Jenna R. Pieper

Jenna R. Pieper is the Donald and Shirley Clifton Chair of Organizational Behavior and Associate Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Business. With expertise in strategic human resource management and workplace diversity, she has established herself as a leading scholar in employee referral programs and organizational behavior.

Dr. Pieper earned her Ph.D. in Management and Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Tulsa, and a B.A. in Psychology & Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She joined the College of Business Administration in 2012 after completing her doctoral studies.

Her research focuses on strategic human resource management with particular emphasis on employee referral hiring programs and workplace diversity issues. She has developed a significant research stream examining how referral hiring affects both referral hires and referrers, demonstrating how social enrichment through workplace relationships impacts performance and turnover. Her work on workplace diversity investigates gender and racial discrimination, as well as national culture differences in organizational contexts.

Dr. Pieper's publication record includes articles in top-tier journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Her research consistently examines the intersection of human resource practices, employee behavior, and organizational performance, with particular attention to how referral hiring programs create social enrichment that affects both referrers and referral hires.

Her scholarly work has received numerous prestigious awards including the 2022 Best Paper Convention Award from the Southern Management Association, the 2020 HR Division's International Human Resource Management Research Award, and the 2017 HR Division's Scholarly Achievement Award. She was also honored with the Ralph Alexander Dissertation Award in 2012 for the best doctoral dissertation in human resource management.

As an educator, Dr. Pieper teaches Strategic Human Resource Management and Compensation at undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral levels. She serves on multiple editorial boards including Human Resource Management Review and Journal of Management, and has been active in the Academy of Management's HR Division Executive Committee since 2020. Her service contributions to the university include chairing the Department of Management P&T Committee and advising the SHRM Student Chapter.