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Roderick Swaab
Professor of Organisational Behaviour
Roderick Swaab
Professor of Organisational Behaviour
Roderick is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour and the Academic Director of INSEAD's PhD programme. He also serves as The INSEAD Dutch Alumni Fellow in Leadership, Diversity and Governance.
Roderick's research examines the impact of communication structures on value creation in business negotiations and conflict resolution. He also studies the emergence of hierarchies in teams and how these impact coordination, conflict, and performance. His research has produced interventions that improve negotiation, dispute resolution, and teamwork, and has been published in leading journals, such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Academy of Management Journal, and Organization Science. His research and service to the field has received awards from the Academy of Management, the International Association for Conflict Management, the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO), and was featured in outlets like the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Time Magazine, Economist, Scientific American, and Forbes.
Roderick's teaching received several awards. He has won INSEAD EMBA's Best Teacher Award 5 times (2016-2021) for teaching the Negotiations Dynamics course and received the "Dean's Commendation for Excellence in MBA Teaching" 6 times (2015-2021) for teaching the OB1 core course and the Negotiations Dynamics course. He was also selected as one of Singapore’s most influential business professors aged 40 and under. His co-authored case "Ricardo Semler: A revolutionary model of leadership" won the Best Case in Human Resources / Organisational Behaviour awarded by the Case Centre. Prior to joining INSEAD Roderick held a position at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University where he taught in the MBA and EMBA programs and was nominated for the Outstanding Professor of the year award.
Research
My research draws on basic insights from organizational behavior, psychology, and communication science to understand how people navigate the tension between cooperation and competition. My program of research has been driven by three overarching questions: 1) How do underlying dimensions of communication channels (e.g., presence of visual cues, vocal cues, synchronicity) and peoples’ cooperative or competitive strategies interact to influence negotiations, group decision-making, and feedback? 2) How do differences in hierarchical structure and values affect group decision-making? And the intersection between the two: 3) How do communication channels affect social hierarchies?
Teaching
Roderick has taught several courses in INSEAD’s MBA and EMBA program as well as various Executive Education programs. He has won INSEAD EMBA's Best Teacher Award 5 times (2016-2021) for teaching the Negotiations Dynamics course and received the "Dean's Commendation for Excellence in MBA Teaching" 6 times (2015-2021) for teaching the OB1 core course and the Negotiations Dynamics course. He was also selected as one of Singapore’s most influential business professors aged 40 and under. His co-authored case "Ricardo Semler: A revolutionary model of leadership" won the Best Case in Human Resources / Organisational Behaviour awarded by the Case Centre. Prior to joining INSEAD Roderick held a position at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University where he taught in the MBA and EMBA programs and was nominated for the Outstanding Professor of the year award.
Research
- Best Paper Award - Empirical or Theoretical. Tey, K., Madan, N., Schaerer, M., & Swaab, R.I. “Going with the momentum: Exposure to decreasing concessions leads to a distributive disadvantage" Conflict Management Division, Academy of Management 2020.
- The INSEAD Dutch Alumni in Leadership, Diversity and Governance Fellow
- Outstanding Reviewer Award. Academy of Management Review, 2018.
- Best Published Article Award. “Schaerer, M., Swaab, R.I., & Galinsky, A.D. (2015). Anchors weigh more than power: Why absolute powerlessness liberates negotiators to achieve better outcomes.” The International Association for Conflict Management, 2017.
- Best Paper Award. “Understanding the Costs of Co-Leadership in High-Fashion Collections, Mountaineering Expeditions, Qualitative Analysis, and the Lab” Anicich, E. M., Godart, F., Swaab, R., & Galinsky, A. D. Conflict Management Division, Academy of Management 2017.
- Best Paper Proceedings (awarded to ~10% of papers), Academy of Management, 2017
- Best Student Paper Award. “The deceptive power of multiple alternatives” Schaerer, M. Loschelder, D., & Swaab, R.I. Conflict Management Division, Academy of Management 2015.
- 2x Best Paper Proceedings (awarded to ~10% of papers), Academy of Management 2015
- Most Innovative Paper Award with Student as First Author. Anicich, E., Swaab, R.I., & Galinsky, A.D. “When hierarchy conquers and kills: Hierarchical cultural values predict success and fatality in high-stakes teams”, OB Division, Academy of Management 2014.
- Best Paper Proceedings (awarded to ~10% of papers), Academy of Management, 2014.
- Best Paper Proceedings (awarded to ~10% of papers), Academy of Management, 2013.
- Best Applied Paper Award. Swaab, R.I. & Brett, J. “Face first: Pre-mediation caucuses and face in employment disputes.” The International Association for Conflict Management 2009.
- Honorable Mention. Swaab, R.I. & Brett, J. “Caucus with care: The impact of pre-mediation caucuses on conflict resolution.” The International Association for Conflict Management 2007.
- Best Dissertation Award. “Communication and negotiation in groups and teams: Causes and consequences of shared cognition and group solidarity.” The Netherlands School of Communication Research 2007.
- Best Empirical Paper Award. Swaab, R.I., Medvec, V. & Diermeier, D. “Communication media and negotiations.” The International Association for Conflict Management 2006.
Teaching
- Best Professor Award, voted by GEMBA Class of 2021 / TIEMBA Class of 2022.
- Best Professor Award, voted by GEMBA Class of 2020 / TIEMBA Class of 2021.
- Best Professor Award, voted by GEMBA Class of 2019 / TIEMBA Class of 2020.
- Best Professor Award, voted by GEMBA Class of 2018 / TIEMBA Class of 2019.
- Best Professor Award, voted by GEMBA Class of 2017 / TIEMBA Class of 2018.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2020-2021.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2019-2020.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2018-2019.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2017-2018.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2016-2017.
- Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching, 2015-2016.
- Most Influential Business Professors aged 40 and under. Singapore Business Review, 2016.
- Nominated for the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award by the Kellogg MBA graduating class, 2007. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
