Shuhua Sun
- Associate Professor
- Director of Asia Pacific Programs, Goldring Institute for International Business
- Peter W. and Paul A. Callais Professorship in Entrepreneurship
| Office Address | 652 |
|---|---|
| Phone | 504 314 7574 |
| ssun7@tulane.edu |
Biography
Dr. Shuhua Sun is an Associate Professor of Management and the Peter W. and Paul A. Callais Professor in Entrepreneurship at Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business. His research examines how people pursue goals and achieve creativity, performance, and well-being within changing social and technological environments.
His current research focuses on artificial intelligence and human behavior in three areas. First, he studies heterogeneity in generative AI use at work - why employees differ in how they engage with AI and what enables them to translate AI use into meaningful gains in creativity and performance. Second, he explores how AI can advance social science research by enabling new approaches to theory development, measurement, experimentation, and data analysis. Third, he investigates AI in education, including how AI can support learning, metacognition, and the development of human judgment rather than simply automate academic tasks.
This emerging AI research builds on his broader program of scholarship in organizational behavior and entrepreneurship, including creativity, self-regulation and metacognition, goal pursuit, workplace social dynamics, and entrepreneurial action. Across these domains, his work seeks to understand how individuals and organizations can use their capabilities and resources more thoughtfully and effectively.
Dr. Sun's research has appeared in leading journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of Business Venturing, and has been featured in college textbooks and international media.
Professor Sun has extensive international teaching experience at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. At Tulane, he teaches Organizational Behavior, Managing People in Organizations, and International Leadership and Team Building. Before joining Tulane, he taught at Maastricht University's School of Business and Economics in the Netherlands and the National University of Singapore Business School.
Research Interests
Artificial Intelligence
- Heterogeneity in generative AI use and effectiveness in the workplace
- Human-AI collaboration, creativity, and performance
- Metacognition and effective AI use
- AI-enabled social science research
- AI for education and learning
Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship
- Creativity, self-regulation, and goal pursuit
- Workplace relationships and social dynamics
- Employee stress, well-being, and performance
- Entrepreneurial motivation, action, and venture progress
Courses
Research
- Sun, S., Li, Z. A., Foo, M.-D., Zhou, J., & Lu, J. G. (2025). How and for whom using generative AI affects creativity: A field experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 110(12), 1561-1573.
- Sun, S. (2024). A componential and functional framework for metacognition: Implications for research in personnel and human resources management. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management.
- Sun, S. (2022). Is political skill always beneficial? Why and when politically skilled employees become targets of coworker social undermining. Organization Science, 33(3), 1142-1162.
- Sun, S., Wang, N., Zhu, J., & Song, Z. (2020). Crafting job demands and employee creativity: A diary study. Human Resource Management, 59(6), 569-583.
- Sun, S. & Chen, H. (2017). Is political behavior a viable coping strategy to perceived organizational politics? Unveiling the underlying resource dynamics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102 (10), 1471-1482.
- Sun, S. & van Emmerik, IJ. H. (2015). Are proactive personalities always beneficial? Political skill as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100 (3), 966-975.
- Sun. S., Vancouver, J., & Weinhardt, J. (2014). Goal choices and planning: Distinct expectancy and value effects in two goal processes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 125 (2), 220-233.
- Sun, S., Song, Z., & Lim, V. K. (2013). Dynamics of the job search process: Developing and testing a mediated moderation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(5), 771-784.
- Sun, S. & Frese, M. (2013). Multiple goal pursuit. In E. A. Locke and G. P. Latham (Eds, pp. 179-194), New developments in goal setting and task performance. New York: Routledge.