Penn State Smeal College of Business
Business Building
475 Shortlidge Rd
University Park, PA 16802

Assistant Clinical Professor of Management and Organization
Academic Director of Executive DBA Program
Federica Pinelli is Academic Director of the Executive DBA program and Assistant Clinical Professor of Management and Organization at Penn State Smeal, studying how research evidence becomes sound managerial judgment.
Decision quality and evidence design: how research evidence is structured, delivered, and learned so that it measurably changes managerial judgment. Related interests include regulatory focus theory and motivated judgment, the co-construction of meaning in working relationships, and how AI alters judgment formation. Executive education and the Executive DBA serve as empirical contexts for this work.
PhD in Social Psychology, Columbia University, 2022-01-01 MBA (Executive Format), Columbia Business School, 2011-01-01 MSc in Economics and Finance, Birkbeck College, University of London, 2002-01-01
BA 342 – Res/Sustn/Ethc Bus
Course examines actions taken by corporations that impact global citizenship, environmental sustainability, and the economic stability of international societies. It further looks at relationships, rights, and responsibilities between businesses, business decision-makers and their stakeholders. B A 342 Socially Responsible, Sustainable and Ethical Business Practice (3) Businesses and other large organizations have come to influence nearly all aspects of life in contemporary industrialized societies. The actions taken by businesspeople have major impacts on individuals and on society as a whole. Conversely, the expectations of citizens and their representative bodies (e.g., governments, communities, unions, interest groups) influence a wide range of corporate actions. Students of B A 342 will examine these relationships, rights, and responsibilities between businesses, business decision-makers and their stakeholders. As students enter their field of study, this course will introduced them to current ethical, social responsibility and sustainability issues that face business practitioners within their field and across related disciplines. Each business function – accounting, finance, marketing, risk, supply chain, human resource policies, etc. – has relationships and responsibilities within the larger social environment. This course considers commonalities across the business functions and teaches students to think broadly about how a business fits into a more complex web of relationships within society. The course begins with an overview of the corporation’s place and role in society as well as key concepts in understanding why knowledge related to corporate governance, ethics, sustainability and social responsibility issues is critical to professional managers’ responsibility and long-term career success. The stakeholder model is reviewed along with the study and application of ethical decision-making frameworks to current ethical dilemmas. Sustainability and global responsibility are introduced within the context of government regulation versus responsible stewardship. The closing section of the course provides thought and discussion on issues facing business practitioners across key business functions.
BA 594 – Research Topics
Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.
BA 801 – Management
Examination and application of concepts of human behavior and organization to managing people in work organizations.
MGMT 301 – Basic Mgmt Concept
MGMT 301 exposes undergraduate students to the fundamental principles and basic concepts of management, with emphasis on organizational design, management processes, leadership, motivation, and managing teams and individuals in a global business environment. Understanding these principles and concepts is extremely important for students preparing for and entering the business profession. Managers plan, organize, lead, and control. These functions provide a foundation for MGMT 301 and are included in all course topics and modules. Typical modules include: An Overview of Management; Strategy and Structure; Organizational Behavior; and Group/Organizational Dynamics.The overview of management focuses on the manager's role and function, decision making, ethics, and managerial oversight. Topics covered in a strategy and structure module will include culture, environmental influences, strategy, organizational structure, globalization, and innovation. Organizational Behavior focuses on how decision making is influenced by various stakeholders who have formal and informal authority and control in a business. What motivates individuals and who are leaders in an organization is discussed along with group dynamics. Understanding team processes, conflict, adaptation to change, and various levels of group and one-on-one communication is important and will be covered by reviewing traditional management strategies and structures along with discussions on current and evolving management issues.Students may earn credit towards graduation for only one of the following; BA 304, MGMT 301, MGMT 301H, or MGMT 301W.
Pinelli F., Higgins E. "The role of co-creation in shaping positive relationship outcomes" Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 43, 2026-01-01
Rossignac-Milon M., Boothby E., Clark M., Pinelli F., Higgins E. "More real together: Conversation predicts realness through shared reality" Self and Identity, 2025-01-01
Pinelli F., Higgins E. "The impact of co-creation on life's meaningfulness" Social Psychology, vol. 56, 2025-01-01
Pinelli F., Higgins E. "Socialization in higher education: When experiencing shared realities can benefit students" Basic and Applied Social Psychology, vol. 46, 2024-01-23
Goldring M., Pinelli F., Bolger N., Higgins E. "Shared reality can reduce stressor reactivity" Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13, 2022-01-01
Pinelli F., Davachi L., Higgins E. "Shared reality effects of tuning messages to multiple audiences" Social Cognition, vol. 40, 2022-01-01
Higgins E., Nakkawita E., Rossignac-Milon M., Pinelli F., Jun Y. "Making the right decision: Intensifying the worth of a chosen option" Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 30, 2020-01-01
Higgins E., Pinelli F. "Regulatory focus and fit effects in organizations" Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, vol. 7, 2020-01-01
Rossignac-Milon M., Pinelli F., Higgins E. "Shared reality and abstraction: The social nature of predictive models" Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 43, 2020-01-01