Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour
BS (Yonsei University), BA, MS (Seoul National University), PhD (University of Toronto)
My research focuses on creativity, culture creation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In my work on creativity, I explore how work-relevant information (e.g., feedback and information structure) impacts creativity. Regarding culture creation, I investigate why leaders often fail to create functional cultures and how organisations can create functional cultures. My interest in AI centres around human-AI collaboration. I investigate the types of people who would benefit the most from collaborating with AI and whether such collaboration has an impact on human psychology.
My work has been published in top academic journals, such as Academy of Management Journal and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. I currently serve on the editorial board of Academy of Management Journal.
Recruitment of Volunteer Research Assistants
Dr Kim is currently recruiting volunteers who can help his research. For more information, please email Dr Kim.
Professional experience
Dr Yeun Joon Kim has engaged in several collaborations with and consulting activities for various organisations. He helps organisations continuously innovate their work processes and products, create functional cultures, and train their leaders to be more effective in leading employees. He works with Invesco, Schroders, Ninety One, Border to Coast, and LGIM to investigate the topics of diversity, equality, and inclusion. He also collaborates with the Institute of Metabolic Science in the University of Cambridge, E-ACT, and Providus Bank to diagnose their current cultures and help them create functional cultures. He also works with Kyobo Lifeplanet to create organisational visions, restructure its organisational structure, and develop marketing strategies based on segmentation, targeting, and positioning. He is currently an Independent Director of Kyobo Lifeplanet.
Publications
Selected publications
- Kim, Y.J., Toh, S.M. and Baik, S. (2022) “Culture creation and change: making sense of the past to inform future research agendas.” Journal of Management, 48(6): 1503-1547 (DOI: 10.1177/01492063221081031)
- Luan, Y and Kim Y.J. (2022) “An integrative model of new product evaluation: a systematic investigation of perceived novelty and product evaluation in the movie industry.” PLoS ONE, 17(3): e0265193 (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265193)
- Kim, Y.J. and Meeker, A. (2020) “A subordinate’s criticism makes you more creative.” Harvard Business Review, Mar-Apr
- Kim, Y.J. and Kim, J. (2020) “Does negative feedback benefit (or harm) recipient creativity? The role of the direction of feedback flow.” Academy of Management Journal, 63(2): 584–612 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.1196)
- Kim, Y.J. and Toh, S.M. (2019) “Stuck in the past? The influence of a leader’s past cultural experience on group culture and positive and negative group deviance.” Academy of Management Journal, 62(3): 944–969 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.1322)
- Kim, Y.J. and Zhong, C.B. (2017) “Ideas rise from chaos: information structure and creativity.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 138: 15-27 (DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.10.001)
Journal articles
- Grossmann, I.E.A. and Kim, Y.J. (2023) “Insights into accuracy of social scientists’ forecasts of societal change.” Nature Human Behaviour, 7: 484-501 (DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01517-1)
- Kim, Y.J., Toh, S.M. and Baik, S. (2022) “Culture creation and change: making sense of the past to inform future research agendas.” Journal of Management, 48(6): 1503-1547 (DOI: 10.1177/01492063221081031)
- Luan, Y and Kim Y.J. (2022) “An integrative model of new product evaluation: a systematic investigation of perceived novelty and product evaluation in the movie industry.” PLoS ONE, 17(3): e0265193 (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265193)
- Tierney, W., Kim, Y.J. et al (2022) “A creative destruction approach to replication: implicit work and sex morality across cultures.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 93: 104060 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104060)
- Kim, Y.J. and Kim, J. (2020) “Does negative feedback benefit (or harm) recipient creativity? The role of the direction of feedback flow.” Academy of Management Journal, 63(2): 584–612 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.1196)
- Kim, Y.J. and Meeker, A. (2020) “A subordinate’s criticism makes you more creative.” Harvard Business Review, Mar-Apr
- Kim, Y.J. and Toh, S.M. (2019) “Stuck in the past? The influence of a leader’s past cultural experience on group culture and positive and negative group deviance.” Academy of Management Journal, 62(3): 944–969 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.1322)
- Kim, Y.J. and Zhong, C.B. (2017) “Ideas rise from chaos: information structure and creativity.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 138: 15-27 (DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.10.001)
- Kim, Y.J. and Zhong, C.B. (2016) “Moral reasoning and creativity.” Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, 2016(1) (DOI: 10.5465/ambpp.2016.19)
Book chapters
- Kim, Y.J., McRuer, G. and Hirsh, J.B. (2020) “Creativity in the workplace.” In: Carducci, B.J. (ed.) The Wiley encyclopedia of personality and individual differences: vol.iv: Clinical, applied, and cross-cultural research. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, pp.465-470
Awards and honours
- Collaboration with Institute for Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge for the Wellcome Award (2023)
- Winner, Faculty Transnational Research Award, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2020
- Finalist, Alvah Chapman Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2020
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2017-2018
- Finalist, EURAM Most Inspirational Paper Award, 2017
- Winner, Samsung Economic Research Institute Best Paper Awards, 2016
- James Paopst Fellowship, 2015-2016
- National Humanities and Social Sciences Graduate Research Scholarship, Korean Student Aid Foundation (KOSAF), 2012-2013
News and insights
Organisations should follow a four-stage model for creating functional cultures that includes analysing different "environmental" changes, says a study co-authored by Yeun Joon Kim of Cambridge Judge Business School.
