Denise Daniels

Bio

Denise Daniels (PhD, University of Washington) is Hudson T. Harrison Professor of Entrepreneurship at Wheaton College. Her scholarly interests include meaningful work, Sabbath, leadership, gender, and motivation. She has written over 50 academic articles and book chapters, and co-authored several books. Denise is on the board of a fintech company and also serves on the board of the Theology of Work Project (theologyofwork.org).

Education

Ph.D. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1997
Major Area: Organizational Behavior
Minor Areas: Human Resource Management, Research Methods, Psychology

B.A. Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
Summa Cum Laude
Majors: Business/Economics, Psychology

Books

Ecklund, E.H., & Daniels, D. (2025). Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work. InterVarsity Press.

Ecklund, E.H., Daniels, D., & Scheitle, C. (2024). Religion in a Changing Workplace. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Vandewarker, S. & Daniels, D. (2022). Practices for Working in the Presence of God: A Guided Journal. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Daniels, D. & Vandewarker, S. (2019). Working in the presence of God: Spiritual practices for everyday work. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Selected Publications

Lee, M.D.P., Stolze, H. & Daniels, D. (2024). Can For-Profit Organizations Practice Religion? Theorizing Faith Integration in Business. Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion. https://doi.org/10.51327/JZWO3047

Okuwobi, O., Ecklund, E., & Daniels, D. (2024). The Limits of Congregational Support for Working Women, Review of Religious Research, 65(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X231208129

Kalinowski, B., Daniels, D., Schneider, R., & Ecklund, E. (2024). Called to work: Developing a framework for understanding spiritual orientations towards work. Sociology of Religion, 85(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad010

Daniels, D. (2024). Faithful Presences: Building Kingdom Shaped Businesses. The Big Picture. Issue 10: Economics, Kirby Laing Centre. https://kirbylaingcentre.co.uk/the-big-picture/online-magazine/issue-10/

Dik, B., Daniels, D., & Alayan, A. (2024). Religion, Spirituality, and the Workplace: A Review and Critique. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 11, 279-305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-110721-041458

Scheitle, C.P., Bolger, D., Daniels, D., & Ecklund, E. (2023). The connection between perceived workplace discrimination and viewing work as a spiritual calling. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 62(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12842

Thomson, R.A., Bolger, D., Daniels, D., & Ecklund, E. (2023). The relationship between workplace status and workplace religious expression. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 62(1), 126-143. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12828

Daniels, D., Ecklund, E.H., Thomson, R.A., & Kalinowski, B. (2022). The impact of gender and organizational position on faith-work integration. Journal of Management Spirituality and Religion, Vol 19(2). https://doi.org/10.51327/BIHN6411

Daniels, D., & VanDuzer, J. (2020). A faithful presence in a broken economy. Faith and Economics, Vol 76, 89-106.

Ecklund, E.H., Daniels, D., & Schneider, R. (2020). From sacred to secular: Bringing work to church. Religions, 11(9), 442. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090442

Ecklund, E.H., Daniels, D., Bolger, D., & Johnson, L. (2020). A nationally representative survey of faith and work: Demographic subgroup differences around calling and conflict. Religions, 11(6), 287. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11060287

Daniels, D., Henry, C., & Murg, B. (2019). The future of Christian higher education: A political economy analysis. Journal of Markets and Morality, Vol. 22(2), 317-337.

Daniels, D., Franz, R., Eveland, V., Godek, J., & Anderson, R. (2018). Family-Supportive Practices in the Sacred Sector: Research Summary. Research report published by the Center for Public Justice, Washington, DC.

Bolino, M, Klotz, A.C., & Daniels, D. (2014). The impact of impression management over time. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 29(3).

Daniels, D., Diddams, M. & Van Duzer, J. (2011). A magnetic pull on the internal compass: The moderating effect of response to culture on the relationship between moral identity and ethical sensitivity. Journal of Religion and Business Ethics, Vol. 2:2, Article 3. Available at: http://via.library.depaul.edu/jrbe/vol2/iss2/3

Diddams, M. & Daniels, D. (2008). Good work with toil. A paradigm for redeemed work. Christian Scholar’s Review, 38(1), 61-82.

