Professor
Industrial Organizational Psychology
Ph.D., University Koblenz-Landau

Heyne Building, Room 123B
713-743-8625
Lab: 713-348-6229
E-mail: Christiane.Spitzmueller@mail.uh.edu

I completed a B.A. degree in Psychology at the University Koblenz-Landau (Germany) in 1999. After completion of my undergraduate degree, I received a Fulbright scholarship for graduate studies at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). At Bowling Green State University, I completed both my M.A. and Ph.D. degrees within four years. During my graduate studies, I gained applied experience working for A.T. Kearney and Roland Berger Management consultants doing strategy consulting projects. My research interests during graduate school were centered on employee well-being, job satisfaction and monitoring technology. After Ph.D. completion in 2003, I accepted an academic appointment as an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston's doctoral program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. At UH, I am conducting research with between three and six doctoral students, and several undergraduate students. Research generated in our lab has been published in the top international journals in I/O psychology, such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. I currently serve as a reviewer for several journals including the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and am actively involved in the newly founded Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP). I also currently collaborate with one of the premier job stress research groups in Europe: Prof. Dr. Dieter Zapf’s group at the University of Frankfurt.

In order to contribute to the practice of I/O psychology, the students in my lab and I conduct research pertaining to cross-cultural adjustment in training contexts and design of employee surveys for local and international organizations. Client organizations we have collaborated with recently include ExxonMobil, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, ADNOC (National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates), and local organizations such as the Houston Fire Department and Child Advocates.

Teaching

Personality in the Workplace (graduate)
Occupational Health Psychology (graduate)
Employee Surveys (graduate)
Work Motivation (graduate)
Introduction to Statistical Methods (undergraduate)

Research Interests

Employee Surveys and Survey Nonresponse
Cross-cultural and Expatriate Research
Technology in Organizational Behavior
Occupational Health Psychology, Job Stress

Research Team Members

Sabrina Volpone
Christina Rubino
Ari Malka
Emily David
Alex Luksyte
Prema Ratnasingam
Lindsay Brown
Huang
Rajeev Suraneni

Publications 2008

Spitzmüller, C., Neumann, E., Rubino, C.*, Sutton, M.*, Spitzmüller, M., Keeton, K.E.*, & Manzey, D (in press). Assessing the influence of pre-application mentoring on organizational attractiveness. International Journal of Selection and Assessment.

Milam, A.*, Spitzmüller C. & Penney, L. (in press). Investigating Individual Differences among Targets of Workplace Incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

Barr, C.*, Spitzmüller, C. & Stuebing, K. (2008). Too Stressed Out to Participate? Examining the Relation between Stressors and Survey Response Behavior. Journal of Occupation al Health Psychology, 13(3), 232-243.

2007

Rogelberg, S.G., Reeve, C.L., Clark, O., Walker, A., Carter, N. T., DiGiacomo, N. , Spitzmueller, C., Teeter, L., Starling, P.G. (2007). What Shelters Can Do about Euthanasia-Related Stress: An Examination of Recommendations from those on the Front Line. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 10(4),331-347.

Rogelberg, S.G., Reeve, C.L., Spitzmüller, C., Clark, O., DiGiacomo, N., Schultz, L., Walker, A., Gill, P., & Carter, N. (2007). Impact of euthanasia rates, euthanasia practices, and human resource practices on employee turnover in animal shelters. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 230(5), 713-719.

Witt, L. A. & Spitzmüller, C. (2007). Person-Situation Predictors of Work Competence and Typical Performance. Human Performance, 20(3), 1-11.

Spitzmüller, C., Glenn, D.*, Sutton, M.M.* & Barr, C. D.* & Rogelberg, S.G. (2007). Are survey nonrespondents bad organizational citizens? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 15(4), 449-459

Spitzmüller, C., & Keeton, K.* (in press). Job sharing. In S.G. Rogelberg    (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Spitzmüller, C. & Sady, K.* (in press). Job rotation. In S.G. Rogelberg (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Rogelberg, S.G., Reeve, C.L., Spitzmüller, C., Clark, O., DiGiacomo, N., Schultz, L., Walker, A., Gill, P., & Carter, N. (in press). Animal Shelter Worker Turnover: The Impact of Euthanasia Rates, Euthanasia Practices, and Human Resource Practices. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Rogelberg, S.G., Spitzmüller, C., Little, I.S., & Reeve, C.L. (in press). Understanding Response Behavior to an Online Special Topics Organizational Satisfaction Survey. Personnel Psychology.

2006

Spitzmüller, C., Barr, C.*, Glenn, D.* Rogelberg, S., & Daniel, P. (2006). “If you treat me right, I reciprocate”: Examining the role of exchange in organizational survey nonresponse. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 19-35.

Spitzmüller, C., & Stanton, J. M. (2006). Employee compliance and resistance with monitoring and surveillance policies and practices. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79(2),245-272.

Spitzmüller, C., Glenn, D. M.* (2006). Nonresponse in employee surveys – a review and directions for future work. In: M. Braun (Ed.), Survey methodology.  Mannheim, Germany: ZUMA Press.

2005

Reeve, C. L., Rogelberg, S. G., Spitzmüller, C. & DiGiacomo, N. (2005). The “caring-killing” paradox: Euthanasia-related strain among animal shelter workers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(1), 119-143.

Tweney, R. D., Mears, R. P., & Spitzmüller, C. (2005). Replicating the practices of discovery: Michael Faraday and the interaction of gold and light. In M. Gorman, D. G. Gooding, R. D. Tweney, M. M. Mehalik & A. Kincannon (Eds.), Scientific and Technological Thinking (pp. 137-159). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

2004

Reeve, C. L., Spitzmüller, C., Rogelberg, S. G., Walker, A., Schultz, L., & Clark, O. (2004). Employee reactions and adjustment to euthanasia-related work: Identifying turning-point events through retrospective narratives. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 7, 1-25.

Russell, S.R., Spitzmüller, C., Lin, L.F., Stanton, J.M., & Smith, P.C. (2004). Shorter can also be better: The abridged Job in Gneral Measure. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64, 878-893.

2003

Highhouse, S., Brooks-Laber, M.E., Lin, L., & Spitzmüller, C. (2003). What makes a salary seem reasonable? Frequency context effects on starting salary expectations. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (Special Issue: The Industrial and Organizational-Cognitive Interface), 75, 69-81.

Fuller, J.A., Stanton, J.M., Fisher, G.G., Spitzmüller, C., Russell, S.S., & Smith, P.C. (2003) A Lengthy Look at the Daily Grind: Time Series Analysis of Job Stress and Satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(6), 1019-1033.

Rogelberg, S.G., Conway, J., Sederburg, M., Spitzmüller, C., Aziz, S., Knight, W. (2003). Profiling Active and Passive Nonrespondents to an Organizational Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(6), 1104-1114.