Position

Associate Professor

Research Programme

Leadership and Management

Research Interests

Power and Status, Social Hierarchy, Leadership, Inequality, Overconfidence, Social Intelligence, Decision Making, Evolutionary Psychology, Social Neuroendocrinology 

Dissertation Title

Male risk taking as a sexual display strategy: Proximal and distal explanations for young men's risk taking

Prizes and Honours

2019 - 2023 Lecturer Trophy – Executive Programme in Management Studies, University of Amsterdam Business School; 2015, Excellence in Teaching Award, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; 2015, Nominated for Vrije Universiteit Faculty Teaching Award; 2010, Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Theses, University of Queensland; 2009, Winner of University of Queensland Graduate School Three Minute Thesis Competition ($5000); 2003, John Anthill Prize for Theory and Practice of Survey Research, Macquarie University

2024

*Mayoral, S., Oostrom, J.K., Ronay, R. (in press) Overconfidence and the pursuit of social status:  test of two behavioral strategies. Journal of Business and Psychology.

Ronay, R., Oostrom, J.K., She, M., & Maner, J. K. (2024). Banding together to avoid exploitation: Dominant (but not prestige-based) leaders elicit coalitional challenges from followers. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302231151942

2022

Ronay, R., Maddux, W., & von Hippel, W. (2022). The cocksure conundrum: How evolution created a gendered currency of corporate overconfidence. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology.

2021

Oostrom, J.K., Ronay, R., & Van Kleef, G. (2021). The Signalling Effects of Nonconforming Dress Style in Personnel Selection Contexts: Do Applicants’ Qualifications Matter? European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, 30, 70-82.

2020

Ronay, R., Maddux, W., von Hippel, W. (2020). Inequality Rules: Resource distribution and the evolution of dominance- and prestige-based leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 31, 101246.

2019

*Ronay, R., Oostrom, J.K., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Mayoral, S., & Rusch, H. (2019). Playing the trump card: Why we select overconfident leaders and why it matters. The Leadership Quarterly, 30, 10316. 

*(This paper was ranked by the Financial Times as among the 100 most socially impactful international business-school publications from 2015 - 2020; Altmetrics “attention score” ranking top 5% of all research outputs; Leadership Quarterly Editor’s Selection, 2019).

van Huijstee, D., & Ronay, R. (2019). “Make the world a better place”: Local leadership as a vehicle for personal and community development. In Allen, J., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of organizational community engagement and outreach, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

2018

Ronay, R. van der Meij, L., Oostrom, J.K., Pollet, T. (2018). No evidence for a relationship between testosterone hair samples and 2D:4D ratio or risk taking Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience – Hormones and Economic Behavior.

2017

Oostrom, J.K., Köbis, N., Ronay, R., & Cremers. M. (2017). False consensus in situational judgement tests: What would others do? Journal of Research in Personality, 71, 33-45.

Ronay, R., Oostrom, J.K. Lehmann, N.K., & van Vugt, M. (2017). Pride before the fall: Overconfidence predicts escalation of public commitment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69, 13-22.

Salam, A.P., Rainford, E., Van Vugt, M., Ronay, R. (2017). ‘Fight or Flight’ or ‘Tend and Befriend’? Acute Stress Promotes Distrust of Racial Outgroup members but not Racial Ingroup members. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, in press.

Ronay, R. & Tybur, J., van Huijstee, D., & Morssinkhof, M. (2017). Embodied power, testosterone, and overconfidence as a causal pathway to risk taking. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 2, 1-18.

Jonas, K. J., Cesario, J., Alger, M., Bailey, A. H., Bombari, D., Carney, D., ... Ronay, R. & Jackson, B. (2017). Power poses–where do we stand?. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 2, 139-141.

Ronay, R. & Tybur, J. (2017). The wolf will live with the lamb. Comment on “Explaining financial and prosocial biases in favor of attractive people: Interdisciplinary perspectives from economics, social psychology, and evolutionary psychology.” Behavior and Brain Sciences, 40, 36-37.

2016

von Hippel, W., Ronay, R., Baker, E., Kjelsaas, K., & Murphy, S. C. (2016). Quick thinkers are smoother talkers: Mental speed facilitates charisma. Psychological Science, 27, 119-122.

von Hippel, W., Ronay, R., & Maddux, W.W. (2016). Of baboons and elephants: Inequality and the evolution of immoral leadership. In J. P. Forgas, P. van Lange, & L. Jussim (Eds.), Social Psychology and Morality.

2015

Ronay, R., & von Hippel, W. (2015). Sensitivity to changing contingencies predicts  social success. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 23-30.

2014

Swaab, R.I., Schaerer, M. Anicich, E.M., Ronay, R., & Galinsky, A.D. (2014). The Too-Much-Talent Effect: Team interdependence determines when more talent is too much versus not enough. Psychological Science, 25, 1581-1591.

Van Vugt, M., & Ronay, R. (2014) The evolutionary psychology of leadership: Theory, review, and roadmap. Organizational Psychology Review, 4, 74-95.

Denson, T. F., Dobson-Stone, C., Ronay, R., von Hippel, W., & Schira, M. M. (2014). A functional polymorphism of the MAOA gene is associated with neural responses to induced anger control. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26, 1418-1427.

2013

Denson, T.F., Ronay, R., von Hippel, W., & Schira, M.M. (2013). Risk for aggression: Endogenous testosterone and cortisol modulate neural responses during induced anger control. Social Neuroscience, 8, 165-177.

Ronay, R. & Carney, D.R. (2013). Testosterone’s negative relationship with empathic accuracy and perceived leadership ability. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 92-99.

2012

Ronay, R., Greenaway, K., Anicich, E.M., & Galinsky, A.D. (2012). The path to glory is paved with hierarchy: When hierarchical differentiation increases group effectiveness. Psychological Science, 23, 669-677.

2011

Ronay, R., & Galinsky, A.D. (2011). Lex Talionis: Testosterone and the law of retaliation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 702-705.

2010

Ronay, R., & von Hippel, W. (2010). Power, testosterone and risk-taking. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 23, 439-526.

Ronay, R., & von Hippel, W. (2010) The presence of an attractive woman elevates testosterone and risk-taking in young men. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1, 57-64.

2006

Ronay, R., & Kim, D-Y (2006), Explicit and implicit gender differences in risk-taking: A socially facilitated phenomenon. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 397-419.

Teaching Activities

Current Year

Managing People Strategically

Ethics and the Future of Business

Ethical Issues in Management Research

Negotiations Strategies for Building Better Social Bridges

Managing Conflict With Confidence

Previously

Research Foundations & Thesis Proposal

Theories of Leadership and Management

Leading People Strategically

Leadership and Organisations (Vrije Universiteit)

Negotiations (Columbia Business School; Vrije Universiteit)

Intercultural Psychology (Vrije Universiteit)