Van Duzer, J., Franz, R., Karns, G., Wong, K. & Daniels, D. (2007). It’s not your business: A Christian reflection on stewardship and business. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion 4(1), 99-122.

Joireman, J.A., Kamdar, D., Daniels, D. & Duell, B. (2006). Good citizens to the end? It depends: Empathy and concern with future consequences moderate the impact of a short-term time horizon on OCBs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(6), 1307-1320.

Joireman, J. A., Daniels, D., George-Falvy, J., & Kamdar, D. (2006). Organizational citizenship behaviors as a function of empathy, consideration of future consequences, and employee time horizon: An initial exploration using an in-basket simulation of OCBs. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 36(9), p. 2266-2292.

Diddams, M., Surdyk, L., Daniels, D. & Van Duzer, J. (2004). Implications of Biblical Principles of Rhythm and Rest for Organizational Practices. Christian Scholars Review, Vol. 33(3), 311-332.

Daniels, D., Franz, R, & Wong, K (2000). A classroom with a worldview: Making spiritual assumptions explicit in management education. Journal of Management Education, Vol. 24(5), 540-561.

Gist, M.E., Hopper, H., & Daniels, D. (1998). Behavioral simulation: Application and potential in management research. Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 1(3), 251-295.

Mitchell, T.R., Daniels, D., Hopper, H., & George-Falvy, J., (1996). Contextual correlates of illegal behavior in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol 15(4), 439-455.

Mitchell, T.R., Hopper, H., Daniels, D., George-Falvy, J., & James, L.R., (1994). Predicting self efficacy and performance during skill acquisition. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol.
79(4), 506-517.

Honors, Awards, & Grants

Outstanding Paper Nomination, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2024 (Okuwobi, Ecklund, & Daniels)
Best Paper Award, Management, Spirituality, and Religion interest group, Academy of Management, 2022 (Brauer & Daniels)
Faith and Work: A Supplemental Study. One-year $300,000 supplemental grant received from the Lilly Endowment, 2020
Faith and Work: An Empirical Study. Four-year, $1.5 million grant received from the Lilly Endowment, 2017
Lisa Klein Surdyk Teacher of the Year Award, Seattle Pacific University’s School of Business, Government and Economics, 2015-16
Faculty Servant Award, Seattle Pacific University, 2014
Joseph C. Hope Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Seattle Pacific University, 2005-2008

Experience, Speaking, & Consulting

2019-Present Board Member, Investortools, Yorkville, IL
Investortools is a 35-year-old FinTech company providing investment system solutions for financial institutions.

2018-Present Board Member, Theology of Work Project, Boston, MA
TOW is a nonprofit organization that creates theologically rigorous and practical resources that connects the Bible with the lived experience of work in every sphere of society. It has developed the online Theology of Work Bible Commentary, and other print and media materials related to work.

2015-2019 Board Member & Board Treasurer, Taproot Theatre Company, Seattle, WA
Taproot is a non-profit community theatre with a 40+ year history and a $2.5 million annual budget.

2000-present Leadership Development, Seattle, WA
Provide executive coaching and development workshops on a variety of organizational topics including leadership, motivation, decision making, team building, meaningful work, workforce management, women in leadership, and managing diversity.

1995-2000 Management Consultant, Denise Daniels and Associates, Seattle, WA
Provided expertise in the areas of survey planning, research and analysis. Special project analyses including a comparison of customer satisfaction and employee survey results, as well as performance appraisal and exit survey data.

1993-1994 Executive and Management Development Group, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Designed the 1994 Microsoft employee survey. Helped plan the administration and follow-up strategies for the survey. Developed follow-up materials including a managerial feedback and action-planning guide.

Select Speaking Engagements

Upper House, Madison, WI (2023)
Kern Family Foundation, Milwaukee, WI (2023)
Center for Public Justice, Washington, DC (2023)
Christian Labor Association of Canada, British Columbia, Canada (2023)
Christ Community Church, St. Charles, IL (2023)
Center for Faith and Work Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (2022)
American Enterprise Institute’s Entrepreneurship Honors Weekend, Chicago, IL (2021)
Chapel Speaker, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL (2021)
Women Work and Calling, Denver Institute for Faith and Work, Denver, CO (2021)
School of Theology, Culture, and Public Engagement, Sydney Australia (2021)