Bio
Energized by Research and Teaching
Nominated for the 2023 Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching at Trent University
Join “Dr. Anita Boey’s Global Network” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/anitaboey.global.network/ This is a Facebook Group where you’ll get to meet and interact with all Dr. Anita Boey’s past, present, and future students from 2012 to present. This is one way to keep in touch with your classmates even after graduation!
I earned my Ph.D. from York University’s School of Human Resource Management (HRM), in Toronto, Canada; and have two Master degrees from University of Vaasa, Finland. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at Trent University.
My research combines the topics of learning, leadership, and innovation at the workplace. My current research focuses on knowledge sharing and learning from the failure of high-tech firms. My network of samples includes software engineers in 11 high-tech companies in Shanghai, China. Two of these companies are startups, six of these companies are multinationals, and three are medium-sized Chinese companies. I answered in my research, the questions of why individuals want to share their failures at work, who they share their failures with and what they learned from sharing their failure. One big portion of my data points at the leader as a source of influence to either share or not share one’s failure with others, which ultimately affects learning.
For my Master of Science research, I conducted knowledge sharing research in a Finnish born-global firm, Vacon, with its headquarters in Vaasa and Vantaa, Finland. I collected primary data about their lean organizational culture and entrepreneurial leadership roles and examined how these contributed to effective knowledge sharing and learning within the company.
My teaching philosophy is a simple message of Humans Helping Humans, the “triple H effect”, as I like to call it. Throughout my life, I have been on the receiving end of numerus help from the community, friends, educators, colleagues, family, and even strangers. The impact and gratitude that I have experienced is the driving force of my mission for the “triple H effect”. As a university educator, I hold the great privilege and immense responsibility of educating and equipping our future generations for what they are to become. To instill in them a sense of duty to provide help and the humbleness to receive help is at the core of my teaching philosophy.
I am an innovative and engaging teacher and have had the privilege to teach at both the undergraduate- and master-level, to an international student base in Toronto, Canada. As a passionate educator, I take great pride in every course that I teach. I strive to abide by the motto “the capacity to motivate and involve others”. I take on the role of a facilitator that prompts students to think critically about the subject, directing their thoughts and allowing them to be confident in their creativity.
Ph.D. in Human Resource Management
York University (Canada)
Dissertation: The Phenomenon of Failure Sharing (Boey, 2019)
Dissertation Committee: Dr. You-Ta Chuang, Dr. Julia Richardson, & Dr. Sabrina Deutsch Salamon
Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Public Administration
University of Vaasa (Finland)
Thesis: Nation Branding Online. Multimodal Analysis of the BRIC Official Business Websites (Boey, 2012)
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Rellstab
Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration
University of Vaasa (Finland)
Thesis: The Relationship Between Organization Culture and Knowledge Sharing in a Born-Global Firm (Boey, 2011)
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Adam Smale
Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Honors
State University of New York at Buffalo (Singapore and U.S.A)
Media Mentions
What happened when a Kitchener company cut the work day by two hours. CBC Article, October 2019.
Anita Boey, PhD
Anita has a passion for discovering new findings and sharing knowledge, making a significant impact on the field of Failure Sharing, Knowledge Sharing, Learning from Failure, Creativity and Innovation at the Workplace.
An experienced educator, Anita is recognized for her commitment to continually developing her teaching practice. She specializes in experiential learning.
Anita believes that it is her duty to motivate each student to recognize their strengths, and their ability to utilize this gift of strength to help another human being or community. She believes that teaching life-skills such as professionalism and effective communication is as important, as teaching subject matter concepts to students. As a business educator, specializing in Organizational Behaviour (the study of people’s work behaviour) and Human Resource Management (the study of people management), Anita teaches her students to be people-focused in all that they do. To see the value of humans in “Human Resources” is a big message that she hopes students take away from her courses. If we know how to empower other humans, we will be the best versions of ourselves and an agent of change for our communities.
Research and Presentations
Literary Accomplishments
Working Paper
Sharing Experiences of Failure at Work
Individuals in organizations are often confronted with failure and it can stigmatize one’s career and reputation. Consequently, most are unwilling to engage in dialogue on failure by sharing their failure experience. Yet, failure often provides an invaluable opportunity from which to learn and to potentially avoid its re-occurrence. Failure also provides the knowledge and impetus to improve performance (Sitkin, 1992). Indeed, scholars have argued that individuals need to share their failure experience in order to provide an opportunity for themselves and others to learn from such experience (Chuang, Ginsburg, and Berta, 2007). This paper builds upon the literature of Learning from Failure and Knowledge Sharing to examine the process of an individual’s sharing failure experience at work. Specifically, this paper theorizes the process of sharing failure experience at work by asking two research questions: (1) what are the factors that influence the willingness of an individual to share failure experience at work? And when an individual decides to share, (2) with whom would an individual be more (or less) likely to share failure experience?
