Scott Graffin

Scott Graffin, who holds the Synovus Chair in Servant Leadership at the Terry College of Business, has been appointed to head the Department of Management. The appointment takes effect Aug. 1.

Graffin, who came to the University of Georgia as an assistant professor in 2006, succeeds Robert Vandenberg, who retired this summer. Vandenberg, the Robert O. Arnold Professor of Business, has served as department head since 2013 and came to UGA from Georgia State University in 1993.

Graffin has served as the Department of Management’s Ph.D. coordinator since 2019 and has mentored many doctoral students during his career. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in strategic management and is a sought-after instructor in the Terry College MBA program.

As a researcher, Graffin studies corporate governance structures and their impacts. He is widely known for his expertise on the behaviors and characteristics of corporate CEOS and how they impact a firm’s success.

He serves on the editorial boards of the Strategic Management Journal, Organizational Research Methods and Academy of Management Journal. He also serves as a research fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.

Education

• PhD, Strategic Management, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2006
• MBA, Management, University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, 2001
• BBA, Accounting, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1994

Awards, Honors and Recognitions:

• Award for Scholarly Contribution, Administrative Science Quarterly, 2019
• Research Excellence Award, Terry College of Business, 2017
• Hugh O. Nourse Outstanding MBA Teacher Award, Terry College of Business Full-time MBA Program, 2015
• Professor of the Year , Terry College of Business Evening MBA Program, 2013
• Outstanding Teacher, Terry College of Business, 2012

Research Interests

• Corporate Governance
• CEO Reputation and Status
• CEO Succession

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• Quigley, T. J., Hubbard, T. †, Ward, A. & Graffin, S. Still in Control: Information Releases and CEO Stock Option Grants. Forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal.
• Campbell, R., Jeong, S., Graffin, S. Born to take risk? The effects of CEO birth order on strategic risk taking. Forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal.
• Gamache, D.L, McNamara, G.M., Graffin, S.D., Kiley, J.T. ††, Haleblian, J.J., Devers, C.D. Impression offsetting as an early warning signal of CEO self-interest in acquisitions. Forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal
• Hubbard, T., Christensen, D., & Graffin, S. 2017. Higher Highs and Lower Lows: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in CEO Dismissal. Strategic Management Journal, 38:2255-2265.
• Quigley, T., & Graffin, S. 2017. Reaffirming the CEO effect is Significant and Much Larger than Chance: A Comment on Fitza (2014). Strategic Management Journal, 38:793-801.
• Boivie, S., Graffin, S., Withers, M., Oliver, A. 2016. Welcome aboard! Exploring the Effects of Directorships in the Executive Labor Market.Academy Of Management Journal , 59(5):1681-1706.
• Graffin, S., Haleblian, J., Kiley, J. 2016. Ready, AIM, Acquire: Impression Offsetting and Acquisitions. Academy Of Management Journal , 59:232-252.
• Boive, S., Graffin, S., & Gentry, R. 2016. Understanding the Direction, Magnitude, and Joint Effects of Reputation When Multiple Actors' Reputations Collide. Academy Of Management Journal , 59:188-206.
• Christensen, D., Dhaliwal, D., Boivie, S., & Graffin, S. 2015. Top Management Conservatism and Corporate Risk Strategies: Evidence from Managers’ Personal Political Orientation and Corporate Tax Avoidance. Strategic Management Journal, 36:1918-1938.
• Graffin, S., Bundy, J., Porac, J., Wade, J., Quinn, D. 2013. Falls from Grace and the Hazards of High Status: The 2009 British Expense Scandal and its Impact on Parliamentary Elites. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58:313-345.
• Graffin, S., Boivie, S., & Carpenter, M. 2013. Examining CEO Succession and the Role of Heuristics in Early-Stage CEO Evaluation. Strategic Management Journal, 34:383-403.
• Boivie, S., Graffin, S., & Pollock, T. 2012. Time For Me to Fly: Predicting Director Exit at Large Firms. Academy Of Management Journal, 55:1334-1359.
• Graffin, S., Carpenter, M., & Boivie, S. 2011. What's All That (Strategic) Noise? Anticipatory Impression Management in CEO Successions. Strategic Management Journal, 32:748-770.
• Graffin, S. & Ward, A. 2010. Certifications and Reputation: Determining the Standard of Desirability Amidst Uncertainty.Organization Science, (21):331-346.
• Ward, A., Brown, J., & Graffin, S. 2009. Under the Spotlight: Institutional Invest and Firm Reponses to the Council of Institutional Investors' Annual Focus List. Strategic Organization, (7):107-135.
• Graffin, S., Wade, J., Porac, J., McNamee, R. 2008. The Impact of CEO Status Diffusion on the Economic Outcomes of Other Senior Managers. Organization Science, (19):457-474.
• Wade, J., Porac, J., Pollock, T., Graffin, S. 2006. The Burden of Celebrity: The Impact of CEO Certification Contests on CEO Pay and Performance. Academy Of Management Journal, (49):643-660.

Editorial Appointments

• Editorial Board Member, Academy of Management Journal, 2010 - present
• Associate Editor, Academy of Management Journal, 2013 - 2016
• Editorial Board Member, Academy of Management Review, 2011 - 2014
• Editorial Board Member, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2008 - 2011