Professor | The Ned and Carol Spieker Chair in Leadership | Chair, Management of Organizations Group | Faculty Director, Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership
Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership | Management of Organizations | Sustainability
Leading expert on gender in the workplace
About
Laura Kray is a leading expert on the social psychological barriers influencing women’s career attainment. Kray is the recipient of multiple research awards from the Academy of Management, the International Association of Conflict Management, and the California Management Review. Kray is a fellow to both the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. From 2017 to 2018, she was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Some of her current research seeks to debunk popular myths about the gender pay gap and to identify solutions to gender inequality in the workplace.
Kray’s research has been supported multiple times by the National Science Foundation and has been featured in a wide range of media outlets, including the Washington Post, New Yorker, National Public Radio, Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Financial Times, Slate, Forbes, Huffington Post, Daily Beast, Scientific American, Businessweek, and Time.
In addition to research and teaching, Kray consults frequently with global organizations seeking to develop the next generation of leaders who are committed to addressing issues of diversity and inclusion. Kray founded the Women’s Executive Leadership Program of Berkeley Executive Education in 2008 and she remains the faculty director today. She is also the faculty director of the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Gender Bias
- Motivated Cognition
- Mindsets
- Groups and Teams
- Ethics and Morality
- Negotiations and Conflict Resolution
- Anais Lorens & Laura J. Kray et al.. Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions. Neuron.
2021 - Sanaz Mobasseri, Sameer B. Srivastava, and Laura J. Kray. A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention in the Workplace: Evidence from a Field Experiment. Academy of Management Discoveries.
2021 - Margaret Lee and Laura J. Kray. A gender gap in managerial span of control: Implications for the gender pay gap. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
2021 - Maryam Kouchaki and Laura J.Kray. “I won’t let you down:” Personal ethical lapses arising from women’s advocating for others. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
2018 - Laura J. Kray, Michael P. Haselhuhn. Multifaceted Masculinity: Implications for Men’s Lives. PsycCRITIQUES.
2017 - Laura J. Kray and Jessica A. Kennedy. Changing the Narrative: Women as Negotiators – and Leaders. California Management Review.
Sept. 2017
2018 Winner of Best Practitioner-Oriented Paper Award, Academy of Management OB Division - Michael P. Haselhuhn, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Laura J. Kray, Jessica A. Kennedy. Perceptions of high integrity can persist after deception: How implicit beliefs moderate trust erosion. Journal of Business Ethics.
Aug. 2017 - Cynthia S. Wang, Jennifer A. Whitson, Eric M. Anicich, Laura J. Kray, and Adam D. Galinsky. Challenge your stigma: how to reframe and revalue negative stereotypes and slurs. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
2017 - Laura J. Kray, Laura Russell, Alexandra G. Howland, Lauren M. Jackman. The Effects of Implicit Gender Role Theories on Gender System Justification: Fixed Beliefs Strengthen Masculinity to Preserve the Status Quo. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
2017 - Jessica A.Kennedy, Laura J. Kray and Gillian Ku. A Social-cognitive Approach to Understanding Gender Differences in Negotiator Ethics: The Role of Moral Identity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
2017 - Sonia K. Kang, Adam D. Galinsky, Laura J. Kray, and Aiwa Shirako. Power Affects Performance When the Pressure Is On: Evidence for Low-Power Threat and High-Power Lift. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
2015 - Kray, L. J. & Kennedy, J.A.. Who Is Willing to Sacrifice Ethical Values for Money and Social Status? Gender Differences in Reactions to Ethical Compromises. Social Psychological and Personality Science.
