James Beck

Associate Professor
Head shot of James Beck

BS (Michigan State University), MA (University of Akron), PhD (University of Minnesota)

Contact information

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

I may be accepting new graduate students for Fall 2026. 

Research interests

My research deals primarily with motivational and self-regulatory processes. I study the way individuals allocate finite resources, such as time, effort, and attention across multiple, competing demands.

Selected publications

Student co-authors are underlined.

  • Beck, J. W. & Dahling, J. J. (2026). Delivering high-quality feedback is a choice: A self-regulatory framework for understanding feedback provision in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 36, 101117.
  • Gödöllei, A. F., Beck, J. W., Cowan, R., Cruickshank, J., & Malikiak, L. (2025). More than how you start or finish: Performance trajectories predict interns’ post-graduation vocational outcomes. Education + Training, 67, 581-594.
  • Beck, J. W., Scholer, A. A., Hughes, J., & Phan, V. (2025). Reconsidering the trade-off between speed and accuracy: The role of goal progress velocity. Journal of Business and Psychology, 40, 925-939. 
  • Beck, J. W., Nishioka, M., Scholer, A. A., & Beus, J. M. (2024). Moderation in all things, except when it comes to workplace safety: Accidents are most likely to occur under moderately hazardous work conditions. Personnel Psychology, 77, 963-995.
  • White, N. C., Minnikin, A. F., Malo, O. R., & Beck, J. W. (2024). Research productivity norms among Canadian I-O psychology scholars. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie Canadienne, 65, 28-33.
  • Phan, V., Nishioka, M., Beck, J. W., & Scholer, A. A. (2023). Goal progress velocity as a determinant of shortcut behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108, 553-570.
  • Phan, V. & Beck, J. W. (2023).Why do people (not) take breaks? An investigation of individuals’ reasons for taking and for not taking breaks at work. Journal of Business and Psychology, 38, 259-282.
  • Gödöllei, A. F. & Beck, J. W. (2023). Insecure or optimistic? Employees’ diverging appraisals of automation, and consequences for job attitudes. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 12, 100342.
  • Minnikin, A., Beck, J. W., & Shen, W. (2022). Why do you ask? The effects of perceived motives on the effort that managers allocate toward delivering feedback. Journal of Business and Psychology, 37, 813-830
  • Beck, J. W., & Flow, A. (2022). The effects of contracting Covid-19 on cognitive failures at work: Implications for task performance and turnover intentions. Scientific Reports, 12, 8826. 
  • Gödöllei, A. F. & Beck, J. W. (2020). Development and validation of the State Regulatory Focus Scale. Human Performance, 33, 104-129. 
  • Phan, V. & Beck, J. W. (2020). The impact of goal progress velocity on affect while pursuing multiple sequential goals. Motivation Science, 6, 247-258. 
  • Beck, J. W., & Gödöllei, A. F. (2020). A dynamic perspective on workplace motivation. In Y. Griep & S. D. Hansen (Eds.), Handbook on the Temporal Dynamics of Organizational Behavior (pp. 237-250). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
  • Beck, J. W., Schmidt, A. M., & Natali, M. W. (2019). Efficient proximal resource allocation strategies predict distal team performance: Evidence from the National Hockey League. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 1387-1403.  
  • Beck, J. W., & Shen, W. (2019). The effects of U.S. presidential elections on work engagement and job performance. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 68, 547-576. 
  • Beck, J. W., & Schmidt, A. M. (2018). Negative relationships between self-efficacy and performance can be adaptive: The mediating role of resource allocation. Journal of Management, 44, 555-588. 
  • Beck, J. W., Scholer, A. A., & Hughes, J. (2017). Divergent effects of distance versus velocity disturbances on emotional experiences during goal pursuit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 1109-1123. 
  • Beck, J. W., Scholer, A. A., & Schmidt, A. M. (2017). Workload, risks, and goal framing as antecedents of shortcut behaviors. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32, 421-440. 
  • Beck, J. W., Beatty, A. S., & Sackett, P. R. (2014). On the distribution of job performance: The role of measurement characteristics in observed departures from normality. Personnel Psychology, 67, 531-566. 
  • Beck, J. W., & Schmidt, A. M. (2013). State-level goal orientations as mediators of the relationship between time pressure and performance: A longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 354-363. 
  • Beck, J. W., & Schmidt, A. M. (2012). Taken out of context? Cross-level effects of between-person self-efficacy and difficulty on the within-person relationship of self-efficacy with resource allocation and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 119, 195-208. 
  • Beck, J. W., Carr, A. E., & Walmsley, P. T. (2012). What have you done for me lately? Charisma attenuates the decline in U.S. presidential approval over time. Leadership Quarterly, 23, 934-942.