Working Paper with Good. J., Chuang, Y-T., & Hu, Changya.
The Roles of emotional regulation and situational learning in learning from failure
Past research on learning from failure has not examined the roles of emotion regulation and situational learning in learning from failure behaviors. In this study, we develop a learning from failure behavior scale that consists of two dimensions (sharing failure and searching and implementing solutions) to examine effects of emotion regulation and situational learning on such behaviors. Our analysis shows that, while expressive suppression has no effects on failure learning behaviors, both cognitive appraisal and situational learning exert great influence on failure learning behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Working Paper with Good. J., & Chuang, Y-T.
Incentives (competition), feedback, and innovation performance
Research on innovation has shown incentives play an important role in shaping innovation performance. However, we have little knowledge about how incentives shape innovation activity and performance when the incentives induce competition. Nor do we know much about the role of performance feedback on individual’s innovation performance and activity. In this study, we examine the effects of incentive structure and performance feedback on individual’s innovation performance and activity. The results from our controlled experiment show that, compared to individuals with incentives that created inter-and intra-group competition, individuals had better innovation performance when the incentives only created inter-group competition. Knowing competing groups’ performances moderated the relationship between incentive structures and individual’s innovation performance. Finally, our results reveal the complicated effect of individual’s prior performance on individual’s innovation activity.
Working Paper
Transformation leaders in creativity at the workplace: are they sinking or floating the boat?
The main goal of this theory paper was to present both sides of how a transformational leader may enhance and hinder creativity in the workplace. In the knowledge-based society, intangible skills such as creativity have become much more salient at work and are considered to be a competitive advantage for the firm. There has been mixed evidence about how transformational leaders affect work creativity. Many have argued that the transformational leader increases group creativity by motivating and empowering followers to perform better, while others are convinced that transformational leaders act as a barrier to independent creativity. The unique contribution of this paper is the presentation of both personalities of the transformational leader. We will see that the transformational leader enhances creativity via motivating, empowering and acting as a role model for the follower. This is moderated by embracing conflict by the leader. On the other hand, the transformational leader hinders creativity by increasing follower dependency, conformity and groupthink. This is moderated by suppressing conflict by the leader.
Since 2013 - Present
Conference Presentations
Peer-reviewed Conference Proceedings
Boey, A. (2014). Cultural relevant pedagogy: A university students' perspective. Conference proceedings, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Muskoka, Canada, May 2014.
Boey, A. & Rochon, M. (2013). Recruitment and selection: Exploring the paradigms. Conference proceedings, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Calgary, Canada, June 2013.
Peer-reviewed Conference Presentations
Boey, A. (2024). How to create assignments in a Chat GPT world: Adapted activities and the poster project. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Chicago, USA, August 2024.
Boey, A. (2024). The habit of reflection - Why, how and when should we include space for reflection in our classrooms. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Chicago, USA, August 2024.
Boey, A. (2024). The effective classroom voice - A practical workshop. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Chicago, USA, August 2024.
Boey, A., & Huang, E. (2023). Emotions in the classroom - How to use emotions meaningfully to aid student learning and engagement. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Boston, USA, August 2023.
Huang, E. & Boey, A. (2021). Using a 360-degree performance appraisal method to cultivate a high-performance learning culture. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Virtual, August 2021.
Boey, A. & Huang, E. (2021). Creating a friendly, supportive, inclusive, and engaging remote learning environment. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Virtual, August 2021.
Boey, A. & Huang, E. (2021). The Art Gallery Classroom: Using Art for Experiential Learning. Academy of Management, Teaching & Learning Conference, Virtual, August 2021.
Good, J., Frawley, S. & Boey, A. (2019). Encouraging Creativity in Higher Education. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, May 2019. (Won the Best Student Paper Award for the Management Education Division of ASAC at the 2019 ASAC Conference.)
Good, J., Boey, A., Chuang, Y-T., & Hu, C. (2018). The roles of emotional regulation and contextual factors in learning from failure behavior. In Zakaryan, A (Chair), Learning and forgetting from success and failures. Symposium conducted at the Academy of Management, Chicago, Illinois, USA, August 2018.
Boey, A., Latham, S. D., & Ezzedeen, S. R. (2018). Learning to become a teacher and researcher: A graduate student’s creative journey. Annual Mid-Atlantic Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, March 2018.
Boey, A., & Chuang, Y.T. (2016). Sharing failure experiences at work. In A. Boey, & Chuang, Y.T. (Chairs), Learning from organizational errors and failures. Symposium conducted at the Academy of Management, Anaheim, California, USA, August 2016.
Boey, A. (2016). Radical creative performance: A citizenship image enhancer. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, June 2016.
