Rate My Professor Joe Cooper

Dr. Joe Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management at the University of Otago, having joined in April 2020. He previously served as an Associate Professor in the College of Business and Innovation at the University of Toledo and as an Assistant Professor in the College of Business at the University of Wyoming. Before his academic career, Cooper worked as a structural designer for Barber & Hoffman, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and as a senior HR analyst for the Timken Company in Canton, Ohio. He earned a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering and an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Cooper coordinates the Sustainable Business postgraduate online masters' program.

His research examines the motivation and performance of individuals through workplace commitments, goal setting, organizational roles, role conflict, role transitions, and culture. Teaching responsibilities include BSNS 111 Business and Society, MANT 339 Human Resource Development, and MANT 443 Advanced Organizations and Sustainability. Cooper has earned awards such as the DeJute Undergraduate Teaching Award from the University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation in 2019, the John P. “Jack” Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award from the University of Wyoming in 2014, the Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award from the University of Wyoming College of Business in 2013-14, the Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award from the University of Wyoming College of Business in 2010-11, and commendation for Teaching Excellence from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business in 2009. He is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. Key publications include 'SDGs and HRM in Australia and New Zealand' (2025, book chapter with F. Edgar, N. Podgorodnichenko, L. Sheridan), 'Coaching to develop emotional intelligence and decrease work-family conflict: An application of the work-home resources model' (2025, Psychological Reports with J. L. S. Wittmer, C. L. Buchanan), 'Sustainable behaviour at work: The role of HRM, goal clarity and commitment' (2024, ANZAM Conference Proceedings with N. Podgorodnichenko, F. Edgar), and 'Conceptual Foundations: Construct Definitions and Theoretical Representations of Workplace Commitments' (2009, book chapter with H. J. Klein, J. C. Molloy).