Identity and identity threat
How people respond when the value, meanings, or enactment of who they are is challenged.
Organizational behavior scholar
Maïlys M. George
I study how people navigate identity, transitions, and relationships at work—and how organizations can create conditions in which people can thrive.
Research
My research explores how people experience uncertainty when they move across roles, face threats to who they are, or navigate changing relationships at work.
Role transitions
How people experience movement across roles—and how those transitions affect their wider networks.
Relationships at work
How changing working conditions reshape connection, inclusion, and well-being between colleagues.
About
Research grounded in lived experience.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Managing People in Organizations Department at IESE Business School in Barcelona.
Given my multicultural background, I have always been interested in how people think about who they are and where they want to be. My work draws on quantitative and qualitative methods to examine identity, uncertainty, and change across people’s work and non-work lives.
Before joining IESE, I was an Assistant Professor at EDHEC Business School and a postdoctoral researcher at IESE. I hold a PhD in Organizational Behavior from ESSEC Business School and was a Fulbright visiting scholar at George Mason University.
IESE Business SchoolAssistant Professor
ESSEC Business SchoolPhD, Organizational Behavior
Fulbright GranteeGeorge Mason University
MethodsQuantitative and qualitative
Awards & recognition
Beatriu de Pinós grantCurrent grant recipient
AOM reviewer awardsOrganizational Behavior and Managerial & Organizational Cognition divisions
Symposium recognitionAwards for symposia organized at the Academy of Management
Teaching
Helping people see organizations—and themselves—more clearly.
I am passionate about teaching leadership and managing people in organizations. My goal is to help leaders make better decisions—grounded in research and a deeper understanding of human dynamics.
My teaching connects rigorous research with cases, discussion, and reflection, helping participants translate ideas into choices they can use in their own teams and careers.
LeadershipManaging peopleDeveloping managerial competencies
Ideas & insights
Research translated for leaders and organizations.
Forbes · April 2025
Why Identity Threats Can Lead to Turnover—and How Managers Can Help
How organizational change can challenge employees’ sense of self, and what managers can do before people disengage or leave.
Read on Forbes ↗Forbes · June 2025
To Manage Workplace Disruptions, Start Before Change Hits
With Sebastian Reiche. How leaders can prepare for disruption by understanding the identity tensions employees bring into periods of change.
Read on Forbes ↗The European Business Review · July 2025
Identity Threats Often Lead to Burnout and Quitting—but Managers Can Help
A practical framework for recognizing threats to identity value, meanings, and enactment in the workplace.
Read the article ↗IESE Insight · September 2025
From Stress to Success: A Diagnostic for Navigating Identity and Change at Work
A research-based diagnostic managers can use to understand identity threat and support employees through change.
Read on IESE Insight ↗Mujer Ejecutiva México · December 2025
Featured research on identity and change at work
Spanish-language coverage bringing the implications of identity-threat research to executives and organizations in Mexico.
Selected work
Publications
2024
Plug in, ponder, or pause? How global professionals’ prior identity tensions affected their responses to pandemic-induced disruptions
With Sebastian Reiche · Academy of Management Discoveries, 10(2)
2023
When “Who I Am” Is Under Threat: Measures of Threat to Identity Value, Meanings, and Enactment
With Karoline Strauss, Julija N. Mell & Heather C. Vough · Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(12)
2022
Transitioning the Study of Role Transitions: From an Attribute-Based to an Experience-Based Approach
With Sarah Wittman & Kevin W. Rockmann · Academy of Management Annals, 16(1)