website
*Barsade, S. G. (2021). What I have learned... In my journey as a scholar. In X.P. Chen & K.H. Steensma (Eds.), A Journey Toward Influential Scholarship: Insights from Leading Management Scholars. Oxford University Press. *Barsade, S. G., Coutifaris, C. G. V., & Pillemer, J. (2018). Emotional contagion in organizational life. Research in Organizational Behavior. 38, 137–151. *Barsade, S. G., & O'Neill, O. A. (2014). What's love got to do with it? A longitudinal study of the culture of companionate love and employee and client outcomes in a long-term care setting. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59(4), 551. *Chatman, J. A., & Barsade, S. G. (1995). Personality, organizational culture, and cooperation: Evidence from a business simulation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40 (3), 423–443.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barsade, Sigal 1955 births 2022 deaths People from Haifa American people of Israeli descent Jewish women Israeli business theorists American business theorists Deaths from glioblastoma University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni