Thomas Li-Ping Tang earned his B.S. degree in Psychology (the number one in his psychology class) from Chung Yuan Christian University in Chungli, Taiwan and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides working at the Psychologial Research Services as a vocational and educational counselor and on projects related to wage and salary administration in the I/O Psychology Program, his graduate training involved many OB and HRM courses at the Weatherhead School of Management. He was the first to finish his dissertation under the supervison of Roy Baumeister (a social psychologist with a Ph.D. from Princeton University). Currently, he is a Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, Jennings A. Jones College of Business, at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). Besides teaching management, OB, and HRM courses at MTSU, Dr. Tang has taught Industrial and Organizational Psychology at MTSU and at National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He also has offered seminars around the world. Professor Tang's research interests have covered the general topics of motivation, compensation, personality (e.g., self-esteem, Type A personality, work ethic, and leisure ethic), task performance, goal setting, and quality circles. More recently, he has focused his research on issues related to money-related attitudes (e.g., money ethic, the love of money, monetary intelligence, commitment, job satisfaction, pay satisfaction), business ethics, work-related corrupt intent, and cross-cultural issues. Professor Tang has collaborated with researchers in 38 countries around the world, published more than 130 journal articles and abstracts in top psychology and management journals, and presented numerous papers in professional conferences around the world. He was the winner of two Outstanding Research Aserwards (1991, 1999), Distinguished International Service Award (1999), Outstanding Faculty Member of the Jones College of Business (2008), and Outstanding Career Achievement Award (2008) at Middle Tennessee State University. He also received four Best Reviewer Awards from two Divisions of the Academy of Management (2003, 2007, 2009, 2011). He is married to Theresa. Their daughter, Cindy, and son, David, both graduated from Harvard University.
Topics of Research
Intrinsic Motivation. a cross-cultural study was conducted to challenge the dieology of turning play into work [1].
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory. A cross-cultural study was conducted during the Persian Gulf War (1991) and real peace time (1993 to 1994) to test Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of needs and satisfaction of need during peace time and war time and among people in the US and in the Middle East [2] [3] [4]
Money Ethic. Similar to the notion of work ethic, leisure ethic, and welfare ethic, Tang developed a multi-dimensional money ethic scale (MES) to investigate people's perceptions regarding the meaning of money with affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. [5] [6]
The Love of Money. Following a very well known ancient wisdom: "Those who want to get rich are falling into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Timothy 6: 9-10), Tang and Chiu developed the love of money scale with Factors Rich, Motivator, and Importance and the propensity to engage in unethical behavior (PUB) as a part of evil and examine the relationship between the love of money and evil. [7]
References edit
- ^ Tang, T. L. P., & Baumeister, R. F. 1984. Effects of Personal Values, Perceived Surveillance, and Task Labels on Task Preference: The Ideology of Turning Play into Work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69: 99-105.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P., & West, W. B. 1997. The importance of human needs during peacetime, retrospective peacetime, and the Persian Gulf War. International Journal of Stress Management, 4 (1): 47-62.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P., & Ibrahim, A. H. S. 1998. Importance of human needs during retrospective peacetime and the Persian Gulf War: Mideastern employees. International Journal of Stress Management, 5 (1): 25-37.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P., Ibrahim, A. H. S., & West, W. B. 2002. Effects of war-related stress on the satisfaction of human needs: The United States and the Middle East. International Journal of Management Theory and Practices, 3 (1): 35-53.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P. 1992. The Meaning of Money Revisited. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13: 197-202.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P. 1992. The Meaning of Money Revisited. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13: 197-202. Tang, T. L. P. 1993. The meaning of money: Extension and exploration of the money ethic scale in a sample of university students in Taiwan. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14: 93-99.
- ^ Tang, T. L. P., & Chiu, R. K. 2003. Income, money ethic, pay satisfaction, commitment, and unethical behavior: Is the love of money the root of evil for Hong Kong employees? Journal of Business Ethics, 46 (1): 13-30.