Societal Impact Award

Organizational Behavior Division, a division of the Academy of Management

Career Awards

The Societal Impact Award recognizes a body of organizational behavior scholarship that is both scientifically credible and useful to society, work with the potential to change the world. It reflects the OB community's conviction that rigorous research should reach beyond the academy.

Meet the 2026 recipient and explore every past honoree below.

Societal Impact Award

Sponsored by The University of Exeter

Recognizes a body of organizational behavior scholarship that is both scientifically credible and useful to society — work with the potential to change the world.

2026 recipient

Dolly Chugh, 2026 Societal Impact Award recipient

Dolly Chugh

Professor, New York University Stern School of Business

Dolly Chugh receives the Societal Impact Award for a body of work on "bounded ethicality" that has fundamentally changed how organizations, leaders, and individuals understand bias, ethics, and the gap between intentions and actions. Her work tackles one of the defining societal challenges of our time: the persistent effects of bias in organizations and institutions. Crucially, her research does not treat these issues as abstract; it offers structural solutions and actionable tools that individuals and organizations can adopt at scale.

Professor Chugh's societal impact is anchored in rigorous, field-defining scholarship recognized by major awards, including the Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award in 2020. However, her most distinctive contribution is her unparalleled ability to translate this OB research into evidence-backed guidance that resonates with broad audiences without sacrificing nuance or generating defensiveness. Her TED Talk, "How to Let Go of Being a 'Good' Person — and Become a Better Person," was included in TED's Top 25 of 2018; its concepts have been institutionalized in required implicit-bias training for large government agencies like the NYS Education Department.

Her books, The Person You Mean to Be (which has sold over 75,000 copies) and A More Just Future, have become go-to resources for leaders serious about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their impact is measurable in their adoption: they are integrated into curricula and programming at over 80 colleges and universities (from business and law schools to medical schools), used by 400+ faculty across K-12 school districts, and featured in training modules and book clubs at major organizations including IBM, Colgate-Palmolive, JP Morgan, and the U.S. Department of Labor. She sustains this science-to-practice translation through her "Dear Good People" newsletter, which reaches nearly 10,000 subscribers and is even assigned as course material at multiple universities.

Beyond her public reach, she profoundly impacts the OB community by expanding its capacity for societal impact. She strengthens the scholarly community, particularly early-career women and scholars of color, through initiatives like the Women of Organizational Behavior (WOB) network, where she fostered virtual writing retreats and support structures during the pandemic. A remarkably generous colleague and dedicated OB Division citizen, Professor Chugh exemplifies how rigorous scholarship can be translated into actionable guidance that reshapes how people and organizations pursue equity and ethical growth at every level of society.

Award winners by year ▾
About this award ▾

Scholarly work with societal impact is both scientifically credible and useful to society — it produces beneficial knowledge meant to make the world a better place, often addressing challenges such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (for example, health and wellbeing, income and social inequality, and protection of the environment).

The award recognizes a body of work rather than a single conference submission or published article, since scholarship on grand societal problems often unfolds over many years of persistence. That work may appear in traditional research outlets, but also in monographs, policy papers, books, curricula, or interventions that other forums may overlook — yet, through its application of OB scholarship, it has the potential to change the world.

To be eligible, the scholar's work must (1) use organizational behavior knowledge to address timely, important societal challenges in the business, economic, societal, or environmental spheres; (2) demonstrate strong credibility through rigorous methods, analysis, or application; and (3) inform actionable insights for policies or practices that improve the wellbeing and performance of people, organizations, and societies.