About

Daniel J. Beal is an Associate Professor of Management at Virginia Tech, located in the Pamplin College of Business. He obtained his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 2000, after earning a B.A. from Florida State University in 1994 and an M.S. from Tulane University in 1996. His academic career includes positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Rice University before his current appointment. His research interests focus on two broad areas: emotions in organizations and research methods. Within the emotions domain, he emphasizes the changing nature of emotional experiences at work, how individuals control expressions of these emotions, and how these behaviors predict outcomes such as fatigue and performance. Methodologically, he is interested in multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, and developing new meta-analytic methods for artifact correction and outlier detection. His scholarly work has been published in numerous reputable journals and has been cited over 10,000 times. He has also served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Management and on the editorial boards of several other academic journals.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Economics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social psychology
• Mathematics
• Public economics
• Advertising
• Ecology
• Statistics
• Knowledge management
• Marketing
• Demographic economics
• Labour economics
• Microeconomics
• Engineering
• Business

Selected publications

• Commonly observed sex differences in direct aggression are absent or reversed in sibling contexts

  PNAS Nexus · 2025-07-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Decades of research support the generalization that human males tend to be more aggressive than females. However, most of that research has examined aggression between unrelated individuals. Data drawn from 24 societies around the globe (n = 4,013) indicate that this generalization does not hold in the context of sibling relationships. In retrospective self-reports, females report being at least as aggressive as males toward their siblings, often more so. This holds for direct as well as indirect aggression, and for aggression between adult siblings as well as aggression that occurred during childhood. Consistent with prior research on sex differences, males reported engaging in more direct aggression toward nonkin than did females in the majority of societies. The results suggest that the dynamics of aggression within the family are different from those outside of it, and ultimately that understanding the role of sex in aggressive tendencies depends on context and target.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intrapersonal emotion regulation at work

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2025-11-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Social Exchange Breakdown: Income Inequality and High-Commitment Work Practices Effectiveness

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2024

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Economics
  • Demographic economics
  • Public economics

  Societal income inequality is a cause of numerous harmful consequences for individuals and the communities in which they live. In the current research, we argue that such disparities can also change the context of the employee-organization relationship. In a balanced employee-organization relationship based on principles of social exchange, organizations invest in high commitment work practices (HCWPs), providing employees a shared belief that their commitment to the organization will be reciprocated with fair treatment. When the larger environment in which the organization operates is characterized by high levels of income inequality, however, employees have little faith in the fairness of this exchange. As a result, HCWPs are less likely to generate an effective social exchange relationship. Using data from 192 hotel franchises nested within 40 U.S. states, we find that HCWPs affect collective affective commitment by helping to create a strong justice climate; however, this process was moderated by state-level income inequality. Although franchises in states with low income inequality enjoyed a strong effect of HCWPs on justice climate, franchises in states with high levels of inequality had essentially no relation between HCWPs and justice climate, suggesting a breakdown of the implicit social exchange contract. The interactive effect of state income inequality remained robust to several alternative explanations examined in supplementary analyses. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of societal income inequality on organizational functioning, HCWP effectiveness, and methods organizations can adopt to help offset the damaging effects of societal income inequality.

  PublisherDOI

• Tailoring confocal microscopy for real-time analysis of photosynthesis at single-cell resolution

  Cell Reports Methods · 2023-08-28 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Photoautotrophs' environmental responses have been extensively studied at the organism and ecosystem level. However, less is known about their photosynthesis at the single-cell level. This information is needed to understand photosynthetic acclimation processes, as light changes as it penetrates cells, layers of cells, or organs. Furthermore, cells within the same tissue may behave differently, being at different developmental/physiological stages. Here, we describe an approach for single-cell and subcellular photophysiology based on the customization of confocal microscopy to assess chlorophyll fluorescence quenching by the saturation pulse method. We exploit this setup to (1) reassess the specialization of photosynthetic activities in developing tissues of non-vascular plants; (2) identify a specific subpopulation of phytoplankton cells in marine photosymbiosis, which consolidate energetic connections with their hosts; and (3) examine the link between light penetration and photoprotection responses inside the different tissues that constitute a plant leaf anatomy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Dynamic Model of Constructive and Destructive Reactions to Job Search Envy