As the Academy Awards approach, a new study from Cambridge Judge Business School, based on nearly 50,000 customer reviews, questions just how 'novel' moviegoers really want their films to be.
Paper by Yeun Joon Kim and Yingyue Luan of Cambridge Judge wins Faculty Transnational Research Award of the Academy of Management. A paper authored at Cambridge Judge Business School on how leaders adapt their behaviour based on their perceptions of the group culture and their followers' attitudes has been named winner of the 2020 Faculty Transnational Research Award by the Academy of Management. The paper by Dr Yeun Joon Kim, University Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, and PhD student Yingyue Luan was awarded by the Gender and Diversity in Organisations Division of the Academy of Management. The award goes to the conference paper that "best meets the objective of advancing our understanding of transnational gender and diversity issues". The paper, based on a field study involving 159 middle managers in 159 bank branches in South Korea, looks at how group cultures and the dominance of males in a group force females leaders to display more directive and less empowering leadership behaviours. The paper goes beyond previous studies on gender and leadership to focus not only on the gender of a leader but also on the "confluence" of a leader, followers and their respective social contexts – and how this interplay…
Media coverage
The Economist | 14 May 2022
The woolliest words in business
A study co-authored by Dr Yeun Joon Kim, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Cambridge Judge Business School, features in an Economist article about overused and anodyne business words such as “flexibility”, “purpose” and “collaboration”.
Harvard Business Review | 1 May 2021
New leaders bring unwanted cultural baggage with them
A study co-authored by Dr Yeun Joon Kim, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour at Cambridge Judge, on “bottom-up” criticism is featured in HBR’s May-June 2021 print edition. The study found that while leaders are often hired in the hope of incorporating a fresh perspective into an organisation’s existing culture, too often they simply import elements of culture from their previous job regardless of whether they meet the new organisation’s needs.
Management Today | 1 May 2020
Encourage employees to criticise you if you want to be more creative
A study by Yeun Joon Kim, University Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour at Cambridge Judge Business School, is featured in the article. The study says found that receiving criticism from their employees could do a leader wonders, as negative feedback actually alerts the recipient to a “creativity-standard gap”, prompting them to pay heightened attention to what they need to do to improve.
Harvard Business Review, 19 February 2020
A subordinate’s criticism makes you more creative
Consumer Affairs, 6 December 2019
Bosses’ reactions could impact if workers speak up
The Irish Times, 20 September 2019
How to ensure your company is not stuck in the past
The Economic Times of India, 5 September 2019
‘Stuck in the past? New CEOs often try to transfer previous company’s culture’
Consumer Affairs, 4 August 2019
Ethical leadership in the workplace can create a positive work environment
Forbes, 9 June 2019
Four new ideas for giving feedback that gets positive results
Consumer Affairs, 4 May 2019
Being open to criticism at work can be beneficial to creativity
Ze.tt., 24 April 2019
We need a more cozy culture for criticism at work
Hindustan Times, 9 April 2019
Employees should be receptive to criticism to stay creative
The Economic Times, 8 April 2019
Negative feedback does more good than harm, may help you become creative
Thrive Global, 5 April 2019
Three ways to use criticism to boost your creativity
Science Daily, 4 April 2019
To keep the creative juices flowing, employees should be receptive to criticism
Inverse, 7 July 2018
Don’t get along with your new boss? Here’s the most likely reason why
The Globe and Mail, 6 April 2017
How Lego can get employees thinking outside the blocks
Science Daily, 22 March 2017
Too much structured knowledge hurts creativity, shows study
The Globe and Mail, 10 February 2017
The nine habits of unhealthy managers