Dr. Paul Spector is a distinguished emeritus scholar and pioneering figure in industrial-organizational psychology with a career spanning nearly five decades at the University of South Florida. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology within the College of Arts and Sciences, maintaining an active role in academic life through part-time teaching in the Executive Doctor of Business Administration program at USF's Muma College of Business. Having earned all his academic credentials from the University of South Florida including his PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology in 1975, he returned to his alma mater in 1982 after seven years in various academic and practitioner positions, where he ultimately retired in 2020 as a Distinguished University Professor, the highest honor bestowed by the institution. During his illustrious tenure, he served for fifteen years as director of the USF I-O psychology doctoral program and established himself as the founding director of the interdisciplinary occupational health psychology program that bridges psychology with public health.
Dr. Spector's groundbreaking research has fundamentally shaped the understanding of workplace dynamics, particularly through his coining of the term counterproductive work behavior with colleagues Fox and Miles, which has become the standard framework throughout the field for studying harmful employee actions. His four-decade investigation of negative workplace phenomena including accidents, injuries, mistreatment, stress, and violence has yielded innovative research methods and rating scales that have been widely adopted as industry standards. His methodological contributions examining common method variance and advancing the proper use of control variables through his hierarchical iterative control approach have significantly improved research rigor across organizational psychology. The profound impact of his work is evident in his extensive publication record in premier journals such as Journal of Organizational Behavior, Work & Stress, and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, where he has served in editorial capacities shaping the field's scholarly discourse.
As a pivotal leader in the emerging interdisciplinary field of occupational health psychology, Dr. Spector has influenced generations of scholars through his mentorship and leadership roles, including directing the NIOSH-funded Sunshine Education and Research Center's Occupational Health Psychology doctoral training program. His commitment to advancing methodological rigor and interdisciplinary collaboration continues through his current activities as co-principal investigator on an NSF research grant in engineering education and as an organizational science consultant at Tampa General Hospital. Since 2019, he has expanded his influence beyond academia by maintaining a blog that translates complex IO psychology concepts for broader business audiences, demonstrating his dedication to practical application of research findings. Dr. Spector's enduring legacy lies in his transformative contributions to understanding workplace behavior and health, establishing conceptual frameworks that continue to guide both scholarly research and organizational practices worldwide.