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2023-07-24

  article

  Although envy has been examined most often as the precursor to a wide range of negative reactions, recent evidence demonstrates that envious reactions can also be functional. Drawing on a diverse set of literature, we theorize that the self-threatening implications of envy may produce negative consequences for individuals seeking jobs, even when envy sets those individuals on a functional path toward self-improvement. The result is the presence of two paradoxical paths in which individuals may level up (i.e., experience self-improvement and improved outcomes in response to envy) and also bottom out (i.e., experience social isolation and reduced negative mental and physical health). Furthermore, we leverage evolutionary theory to hypothesize that male job seekers in a competitive job search context are likely to exaggerate their reactions to both paths of envy compared to female job seekers. We examine these hypotheses by assessing job seekers on a weekly basis over an intensive job search season. Using Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling, our results demonstrate that individuals experiencing envy do indeed level up and bottom out over time and that male job seekers, relative to female job seekers, exhibit greater reactivity to envy when leveling up as well as greater overall levels of social isolation. Discussion emphasizes the long-suspected but rarely documented effects of envy on physical and mental well-being—even while pursuing functional ends—and the roles that self-relevance and perceived control may play in exacerbating these effects.

  PublisherDOI

• Political Ideology at Work: Implications of Political Dissimilarity to Managers and Peers

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2023-07-24

  article

  Many Western societies have become more politically polarized over the past few years (Swigart, Anantharaman, Williamson, & Grandey, 2020). Political scientists, as observers of the rising polarization between the two major parties (Democrats and Republicans), note that “the absence of any correction has forced acknowledgment that we have shifted from a system marked by low polarization to one of high polarization” (Pierson & Schickler, 2020: 38). Research suggests that individuals navigate this polarization and try to avoid confrontation in the private domain by avoiding intense contact with individuals from their opposing political camp. In a survey by the Pew Research Center (2017a), participants tended to report having “just a few” or “no” close friends from their opposing political party. Even individuals who stay in contact with people from opposing camps exhibit less intense contact; for example, Thanksgiving dinners (in which opposing political party members may be present) are up to 50 minutes shorter than same-party dinners (Chen & Rohla, 2018). While individuals seem to reduce contact with people from their opposing political camp in the private domain, the workplace constitutes a context that requires individuals with diverse ideological views to regularly interact and collaborate (Mutz & Mondak, 2006; Swigart et al., 2020). However, the consequences of differences in political ideology at work for collaboration and individual outcomes are only partly understood, as researchers have only just begun to consider the role of political ideology in organizations. Most of the work in this area thus far has focused on the effects of executives' political ideology on firm outcomes (e.g., Chin, Hambrick, & Treviño, 2013; Semadeni, Chin, & Krause, 2022). What is far less understood are the consequences of political dissimilarity in work teams and how and when it affects thought processes, affective processes, and, ultimately, social interactions. We contend that when such effects are not understood they might be misattributed to other factors, like demographic dissimilarity (with demographic attributes often correlated with political ideology), and thus cannot be effectively addressed. The presentations in this symposium address the reality of political dissimilarity among team members and between followers and supervisors, and they extend the growing line of research on political dissimilarity in organizations (e.g., He, Costa, Walker, Miner, & Wooderson, 2019; Roth, Arnold, Walker, Zhang, & Iddekinge, 2022; Solomon & Hall, In Press) in meaningful ways. Each focuses on political dissimilarity as an independent variable, and, as a collective, the presentations address a range of cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes using a mix of research designs and analytical procedures. “My Party is Better Than Your Party”: Political Affiliation, Conflict, and Turnover Author: Karen Landay; U. of Missouri, Kansas City Author: David F. Arena; U. of Texas At Arlington The Interactive Role of Demographic and Political (Dis)Similarity in Workplace Friendship Formation Author: Min Ju Lee; UT Austin Author: David A. Harrison; U. of Texas at Austin An Experimental Study of Team Political Dissimilarity Effects in Election Times Author: Max Reinwald; LMU Munich Author: Peter Bamberger; Tel Aviv U. Author: Julia Backmann; U. of Münster Author: Martin Hoegl; LMU Munich Politics at Work: Similarity to Manager, Ideology, and Turnover Intentions Author: Anna Katherine Ward; Virginia Tech Author: Daniel Judson Beal; Virginia Tech Author: Shu-tsen Kuo; Virginia Tech

