Jessica Nicholson

Ph.D. (ABD), Management/Organizational Leadership (in progress)

MBA, McMaster University (1995)

Honors BA, Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1992)

Dean’s PhD Candidate Travel Bursary, CBE, University of Guelph (2016) 

OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators - scholarship to OBTC Doctoral Institute  (2016)

Dean’s PhD Candidate Travel Bursary, CBE, University of Guelph (2016) 

SBE (Society for Business Ethics) Founders’ Award Recipient  (2015) 

Society for Business Ethics “Emerging Scholar” designation (2015)

Dean’s PhD Candidate Travel Bursary, CBE, University of Guelph (2015) 

Dept. of Management PhD Student Travel Grant, University of Guelph  (2015) 

Ontario Graduate Fellowship (2014-2015)

University of Guelph Internal Scholarship (2014-2015) 

Dean’s PhD Candidate Travel Bursary, CBE, University of Guelph (2014) 

Dept. of Management PhD Student Travel Grant, University of Guelph (2014) 

University of Guelph Board of Graduate Studies Research Scholarship (2013-2014) 

University of Guelph Internal Scholarship (2013-2014)

University of Guelph Internal Scholarship  (2012-2013) 

Jessica's research explores the intersection of positive psychology, ethics, and work; specifically, the roles of ethics (care and virtue ethics) and relational leadership in contributing to individual well-being, care in organizations, and sustainability.  Additional interests include behavioral ethics, positive organizational scholarship, and ethics in management curricula.

Journal Articles (peer reviewed)

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. (in press). An Ethical Framework for Relational Leadership: Contributions from the Moral Theory of Ethics of Care.  Journal of Business Ethics.  Published online DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3593-4

Book Chapters

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. (2017). Fostering an Emergent Mindset in Leaders: The Role of Caring in Leadership Development. In R. Koonce (ed.) Developing Leaders for Positive Organizing: A 21st century repertoire for leading in extraordinary times.  Emerald Publishing Group.

Book Chapters Accepted for Publication and Under Development

Colbert, B. A., Nicholson, J., & Kurucz, E. C.  Humanistic Leadership for Sustainable Transformation.  For Evolving Leadership for a Sustainable Future: A Path to Collective Wellbeing.  A book in the International Leadership Association Series, Building Leadership Bridges.  By S. Steffen, with S. Rappaport and S. Trevenna (Eds.) Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E. C., & Colbert, B. A.  Caring relations and collaborative power:  Using appreciative inquiry to develop dialogic capacity in leaders.  For The Dialogical Challenge of Leadership Development, R. Koonce & R. van Loon (eds.), a book in the series Contemporary Perspectives on Leadership Development. Series Editor: Rob Koonce.

Working Papers

Nicholson, J., Colbert, B., & Kurucz, E. C. “Scaling Deep for Sustainability:  The Role of Caring in Social Innovation Intermediaries “.  Empirical working paper.

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. “Caring For and Caring About: Human Resource Management Practices in Collaborative Civil Society Organizations”. Empirical working paper.

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. “The Process of Relational Leadership Development: Developing a Relational Stance through a Caring Approach.” Conceptual working paper.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E. C., & Colbert, B.. “The Role of Caring in Scaling Social Enterprise Initiatives.” Empirical working paper.

Upcoming Refereed Conference Presentations

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. (2018, May).  ‘Caring relations and collaborative power:  Using appreciative inquiry to develop dialogic capacity in leaders.’  Individual paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming Canadian Positive Psychology annual meeting, Toronto, ON.

Refereed Conference Presentations

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E., & Colbert, B. (2017, June). Scaling deep for lasting impact:  Fostering scaling efforts with ‘Empathic Leadership’. Paper presented at International Association for Business & Society (IABS) conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E., & Colbert, B. (2017, July). 'The role of care in scaling social enterprise initiatives:  A practice approach to scaling deep.' Paper presented at European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) conference, Copenhagen Denmark.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E., & Colbert, B. (2017, October).  ‘Empathic Leadership’ in turbulent times: An empirical examination.  Paper presented at International Leadership Association (ILA) annual conference, Brussels, Belgium.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E. C., & Colbert, B. (2017, April). Scaling deep for sustainability:  Increasing the impact of an environmental social enterprise through 'empathic leadership'. Paper presented at IESE-LUISS Conference on Responsibility, Sustainability, and Social Entrepreneurship, Rome, Italy.

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. (2016, June). “Uniting in Service” through an Ethic of Care in Teaching and Learning. Workshop/discussion presented at 43rd OBTC Teaching Conference for Management Educators, North Canton, Ohio.

Nicholson, J., Kurucz, E. C., & Colbert, B. (2016, June). The Role of Caring in Scaling Social Enterprise Initiatives. Paper presented at International Association for Business and Society conference, Park City, Utah.

Nicholson, J. (2015, August).  The Meaning and Practice of Care in Organizations:  An inductive exploration. Paper presented at the Society for Business Ethics Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC.

Nicholson, J. & Kurucz, E. C. (2015, July). The Process of Relational Leadership Development: Fostering a Relational Stance through a Caring Approach. Paper presented at 7th Developing Leadership Capacity Conference, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

Nicholson, J. (2015, June). Effects of Satisfaction with Work-life Balance and Sense of Personal Mastery on Subjective Well-being in Canada: An empirical investigation.  Poster presentation at Fourth World Congress on Positive Psychology, annual meeting of the International Positive Psychology Association, Orlando, FL.

Nicholson, J. L. (2014, August).  Understanding leaders' experiences of caring in business organizations. Paper presented at Society for Buiness Ethics Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

Nicholson, J. L. (2014, July).  Effects of Relational Leadership on Organizational Virtue viewed through the lens of Stone Center Relational Cultural Theory:  A multi-level model of organizational virtue development based on the Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotion. Paper presented at 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Paris, France.

Nicholson, J. L. (2014, July).  A Multi-level model of organizational virtue development:  Relational leadership and positive spirals toward the virtuous organization. Paper presented at Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology, Ottawa,ON.

Nicholson, J. L. (2013, June).  Multi-level model of organizational virtue development: "Microvirtue" and positive spirals toward the caring organization.  Poster presented at World Congress on Positive Psychology, Los Angeles, CA.

Invited Talks

"Positive Leadership" (2013, 2014, 2015). In LEAD*6800 Personal Skills Development course, MA(Leadership) program, University of Guelph.

"Relational Leadership" (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016). In HROB*2010 Foundations of Leadership course, Certificate in Leadership program, University of Guelph.

Courses Taught

At McMaster University's Degroote School of Business: Human Resource Management (in the MBA, Executive MBA, and Commerce programs), Organizational Behaviour (MBA, Executive MBA, and Commerce programs), Leadership (MBA), Management Development (MBA) 

At Redeemer University College: Business Ethics (undergraduate) and Human resource Management (undergraduate) 

Current Courses

McMaster University, Winter 2018 - Organizational Behaviour (Comm1BA3)