Alexander (Alex) T. Jackson earned his B.S. in Psychology from Oklahoma State University in 2010, his M.A. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from The University of Tulsa in 2012, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from Kansas State University in 2016. He joined MTSU in the Fall 2016. Dr. Jackson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Middle Tennessee State University.

His research focuses on three areas. 

Occupational Health Psychology and Employee Well-Being:
In this line of research, Dr. Jackson focuses on understanding the variables that impede and identifying ways for improving employee health and well-being. Recent projects have examined employee eating behaviors, exercise, recovery experiences, stress, burnout, mindfulness, and positive indicators of well-being.

Understanding and Improving Employee Decision Making:
In this line of research, the aim is to identify ways to improve decision making, especially at work. This includes examining decision processes in hiring (e.g., algorithm aversion, job hopping bias, attractiveness bias), predictors of employee ethical decision making, and escalation of commitment. 

The Impact of Dark Personality Traits on Decision-Making Processes:
This line of research explores how maladaptive personality traits, such as narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism (the dark tetrad), influence one’s decision-making processes and behaviors.

Dr. Jackson also serves as the Associate Director and as a Senior Consultant for the Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness (COHRE) at MTSU. His consulting work includes providing promotion assessments in law enforcement, workshops on leadership development and psychosocial safety, statistical analyses for organizations, organization wide employee surveys, test development and validation. 

Dr. Jackson is also an avid triathlete and a member of the Working Triathlete team based in Nashville, TN. He has competed in Sprint, Olympic, and Ironman 70.3 distance events at both the local and national level. 

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Stickle, B. F., & Jackson, A. T. (2026). Porch Pirates’ Perceptions of Opportunity: How Offenders Weigh Guardianship Cues, Neighborhood Cues, and Target Attractiveness. Crime Science, 15(23). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-026-00289-7

Jackson, A. T., Mazzola, J. J., & Loveless, J. P. (2025). The impact of barriers and facilitators to healthy decision making at work on stress and performance: A daily diary study. Occupational Health Science, 9(2), 383-406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-025-00220-7

Krome, L. R., Jackson, A. T., & Miller, K. (2024). Linking in with recruiters: How does LinkedIn profile information impact ratings of potential applicants? Journal of Organizational Psychology, 24(4), 75-86. https://doi.org/10.33423/jop.v24i4

Meggison, A. C., Jackson, A. T., & Hein, M. B. (2024). Perceptions of ethical misconduct scale development. Ethics & Behavior, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2024.2306125

Reichin, S. L., Jackson, A. T., Frame, M. C., & Hein, M. (2022). Exploring the feasibility of assessing cultural competence in police officers. Personnel Assessments and Decisions. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2022.02.003

Reichin, S. L., Frame, M. C., Jackson, A. T., & Hein, M. (2022). Promotional score changes across three test administrations: Preliminary evidence for construct relevant change. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-022-09503-z.

Avila, J., Rapp, R., Dunbar, S., & Jackson, A. T. (2021). Burnout and worklife in disaster restoration: Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey. Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, 147(2), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001986.

Howes, S. S., Kausel, E. E., Jackson, A. T., & Reb, J. (2020). When and why narcissists exhibit greater hindsight bias and less perceived learning. Journal of Management, 46(8), 1498-1528. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320929421 

Thiele, A., Jackson, A. T., Stremic, S. M., & Howes, S. S. (2020). Does feedback increase decision aid use among hiring professionals? Personnel Assessment and Decisions, 6(2), 20-30. https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2020.02.004

Jackson, A. T., Young, M. E., Howes, S. S., & Knight, P. A., Reichin, S. L. (2019). Examining factors influencing use of a decision aid in personnel selection. Personnel Assessment and Decisions, 5(1), 1-36. https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2019.01.001

Mazzola, J. J. & Jackson, A. T., & Thiele, A. (2019). Obesity in the workplace: A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to healthy lifestyles. Occupational Health Science, 3, (239-264). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-019-00046-0.

Jackson, A. T., Howes, S. S., Kausel, E., Young, M. E., Loftis, M. E. (2018). The reciprocal relationships between escalation, anger, and confidence in investment decisions over time. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(1136), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01136.

Jackson, A. T. & Frame, M. C. (2018). Stress, health, and performance: What do we know? Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, e12147. https://doi.org/10.1111/jabr.12147.

Jackson, A. T., Simmons, M. J., Brummel, B. J., & Entringer, A. (2016). Appropriate training should turn ethical reasoning into ethical practice. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 13, 373-392. https://doi.org/10.5840/jbee20161317.

Kausel, E. E., Culbertson, S. S., Leiva, P. I., Slaughter, J. E., & Jackson, A. T. (2015). Too arrogant for their own good? Why and when narcissists dismiss advice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 131, 33-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.07.006. 

Jackson, A. T., Parker, K. N., & Waples, C. J. (2014). Don’t forget about us! Students’ perspectives. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 7, 33-36. https://doi.org/10.1111/iops.12100. 

Jackson, A. T., Brummel, B. J., Pollet, C. L., & Greer, D. D. (2013). An evaluation of interactive tabletops in elementary mathematics education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 61(2), 311-332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-013-9287-4. 

Jackson, A. T., Madewell, A. N., & Kennison, S. M. (2011). The relationship between body image and job satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 11(2), 56-69. 

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