Principal Researcher Wayne Johnson

MS and PhD, Management, Cornell University
MS, Foreign Service, Georgetown University
BA, Communications & Speech Rhetoric, Vanderbilt University

Wayne previously conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and University of Utah.

Why people disagree about valuation (of companies, ideas, products, etc.)
Why people respond to other's proposals with passive or active support or opposition
The processes and outcomes of moral belief change and persuasion
Social misperceptions

Johnson, W., & Lucas, B. J. (2025). The idea endorser’s dilemma: How status dynamics disincentivize idea endorsement. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 190, 104439.
Johnson, W., & Proudfoot, D. (2024). Greater variability in judgments of the value of novel ideas. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 471-479.
Johnson, W.*, Ramos, G.A.*, Van Epps, E., & Graham, J. (2024). Refining & expanding application of Moral Foundations Theory in consumer psychology. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 34 (4) 670-677.
Ramos, G.A.*, Johnson, W.*, Van Epps, E., & Graham, J. (2024). When consumer decisions are moral decisions: Moral Foundations Theory and its implications for consumer psychology. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 34(3), 519-535.
Johnson, W.R. (2022) Bias in Creative Adoption Decision Points: Why Receivers Hinder the Creativity-Innovation Process. In Cattani, G., Deichmann, D., & Ferriani, S. (Eds.) Research in the Sociology of Organizations (Vol. 77 pp. 205-228). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Johnson, W.R., Lucas, B.J. (2025) Why some managers stifle good ideas Harvard Business Review
Johnson, W.R., Proudfoot, D. (2024) How to build consensus around a new idea. Harvard Business Review