  PublisherDOI

• Organizational ESM Research: From Design and Analysis to Publication

  2022-01-01

  report1st authorCorresponding

  This seminar introduces the use of Experience Sampling Methods (intensive longitudinal methods, ecological momentary assessment, diary methods, ambulatory assessment) to examine organizational phenomena. Day 1 topics include development of designs and measures, challenges with publishing ESM studies in organizational journals, and an overview of tools used for data collection. Day 2 topics focus on issues of analysis, including basic within- and between-person descriptive statistics from a Multilevel SEM perspective. A final module introduces more advanced Dynamic SEM techniques. An official Instats certificate of completion is provided at the conclusion of the seminar.

  PublisherDOI

• ESM Research: From Design and Analysis to Publication

  2022-01-01

  report1st authorCorresponding

  This seminar introduces the use of Experience Sampling Methods (intensive longitudinal methods, ecological momentary assessment, diary methods, ambulatory assessment) to examine organizational phenomena. The first set of topics include development of ESM designs and measures, challenges with publishing ESM studies (with a particular emphasis on organizational journals), and an overview of tools used for ESM data collection and cleaning in R. The second set of topics focus on issues of ESM data analysis, including basic within- and between-person descriptive statistics and multilevel omega reliability from a Multilevel SEM perspective, and then more advanced Dynamic SEM techniques for causal inference in Mplus. An official Instats certificate of completion is provided at the conclusion of the seminar. For European PhD students, the seminar offers 2 ECTS Equivalent point.

  PublisherDOI

• Tailoring confocal microscopy for in-cell photophysiology studies

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2022-11-09

  preprintOpen access

  Summary Photoautotrophs environmental responses have been extensively studied at the organism and ecosystem level. However, less is known about their photosynthesis at the single cell level. This information is needed to understand photosynthetic acclimation processes, as light changes as it penetrates cells, layers of cells or organs. Furthermore, cells within the same tissue may behave differently, being at different developmental/physiological stages. Here we describe a new approach for single-cell and subcellular photophysiology based on the customisation of confocal microscopy to assess chlorophyll fluorescence quenching by the saturation pulse method. We exploit this setup to: i. reassess the specialisation of photosynthetic activities in developing tissues of non-vascular plants; ii. identify a specific subpopulation of phytoplankton cells in marine photosymbiosis, which are consolidating metabolic connections with their animal hosts, and iii. testify to the link between light penetration and photoprotection responses inside the different tissues that constitute a plant leaf anatomy. Motivation Visualising photosynthetic responses in 3D is essential for understanding most acclimation processes, as light changes within photosynthetic tissues as it penetrates the absorbing/diffusing layers of the cells. To achieve this goal, we developed a new imaging workflow merging confocal microscopy and saturating pulse chlorophyll fluorescence detection. This method applies to samples characterised by increasing complexity and its simplicity will contribute to its widespread use in plant and microalgae photoacclimation studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• What a great deal…I need that! Updating need drives frugal consumers’ responses to deep discounts

  Journal of Business Research · 2021 · 20 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Pierre Joliot

  Biologie du Chloroplaste et Perception de la Lumière chez les Microalgues

  33 shared

• Fabrice Rappaport

  Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique

  25 shared

• Francis‐André Wollman

  Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST)

  17 shared

• Mariana Guergova-Kuras

  16 shared

• Guillaume Vandystadt

  Sorbonne Université

  16 shared

• Sandrine Bujaldon

  Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique

  16 shared

• Xenie Johnson

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  16 shared

• Howard M. Weiss

  Pennsylvania State University

  13 shared

Education

• PhD, Psychology

  Tulane University

  2000

• MS, Psychology

  Tulane University

  1996

• BA, Psychology

  Florida State University

  1994