2014 - Haselhuhn, M.P., Kennedy, J.A., Kray, L.J., Van Zant, A.B., & Schweitzer, M.E. Gender differences in trust dynamics: Women trust more than men following a trust violation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
2014 - Van Zant, A.B., & Kray, L.J.. “I Can’t Lie to Your Face”: Minimal Face-to-Face Interaction Promotes Honesty. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
2014 - Laura J. Kray, Jessica A. Kennedy, Alex B. Van Zant. Not competent enough to know the difference? Gender stereotypes about women’s ease of being misled predict negotiator deception. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
2014 - Kray, L. J., Locke, C., & Van Zant, A.. Feminine Charm: An Experimental Analysis of Its Costs and Benefits in Negotiations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
2012 - Laura J. Kray and Michael P. Haselhuhn. Male Pragmatism in Negotiators’ Ethical Reasoning. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
2012
At Haas since 2002
2010 – present, Warren E. & Carol Spieker Professor of Leadership, Haas School of Business
2007 – 2010, Associate Professor & Harold Furst Chair of Management Philosophy and Values, Haas School of Business
2005 – 2007, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business
2002 – 2005, Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business
1999 – 2002, Assistant Professor, Eller College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona
1997 – 1999, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dispute Resolution Research Center, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
- Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 2017-18
- Member: Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Academy of Management, Association for Psychological Science, International Association of Conflict Management, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Society of Experimental Social Psychology
- Editorial Board: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, California Management Review
- Ad-hoc reviewer: Science, Psychological Review, Psychological Bulletin, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Management Science, National Science Foundation, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- Fellow, Women and Public Policy Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Fall 2012
Best Practitioner-Oriented Paper Award, Academy of Management Organizational Behavior Division
August, 2018
Best Empirical Paper Award, International Association of Conflict Management Meeting, New York, NY
June, 2016
Most Influential Paper Award: 2000-2003; Conflict Management Division, Academy of Management Meeting, Anaheim, CA
2008
Faculty research grants, University of California
2005, 2006
Junior Faculty Research Grant, University of California
2004
Schwabacher Fellow, Highest honor for Assistant Professors, Haas School of Business,
2004-2005
“Club 6,” Recognition for Excellence in Teaching, Haas School of Business
2003-present
Office of the President’s Academic Enrichment Grant, University of California
2002
Best Empirical Paper Award, International Association of Conflict Management Meetings, Cergy, France
June 2001
The Role of Counterfactual Mind-sets in Debiasing Group Decisions
Decision, Risk, & Management Sciences program. National Science Foundation
June, 2002
Gender Stereotypes and the Gender Gap: A New Look at Female-Male Negotiations
Co-funded by the POWRE and Decision, Risk, & Management Sciences programs. National Science Foundation
July, 2000
- Women Have Unique Advantages As Negotiators: How Can They Best Leverage Them?, Forbes, 03/26/2021
- Podcast: Grit In The Oyster – Conversation with Professor Laura Kray, Penny de Valk, 01/28/2021
- When it pays to smoke with the boss, Marketplace, 12/09/2019
- Flirting is an effective negotiation strategy, according to a Berkeley professor. Really?, Inc., 11/14/2019
- Men and women ask for pay raises at the same rate — but men get them more often, Marketplace, 06/10/2019
- MBA students at Haas School of Business on mission to help women level financial playing field, ABC7, 05/24/2019
- Reducing the pay gap is not about negotiating, MT, 05/08/2019
- Berkeley Haas MBA Students Fight the Gender Pay Gap, Clear Admit, 04/19/2019
- The Business Case for Positive Company Culture, Forbes, 01/09/2019
- Gratitude has a dark side, Quartz, 12/20/2018
- NC Election Fraud, Negotiation Deceit, Earthquakes, Pain, Bananas at Risk, Top of Mind, 12/10/2018
- 7 creative flirting tips you’ve probably never tried, The Datemix, 06/09/2018
- Improving Workplace Culture, One Review at a Time, The New Yorker, 01/22/2018
- Not Just Hollywood: How To Create A Gender-Inclusive Company, Forbes, 11/29/2017
- The old salary history question could be on its way out for good, Marketplace, 10/25/2017
- Negotiations, MBA
- Women’s Leadership, Founding Faculty Director of Women’s Executive Leadership Program, UC Berkeley Executive Education
- Leading High Impact Teams, MBA
