Dr. Cong Liu

Dr. Cong Liu is an expert in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, with a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida. She currently serves as the Associate Editor of Applied Psychology and previously held the same position at the International Journal of Stress Management. Dr. Liu’s research is rooted in occupational health psychology, focusing on enhancing employees' safety, health, and well-being in the workplace. Her studies primarily explore workplace relationships, job stressors (both challenge and hindrance), and cultural values that influence employee behavior. Her ongoing research delves into workplace mistreatment, including issues such as workplace ostracism, interpersonal conflict, and abusive supervision. A key area of interest for her is understanding how individual values, particularly the value of harmony, shape employees' experiences, perceptions, and responses to mistreatment in the workplace. Her current NSF-funded research explores how autonomic arousal, emotions, and cognitions interact in response to workplace ostracism and the resulting employee behaviors. In addition, Dr. Liu investigates the mechanisms of challenge and hindrance stressors, with a particular focus on how individual differences, such as implicit beliefs and self-efficacy, affect responses to these stressors. She has also conducted cross-cultural studies comparing the job stress experiences of Chinese and American employees, examining job stressors such as interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints, and job autonomy. Her research has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Additionally, she edited the book Workplace Ostracism: Its Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences, which is available at Springer.