Culture Shock: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Cultural Norms and Rituals

The goal of this symposium is to understand how sudden exogenous shocks (such as the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social distancing restrictions) affect the role that culture plays in shaping individual, group, and organizational life. In this way, the four papers in this symposium aim to: (i) use the sudden and pervasive impact of the pandemic on work to advance group and organizational culture research, and (ii) leverage novel computational techniques and Big Data to assess the dynamics of culture in an era when traditional research methods (e.g., laboratory experiments) are not feasible. Examining the Speed and Intensity of Culture Adaptation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Presenter: N. Derek Brown; Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Presenter: Yixi Chen; UC Berkeley Presenter: Paul Vicinanza; Stanford Graduate School of Business Presenter: Hope Harrington; Lab Manager The Impact of Collective Threats on Societal Shifts in Culture, Politics, and Economics Presenter: Virginia K. Choi; U. of Maryland College Park Presenter: Michele Joy Gelfand; U. of Maryland How COVID-19 Shelter-In-Place Restrictions Correspond with Changing Workgroup Commitment Presenter: Daniel Stein; U. of California, Berkeley Presenter: Jennifer Chatman; U. of California, Berkeley Regional Personality Differences Predict Variation in COVID-19 Social Distancing Behavior Presenter: Heinrich Peters; Columbia U. Presenter: Friedrich Götz; U. of Cambridge Presenter: Tobias Ebert; U. of Mannheim Presenter: Sandrine Müller; Columbia U. Presenter: Jason Rentfrow; U. of Cambridge Presenter: Samuel Gosling; U. of Texas at Austin Presenter: Martin Obschonka; Queensland U. of Technology Presenter: Jeff Potter; Atof Inc Presenter: Sandra Matz; Columbia Business School