Research Seminar Series: Dr. Karen Landay

Seminar Title:

Play That Funky Music? A Meta-Theory and Meta-Analysis of Music Listening and Employee Performance

Event Details:

📅 Date: 8 April, 2026 (Wednesday)

⏰ Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm

📍 Venue: CR-W3-02, Asia School of Business

💻 Zoom Link: https://asb-my.zoom.us/j/98856378389?pwd=eUtqHM1Mx1YbkHQMzrDcjjKDo1my6F.1

Meeting ID: 988 5637 8389

Passcode: 231112

Abstract

Despite the long history of music and work, scholars know comparatively little about the impact of listening to music on employee performance in modern workplaces. Accordingly, we review and synthesize the multidisciplinary literature to propose a meta-theoretical framework of how—through the mediators of affect-, arousal-, and cognitive-based processes—music listening affects employee performance.

We test this framework with meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling using 460 independent samples from 377 studies. Broadly, we find that listening to music has a positive effect on performance and that this occurs primarily through music both increasing positive affect and decreasing negative affect. Although we find little evidence for the hypothesized role of arousal and cognitive functioning, post hoc analysis suggests a serial mediation effect such that affect and arousal jointly transmit the effects of music onto cognitive functioning, which in turn impacts performance.

We also uncover small nonlinear and linear moderating effects of duration of listening and somewhat differing results depending on whether music is heard through headphones or background speakers. Overall, our research reestablishes the field of management as the central voice in workplace music research and offers significant implications and future directions for theory, research, and practice going forward.

Speaker’s Bio

Dr. Karen Landay is an Assistant Professor of Management at the G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, where she teaches graduate courses in human resource management and organizational design and change. She earned her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Alabama, an MBA from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and a Bachelor of Music from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Her research focuses on work passion, music listening at work, and destructive leadership, with publications in leading journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management, and The Leadership Quarterly. Her work has been cited more than 825 times and featured in media outlets including Forbes, Business Insider, and BBC Worklife.

Dr. Landay is also active in academic service, serving on editorial review boards, reviewing top management journals, and holding leadership roles in professional associations such as the Academy of Management and the Southern Management Association. She has received multiple awards for teaching, research, and professional service.

(Reference: https://cob.unt.edu/people/karen-landay.html)

We look forward to your participation in this insightful research seminar.

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