Contact
364 Mervis Hall
rdlebel@katz.pitt.edu
412-648-1020
Profile
David Lebel is an Associate Professor of Business Administration and the Director of the Berg Center for Ethics & Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh School of Business. His award-winning research focuses on three key areas:
- Communication at Work, including how employees communicate in virtual versus in-person meetings and the impact on organizational dynamics.
- Emotions at Work, including how employees can better regulate negative emotions to improve well-being and performance.
- Proactive Employee Behavior, including when and why employees engage in proactive behaviors such as speaking up with ideas, driving innovation, and taking initiative.
His research aims to provide actionable insights that enhance both employee performance, well-being, and organizational effectiveness.
Dave is a recognized educator, having received multiple awards for teaching excellence. He teaches courses in organizational behavior, organizational change, and workplace communication.
Before earning his Ph.D., Dave was a management consultant at Deloitte, where he advised public sector clients on strategy and operations. He also served as an analyst for a $15 billion privately held supply chain organization.
Awards and Honors
- Nine-time winner of the Katz School of Business Excellence in Teaching Award
- Outstanding Faculty of the Year as voted by the EMBA-Healthcare Class of 2022
- Doris & Douglas Bernstein Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence (2016-2017, 2019-2020)
- Katz School of Business Excellence in Research Award (2015-2016)
- BNY Mellon CSR Fellow and Research Grant (2013-2016)
Degrees
- PhD, Organizational Behavior, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
- MS, Management, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
- BS, Economics, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
Recent Publications
Lebel, R.D., Yang, X., Parker, S., & Kamran-Morley, D. (2023). What makes you proactive can burn you out: The downside of proactive skill building motivated by financial precarity and fear. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(7), 1207-1222. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001063
Patil, S. V., & Lebel, R. D. (2019). “I want to serve but the public does not understand:” Prosocial motivation, image discrepancies, and proactivity in public safety. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 154, 34-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.07.002
Lebel, R.D., & Patil, S.V. (2018). Proactivity despite discouraging supervisors: The powerful role of prosocial motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 724-737 https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000301
Academic Area
Organizations and Entrepreneurship