Prof. Ronit Kark's Leadership lab

Prof. Ronit Kark

Social-organizational psychology

Professor Ronit Kark is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at Bar-Ilan University, in the Social-Organizational-Occupational Psychology Program. In addition to her position at Bar-Ilan, she serves as a Distinguished Research Professor (DRP) at the Business School of the University of Exeter, UK, a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School, and an Affiliated Researcher at the Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) at Simmons College, Boston.

Her research focuses on leadership and followership in organizations, identity and organizational identification, positive organizational psychology and high-quality relationships, gender and leadership, women in organizations, and leadership for creativity. Her work has been published in leading international journals, and she has received multiple national and international awards, including the Academy of Management Award for Significant Social Impact (AOM, Copenhagen, 2025), the Anna Boyksen Award for Research on Gender and Allies in Organizations from the School of Advanced Studies, Technical University of Munich (TUM, 2022–2026), and the Award for Promoting Women in Leadership (GDO Division, AOM, Boston, 2012). Since 2021, she has been consistently ranked among the top 2% of most highly cited researchers worldwide by Stanford University and Elsevier.

The Leadership and Organizational Relationships Laboratory
Led by Professor Kark, the laboratory serves as a research hub for students and scholars exploring the intersections of leadership, gender, and relational dynamics of closeness and distance in organizations. The lab’s projects focus on the lived experiences of leaders and employees, examining how intimacy, trust, identity, and belonging shape organizational dynamics, well-being, and creativity. Members of the lab contribute to developing new theories as well as practical applications, impacting both the scientific community and the world of work.

Teaching and Academic Supervision
Professor Kark teaches selected courses on leadership, gender, and organizations, as well as the practicum in organizations, at both undergraduate and graduate levels in the Department of Psychology. She supervises master’s theses and doctoral dissertations within the Social-Organizational-Occupational Psychology Program, integrating teaching and research to foster a rich and meaningful academic experience.

Beyond Academia
Alongside her academic work, Professor Kark advises public and private organizations on leadership development, social responsibility, and the advancement of gender equality. She serves on public committees and boards of NGOs and social initiatives, committed to bridging academic knowledge with practice and contributing to societal change.