Dr. John Sumanth

James Farr Faculty Fellow in Leadership and Organizational Development; Associate Professor of Management; Associate, ACLC

EMAIL: sumanthj@wfu.edu

PHONE: (336) 758-4123

OFFICE: Farrell 386

CV: Curriculum Vitae

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Biography

John Sumanth is the James Farr Faculty Fellow in Leadership and Organizational Development and Associate Professor of Management at the Wake Forest University School of Business. An award-winning educator and highly-rated executive facilitator, he teaches and facilitates executive education in leadership, strategic innovation, executive decision-making, motivation, negotiation and influence, conflict management, employee voice and feedback, trust, and team effectiveness. John has worked with leaders at all levels of organizations, from C-suite executives to frontline managers and individual contributors.

John's research focuses on leadership, organizational communication, and status. His work has appeared in leading journals including Harvard Business Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Personnel Psychology, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Prior to academia, he spent nearly a decade in strategic planning, marketing, and innovation roles across the cruise tourism, fast food, and insurance industries.

His executive education and consulting work spans Fortune 500 companies, healthcare systems, financial institutions, athletic organizations, and U.S. government agencies. He has designed and delivered leadership development programs for organizations including ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo, Barings, Royal Caribbean, Advocate Health, Wake Forest Athletics, and leaders across the U.S. military and federal government, including Army, Army CYBER, Navy, and Air Force personnel. He has also partnered with organizations to develop leadership assessments and evidence-based feedback tools.

John earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his MBA from the University of Florida, and his B.S. in Industrial Engineering, cum laude, from the University of Miami, where he was inducted into Iron Arrow, the university's highest honor.

Honors

2026 - Horace Kelly Alumni Teaching Award
2022 - Winston-Salem Evening MBA Teaching Award, Wake Forest University - School of Business
2020 - Winston-Salem Evening MBA Teaching Award, Wake Forest University - School of Business
2018 - Outstanding Reviewer Award, Academy of Management Discoveries
2018 - T.B. Rose Fellowship in Business, Wake Forest University - School of Business
2018 - Most Impactful Research Project, Wake Forest University - School of Business
2014 - Senior Class Teaching Award, Wake Forest University - School of Business
2011 - Outstanding Doctoral Student Teaching Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2011 - Outstanding Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, Social Issues in Management Division
2011 - SMU H.O.P.E Professor (Honoring Our Professors' Excellence), Southern Methodist University
2009 - Outstanding Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, Organizational Behavior Division
1997 - Iron Arrow Honor Society, University of Miami
1997 - Omicron Delta Kappa, University of Miami

Expertise

Leadership, Strategic innovation, Executive decision-making, Motivation, Negotiation and Influence, Conflict management, Employee voice and feedback, Trust, and Team effectiveness

In The Media

July 17, 2017 - How to encourage candor in your office , Journal of Accountancy| more information
February 10, 2017 -| more information
March 17, 2015 - CÓMO CONSEGUIR BUENA RETROALIMENTACIÓN DE TUS EMPLEADOS , Mundo Executivo| more information
March 17, 2015 - 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Employee Feedback , Business News Daily| more information

Research Interests

Leadership, Organizational Communication (Voice/Feedback/Whistleblowing), Status

Teaching Interests

Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Negotiations

Education

Ph D, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Organizational Behavior) - 2011
MBA, University of Florida (Marketing) - 1999
BS, University of Miami (Industrial Engineering) - 1997

Publications

Journal of Business Ethics

Generating the moral agency to report peers' counterproductive work behavior in normal and extreme contexts: The generative roles of ethical leadership, moral potency, and psychological safety

Sumanth, J. , Hannah, S. , Herbst, K. C. , & Thompson, R. L.

Journal of Applied Psychology

Jekyll and Hyde Leadership: Examining the Direct and Vicarious Experiences of Abusive and Ethical Leadership Through a Justice Variability Lens

Xu, H. , Hannah, S. , Wang, Z. , Moss, S. E. , Sumanth, J. , & Song, M.

Harvard Business Review

A Growth Strategy that Creates and Protects Value

Hofmann, D. A. , & Sumanth, J. J. (2024)

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

Fueling the Creative Spark: How Authentic Leadership and LMX Foster Employees' Proactive Orientation and Creativity

Sumanth, J. , Cerne, M. , Hannah, S. , & Skerlavaj, M. (2023)

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Enhancing Employees' Duty Orientation and Moral Potency: Dual Mechanisms Linking Ethical Psychological Climate to Ethically?Focused Proactive Behaviors

Babalola, M. , Gok, K. , Sumanth, J. J. , Chandrashekhar, L. , , L. V. , Decoster, S. , Bansal, A. , & Coskun, A. (2022)

Journal of Business Ethics

The duty to improve oneself: How duty orientation mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and followers' feedback seeking and avoiding behavior

Moss, S. E. , Song, M. , Hannah, S. , Wang, Z. , & Sumanth, J. (2020)

Journal of Business Ethics

You May Not Reap What You Sow: How Employees' Moral Awareness Minimizes Ethical Leadership's Positive Impact on Workplace Deviance

Gok, K. , Sumanth, J. , Bommer, W. , Demirtas, O. , Arslan, A. , Eberhard, J. , Ozdemir, A. , & Yigit, A. (2017)

Edward Elgar Publishing

Everything in moderation: Authentic leadership, leader-member exchange and idea implementation

Cerne, M. , Sumanth, J. , & Skerlavaj, M. (2016)

Harvard Business Review

Get Your Employees to Make Better Suggestions

Hofmann, D. A. , & Sumanth, J. (2015)

Research in Management

Developing leadership capacity: An integration and exploration of ethical and authentic leadership antecedents

Sumanth, J. , & Hannah, S. (2014)

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Debunking the False Dichotomy of Leadership Idealism and Pragmatism: Critical Evaluation and Support of Newer Genre Leadership Theories

Hannah, S. , Sumanth, J. , Lester, P. , & Cavarretta, F. (2014)

Administrative Science Quarterly

Appeasing equals: Lateral deference in organizational communication

Fragale, A. , Sumanth, J. , Tiedens, L. , & Northcraft, G. (2012)

Organizational Psychology Review

Why good guys finish last: The role of justification motives, cognition, and emotion in predicting retaliation against whistleblowers.

Sumanth, J. , Mayer, D. M. , & Kay, V. S. (2011)

Personnel Psychology

Status and organizational entry: How organizational and individual status affect justice perceptions of hiring systems

Sumanth, J. , & Cable, D. M. (2011)

Journal of Applied Psychology

Mission possible: The performance of prosocially motivated employees depends on manager trustworthiness.

Grant, A. M. , & Sumanth, J. (2009)