Teodora K. Tomova Shakur

Bio

Dr. Teodora (Thea) Tomova Shakur is an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Wyoming. Thea’s research focuses on network favoritism, defined as individuals' tendency to favor their network contacts over equally (or more) competent strangers in organizational decision-making (e.g., nepotism, cronyism, employee referrals). In her research program, she investigates the core motivations driving individuals to engage in network favoritism and the intended and unintended consequences of such behavior for individuals, organizations, and society at large. She uses a multi-method approach in her work, including surveys, field and experimental studies, archival data analysis, and meta-analytic techniques. Her work has been published in top-tier management and psychology journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Outside of work, Thea enjoys hiking with her husband and two dogs, Nutella and Marshmallow, sewing, painting, and playing the piano.

 

Education

Ph.D., New York University

M.A., New York University

B.A., University of California Berkeley

 

Research Interests

Network Favoritism

Nepotism

Cronyism

Employee Referrals

Merit; Inequality

 

Teaching Interests

Organizational Behavior

Social Networks

Motivation

Ethics

 

Selected Publications

Tomova Shakur, T. K. & Derfler-Rozin, R. (2026). The referral penalty: Decreased perceptions of merit undermine helping behavior towards referred employees. Journal of Applied Psychology, 111(7), 882–900.

Porter, C., Tomova Shakur, T. K., & Berry, P. (2026). The interplay of professional networking and gender: A social exchange perspective. In Diehl, M., Coyle-Shapiro, J. & Cropanzano, R. (Eds.), Research Handbook in Social Exchange Theory. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Tomova Shakur, T. K., North, M.S., Berson, Y., & Oreg, S. (2024). The age of leadership: Meta‐analytic findings on the relationship between leader age and perceived leadership style and the moderating role of culture and industry type. Personnel Psychology, 77, 1403-1440.

Tomova Shakur, T. K., & Phillips, L. T. (2022). What counts as discrimination? How principles of merit shape fairness of demographic decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(5), 957-982. *Best Paper; invitation for publication in the 2021 Academy of Management Proceedings

Zhang, J. W., Chen, S., & Tomova Shakur, T. K. (2020). From me to you: Self-compassion predicts acceptance of own and others’ imperfections. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(2), 228–242.

Zhang, J. W., Chen, S., Tomova Shakur, T. K., Bilgin, B., Chai, W. J., Ramis, T., … Manukyan, A. (2019). A compassionate self is a true self? Self-compassion promotes subjective authenticity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(9), 1323– 1337.