Marcus came to Hope in 2013. He teaches courses in principles of management, human resource management, non-profit consulting, and marketing management, as well as a management senior seminar designed to help equip students to transition to being successful, balanced and accountable professionals. In his role, Marcus also consults with organizations to address brand and market development.

Marcus’ primary area of research is the relationship between people and their work in the context of occupational health psychology and, specifically, stress at work. His goal is to act as an advocate for both the individual and the organization in designing work that promotes subsidiarity in the form of job control, and accountability in terms of job design and performance.

These interests were initially formed prior to his academic role, during almost a decade of work in executive recruitment and other business development positions in both the U.S. and U.K. Specifically, in a media promotions position in London, Marcus would interview company CEOs about their road to building a business from scratch or guiding an existing organization through transition. Latterly, he learned about the insidious role of excessive workplace stress through being a headhunter for Big 4 and Group A accountancy practice partners, as well as IT and engineering professionals: “Beyond learning about functional and strategic aspects of these industry sectors, I was amazed by how powerful a negative role high or ongoing job stress could play on even very accomplished people — I want to do something about it that is mutually beneficial.” In addition to his research work at Hope, Marcus speaks and consults to organizations on how to reduce excessive and unnecessary work stress and unwanted turnover.

Marcus also runs the Leadership Minor at Hope. He brands this as “The Minor for All” because of the need for strong and ethical leaders in every walk of life.

In 2022 he was both the Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award winner and the Commencement Speaker, where he talked about focusing on long-term goals.

Education

• Ph.D., organizational leadership and analysis, Western Michigan University, 2016
• M.Sc., industrial/organizational psychology, Ohio University, 2013
• MBA with commendation, personal development, marketing and strategy, Kingston Business School, 2005
• Diploma in management studies with distinction, Greenwich School of Management, 2003

Selected publications

• “Illegitimate absence of tasks: A new concept of offense to the self,” with A. Franzen and N.K. Semmer in Stress, Performance, and Wellness: Reinventing Personal and Professional Life, edited by N. Thaktre and U. Reddy, Taylor and Francis, in press
• “When being intrinsically motivated makes you vulnerable: Illegitimate tasks and their associations with strain, work satisfaction, and turnover intention,” with N.K. Semmer and M. Kern, Occupational Health Science, 2023
• “Demands, resources, well-being and psychological strain: Meta-analyzing moderator effects of workforce racial composition,” with J. Purl and R. Seulki, Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2022
• “Illegitimate tasks as offense to the self,” with N.K. Semmer and E.M. Eatough, in Stress and Quality of Working Life (7th ed.), edited by A.M. Rossi, J.A. Meurs and P.L. Perrewé, Information Age Publishing, 2020
• “Extending the boundaries of illegitimate tasks: The role of resources,” with E.M. Eatough, Psychological Reports, 27(8), 2019
• “Understanding cross-cultural differences in the work stress process: A review and theoretical model,” with M. Wilson, in Handbook of Research on Cross-Cultural Business Education, 2018
• “Extending knowledge of illegitimate tasks: Student satisfaction, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion,” with E.M. Eatough, in Stress and Health, 2017
• “Job demands, control and support: Meta-analyzing moderator effects of gender, nationality, and occupation,” with J. Purl and R.W. Griffeth, Human Resource Management Review, 2017
• “Illegitimate tasks as an impediment to job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation: Moderated mediation effects of gender and effort-reward imbalance,” with R. Omansky and E.M. Eatough, Frontiers in Psychology, 2016
• “Stressful work and voluntary turnover,” with E. Eatough and R.W. Griffeth, in Stress and Quality of Working Life (5th edition), Information Age Publishing, 2015 (also published in Portuguese by Editora Atlas: São Paulo, Brazil)
• “Disaggregating job satisfaction: Effects of perceived demands, control, and support,” Journal of Business and Psychology, 2014

Outside the college

Marcus is originally from the United Kingdom. He moved to the U.S. in 1999 and, except for a four-year stint in London, has lived here ever since. Marcus enjoys cooking and dinner parties and is an avid soccer and tennis fan.