Professors

Anand VAN ZELDEREN

Assistant Professor

Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Morality, Ownership, Emotions, Simulations

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Anand VAN ZELDEREN

Academy

Transformation

Research center

SKEMA Centre for Artificial Intelligence

Location

Paris

Discipline

Management & Organization

Anand van Zelderen is an Assistant Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Business at SKEMA Business School. His research examines the socio-emotional costs that surface when employees become overly dependent on generative AI agents for creative, sensitive, and interpersonal tasks. A pioneer in experimental management research, he is among the first to develop simulated field studies, an approach that integrates AI and Virtual Reality to create lifelike organizational simulations that capture real behaviors while preserving experimental control. To democratize access to these tools, he founded the Openverse Open Science Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration of more than 70 scholars around the world. Through his research and education, Anand aims to shape a human-centric future of work where emerging technologies are integrated ethically, inclusively, and sustainably into organizations and society.

Education
2022
PHD, Business Economics, KU Leuven, Belgium
Experience
Full-time academic positions
Since 2025
Assistant Professor, SKEMA Business School, France
Other professional experiences
2022 - 2025
Post Doctoral Researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Research grants, Awards and Honors
Awards and Honors
2026
Best Paper Award in OB Academy of Management 2026, United States of America
2025
Best Paper Award in OB Academy of Management 2025, Denmark
2025
Best Reviewer Award in OB Academy of Management 2025, Denmark
2023
Best Reviewer Award in OB Academy of Management 2023, United States of America
2022
Best Paper Award in CAR Academy of Management 2022, United States of America
Other research activities
Other academic activities
2025
CARMA Webcast Lecture Series 2025-2026: Virtual Reality Tools for Organizational Research

Peer-reviewed journal articles

VAN ZELDEREN, A., MASTERS-WAAGE, T., AFFINITO, S., BEKBERGENOVA, A., COWEN, K., JOLINK, A. and HUBBARD, T. (2026). Creating common virtual ground: Protocols to democratize open VR research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123(26), pp. e2524991123.
WU, S., THAPA, D., STENDAL, K. and VAN ZELDEREN, A. (2026). Rethinking presence in XR workspaces: An empirical investigation from an affordance-presence perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 88, pp. 103044.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., DRIES, N. and MARESCAUX, E. (2026). Talents Under Threat: The Anticipation of Being Ostracized by Non-Talents Drives Talent Turnover. Group and Organization Management, 51(1), pp. 138-177.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., WU, S., KOSZO, G. and MENGES, J.I. (2025). When AI gets Personal: Employee emotional responses to anthropomorphic AI agents in a virtual workspace. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 5, pp. 100189.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., MASTERS-WAAGE, T.C., DRIES, N., MENGES, J.I. and SANCHEZ, D.R. (2025). Simulating Virtual Organizations for Research: A Comparative Empirical Evaluation of Text-Based, Video, and Virtual Reality Video Vignettes. Organizational Research Methods, 28(3), pp. 457-486.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., DRIES, N. and MARESCAUX, E. (2025). The Paradox of Inclusion in Elite Workforce Differentiation Practices: Harnessing the Genius Effect. Journal of Management Studies, 62(4), pp. 1410-1449.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., DRIES, N. and MENGES, J. (2024). The curse of employee privilege: harnessing virtual reality technology to inhibit workplace envy. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 5.
SANCHEZ, D.R., VAN ZELDEREN, A., KAWASAKI, K. and TRINH, B. (2023). VR Technology in Organizational Management: Natural Disaster or Perfect Storm. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 61(3).
VAN ZELDEREN, A., DRIES, N. and MARESCAUX, E. (2023). The war for talent: Hoe je de top 2 procent van je werknemers kan bevoordelen en toch iedereen tevreden houdt. Tijdschrift voor HRM, 26(2), pp. 1-20.
SANCHEZ, D.R., WEINER, E. and VAN ZELDEREN, A. (2022). Virtual reality assessments (VRAs): Exploring the reliability and validity of evaluations in VR. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 30(1), pp. 103-125.

Conference proceedings

CUBER, I., ALAKMEH, T., HAUSFELD, M., VAN ZELDEREN, A., JENNY, M., MENGES, J. and FRITZ, T. (2026). Human-Like and Male? How AI Assistant Design Relates to Trust and Monetary Reward atWork in VR.
REMUND, M., VAN ZELDEREN, A. and MENGES, J.I. (2026). Cold Like a Machine: Erosion of Leaders’ Empathy Through AI Automation. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2026(1).
VAN ZELDEREN, A. (2026). Simulating Virtual Organizational Actors for Research: Introducing Synthetic Field Studies. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2026(1).
JONASSEN, Z., BAHMANI, M., LAZAR, M., VUORI, N., VAN ZELDEREN, A. and JONASSEN, Z. (2026). Dark Sides of Emotions in Human-AI Collaborations. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2026(1).
JONASSEN, Z., WOOLLEY, A.W., CAPPELLARO, G., VAN ZELDEREN, A., BAHMANI, M. and LIFSHITZ-ASSAF, H. (2025). Capturing Emotions in an Era of AI: From Experiments to Ethnography. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2025(1).
VAN ZELDEREN, A., HUBBARD, T.D., EINOLA, K., ROGIERS, P., BRIKER, R., HYDE, S.J. and JONASSEN, Z. (2025). Humanizing AI: Should We Theorize About AI Assistants as Tools or Coworkers in Management Research? Academy of Management Proceedings, 2025(1).
VAN ZELDEREN, A., MAGNI, F. and MENGES, J. (2025). Crediting AI to enhance job satisfaction: AI assistants as distinct organizational performers. Academy of Management Proceedings.
VAN ZELDEREN, A., DRIES, N. and MARESCAUX, E. (2022). Talent Retention and Ostracism: Examining a Moderated Mediation Model. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2022(1).

Conference presentations

VAN ZELDEREN, A., MCGUIRE, J., REMUND, M., VAN QUAQUEBEKE, N. and MENGES, J. (2026). Leading AI-assisted performance: When winning comes at a psychological cost. Chania.