Ruth Kanfer

Ruth Kanfer received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 1981. Kanfer went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois. She began her career at the University of Minnesota and currently works at professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Throughout her career, Kanfer's research has addressed the impact that personality, motivation, self-regulation and emotion have on the behavior and performance levels of individuals in their work settings.^[1] Kanfer is a co director of the GT PARK Lab, which provides a space for graduate students to conduct research in cognitive, aging, personality, social, and applied psychology. Kanfer has edited volumes on Work Motivation, Emotions in the Workplace, and Abilities Motivation and Methodology.^[2] Support for Kanfer's research work has been provided by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.^[3]

Ruth Kanfer is a psychologist known for her research in the role of motivation in a work setting. One of her research studies focused on age and reemployment success after a job loss. She focused on people who were aged 40 and over but were unemployed. Kanfer proposed that chronological age affects job search and reemployment outcomes after job loss. She used a meta-analysis and two supplemental datasets to examine the strength of the relationship between age and speed of reemployment, and whether the relationship between age and reemployment was mediated by job search activities. Her research documented difficulties that people over the age of 50 have in finding jobs, which affects their lives and how they will live after that age.^[4]

Another study conducted by Kanfer and colleagues focused on college achievement after completion of Advanced Placement (AP) exams. AP is a program administered by the College Board offering college level material in high schools and administering annual examinations to assess students' understanding of the material. Kanfer used a sample of 26,693 students who entered the Georgia Institute of Technology as first-year undergraduates over a ten year period (1999-2009) to explore the numbers of AP exams taken and performance on the exams in relation to college academic performance, interest in STEM versus non STEM majors, and graduation rates. They obtained admissions records and college transcripts, and examined whether performance on AP exams correlated with success in college. Students with more AP course credits tended to complete fewer lower-level college courses and more higher-level courses than students without AP credit. These students completed college coursework in fewer semesters and had a higher graduation rate. They found students to have more interest in choosing a STEM major if they had received credit for AP Calculus and completed of three or more AP exams in STEM areas. Kanfer and colleagues recommended that admissions committees should consider the actual AP exam performance data instead of just the AP enrollment data as predictors of college academic performance.^[5]

Kanfer, R., & Ackerman, P. L. (2004). Aging, adult development, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 440-458.

• http://www.psychology.gatech.edu/people/faculty/363.
• http://kanfer-ackerman.gatech.edu/