Good, J., Boey, A., & Chuang, Y.T. (2016). Incentives (competition), feedback, and innovation performance: Evidence from an experimental study. DRUID, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2016.
Boey, A., Ezzedeen, S.R., & Latham, S.D. (2015). Work-nonwork research: A review of sampling strategies from 1999 to 2014. Southern Management Association, St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA, October 2015.
Boey, A. & Chuang, Y.T. (2015). Sharing experience of failure at the workplace. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, June 2015.
Boey, A. (2014). Exploring the experiences of pre-candidacy in North American doctoral programs. Paper presentation, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Muskoka, Canada, May 2014.
Boey, A. (2014). Charisma and creativity: The double-edged sword of transformational leadership. Paper presentation, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Muskoka, Canada, May 2014.
Boey, A. (2014). Cultural relevant pedagogy: A university students' perspective. Paper presentation at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Muskoka, Canada, May 2014.
Boey, A. (2013). The analysis of cyber unions with Communication theories. Paper presentation at the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, Toronto, Canada, May 2013.
Boey, A. & Rochon, M. (2013). Recruitment and selection: Exploring the paradigms. Paper presentation at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Calgary, Canada, June 2013.
Doctoral Consortium Presentations
Boey, A. (2014). Women's experience of pre-candidacy in North American doctoral programs. Paper presentation at the International Doctoral Consortium, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada, June 2014.
Boey, A. (2013). Transformational Leaders: Creativity enhancers or hindrances? Paper presentation at the International Doctoral Consortium, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada, June 2013.
Boey, A., & Rochon, M. (2013). Focusing on recruitment and selection. Paper presentation at the International Doctoral Consortium, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada, June 2013.
Guest Speaker Presentations
Boey, A. (January 22, 2024). Principles of Cross-Cultural Management. Open University, Finland.
Boey, A. (January 24, 2023). Cultural Diversity, staying open and embracing diversity. Vaasa University, Finland.
Boey, A. (January 27, 2022). Cross-Cultural Communication. Vaasa University, Finland.
Boey, A. (November 30, 2021). Managing Cross-Cultural Teams. Open University, Finland.
Boey, A. (November 15, 2017). Fear of failure in the workplace and how failure can help organizations and individuals grow and learn. Ontario College and University Library Association's Fall 2017 Webinar, Keynote Speaker.
Boey, A. (2013). HRM2600. Introduction to Human Resource Management, Managing Compensation, York University, Toronto, Canada, November 5, 2013.
Overview of Courses
Knowledge for Every Level
Undergraduate Courses at Trent University
August 2022 - Present
Trent University
School of Business
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Teaching:
ADMN2220 Organizational Behaviour
ADMN3220 Organizational (Recruitment) Selection
ADMN3260 Occupational Health and Safety
ADMN3270 HR Planning
ADMN3280 Motivation and Compensation Systems
Graduate & Undergraduate Courses at Wilfrid Laurier University
September 2019 - August 2022
Wilfrid Laurier University
Lazaridis School of Business and Economics
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Teaching:
BU288, Organizational Behavior I
BU354, Human Resource Management
BU398, Organizational Behavior II (Course Coordinator)
BU474, Training and Development
BU489, International Organizational Behavior
BU610, Applied Business Research (MBA Capstone Course)
Graduate Courses at University of Toronto
August 2017 - April 2022
University of Toronto
Centre for Industrial Relations & Human Resources
Toronto, Canada
Teaching:
IRE3640, Recruitment and Selection
IRE1725 Cross-Cultural Differences in Organizational Contexts.
Undergraduate Courses at York University
August 2016 - May 2019
York University,
School of Human Resource Management
Toronto, Canada
Teaching:
HRM3470, Recruitment, Selection, and Performance Appraisal of Personnel Design
HRM4470 International Human Resource Management
Undergraduate Tutorial Leader
August 2012 - August 2017
York University
Toronto, Canada
SOSC1349, Introduction to Business and Society (ESL), Fall 2015 – Winter 2016
COMN3701, Advertising, Culture and Society, Winter 2015
COMN3700, Advertising: The Growth of a 20th Belief System, Fall 2014
COMN2200, Politics, Policy and the Media, Fall 2013 – Winter 2014
COMN1000, Introduction to Communication Studies, Fall 2012 – Winter 2013
Provide lecture support, design and teach classes of 25 undergraduate students in the subjects listed above. Mark and grade exams and essays. Organize and hold office hours weekly for further student support. Motivating students to achieve more.
March 2023 - Present
Anita is also a self-taught Fashion Designer and began her partnership with Jamii as a Sewing Workshop Instructor since March 2023. She finds joy in sharing her passion for garment design, construction and machine sewing. She designs her garments to tell stories about cultural diversity, as a true reflection of her own multi-cultural upbringing. All are welcome to join Anita for sewing!
