STAFF PROFILE
Dr. Melissa Wheeler
Melissa has a PhD in social psychology from the University of Melbourne, which explored how people persuade others to agree with their moral beliefs. She has an ongoing interest in the field of moral psychology and applied ethics, including workplace flexibility, gender roles in work and care, ethical climates, and responsible leadership. Melissa's research has been published in top tier journals, including Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Cities, European Review of Social Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Primarily teaching in the areas of leadership, applied ethics, and change management, Melissa has previously served as Major Discipline Coordinator for the Management Major. She has experience in co-creating and delivering units with industry partners, such as Siemens Australia and New Zealand, CPA Australia, and Financial Services Learning. She holds a Deans' Teaching Excellence Award and a Norman Curry Award for Innovation and Excellence for Educational Programs.
In service to the academic community, she has held roles as Leader in the Career Development Program within the Swinburne Women's Academic Network, Early Career Researcher Training Coordinator, Theme Lead of the Social Psychology of Innovation Group (Ethics of Innovation), and Co-creator of the Australian Leadership Index.
Current Research Interests:
- Women and work/leadership (also fathers and care/work)
- Examining work and organisations using a social psychology lens (particularly in terms of morality: unethical behaviour, moral gossip, hypocrisy)
- Responsible leadership and board decision-making
- PhD, BA (Hons) Psychology
- Wheeler, M.,Wilson, S.,Baes, N.,Demsar, V. (2024). A search for commonalities in defining the common good: Using folk theories to unlock shared conceptions In: British Journal of Social Psychology, , 1 - 19
- Ferraro, C.,Wheeler, M.,Pallant, J.,Wilson, S.,Oldmeadow, J. (2023). Not so trustless after all: Trust in Web3 technology and opportunities for brands In: Business Horizons, 66, 667 - 678
- Oldmeadow, J.,Elphinstone, B.,Sivasubramaniam, D.,Wheeler M, et al, . (2023). Classifying Australian citizens' responses to COVID-19 preventative behaviour directives: A latent class approach In: Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 33, 1018 - 1036
- Elphinstone, B.,Wheeler, M.,Oldmeadow, J.,Sivasubramaniam D, et al, . (2023). Compliance with COVID-19 prevention measures during the onset of the pandemic in Australia: investigating the role of trust in federal and state governments and scientists In: Australian Journal of Psychology, 75, 1 - 11
- Wheeler, M. (2023). Responsible Leadership In: The Sage Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, United States
- Sojo, V.,Wheeler, M. (2023). (In press) Organizational Research In: The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for Behavioral Sciences: Volume 2: Performing Research, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Wheeler, M.,Schleser, M.,Leontini, J. (2023). Developing Energy Literacies for Stronger Community Engagement. In: The Centre for New Energy Technologies (C4NET) Melbourne, Australia
- Thong, C.,Wheeler, M.,Mackelprang, J.,Shafiei, M.,Scheepers, H.,Kilborn, V. (2023). A tale of three associate professors: A grassroots approach to supporting women in higher education In: Australian Journal of Management, 48, 769 - 779
- Wilson, S.,Demsar, V.,Wheeler, M. (2022). Leadership for the Greater Good: A National Conversation about Leadership in Australia. In: The Graham Foundation Melbourne, Australia
- Sojo, V.,Ryan, .,Fine, C.,, . (2022). What works, what’s fair? Using systematic reviews to build the evidence base on strategies to increase gender equality in the public sector. In: The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector (CGEPS) Melbourne, Australia