Hamidreza Harati

Dr Harati is a Lecturer in the School of Management at RMIT University. His research examines how environmental, economic, and societal conditions shape human behaviour, culture, organisations, and adaptation. In particular, he studies how individuals, groups, and societies respond to adversity and constraint—including limited resources, environmental stress, economic disruption, and broader institutional and social pressures.

A central theme of his research is that constraints do more than simply limit people's choices: they can reshape how people think, behave, organise, and plan for the future. His work therefore examines both the adaptive and adverse consequences of adversity, asking when difficult conditions foster resilience, innovation, adaptation, and competitive advantage, and when they instead generate vulnerability, inequality, or broader societal costs. Ultimately, his research seeks to understand when, how, and for whom adversity changes behaviour and social outcomes, and how individuals, organisations, and societies can better adapt to difficult conditions.

Dr Harati adopts a multi-level and multi-method approach to examine these processes across individuals, organisations, communities, and societies. His research combines behavioural and field studies with archival, cross-national, and computational approaches and spans topics including resource scarcity, sustainability, culture, institutions, resilience, and organisational behaviour.

One stream of his research examines the behavioural and cultural consequences of environmental scarcity. Notably, one of his studies demonstrates how people living with limited water availability develop adaptive behaviours rooted in long-term orientation and self-restraint. This research has implications for addressing global sustainability challenges, including climate change, and has been recognised in the media for its contribution.

More broadly, Dr Harati's research investigates how environmental pressures, resource constraints, economic shocks, institutional conditions, and social barriers influence human behaviour and societal outcomes. Rather than treating adversity as uniformly beneficial or harmful, his research examines the conditions under which adversity generates adaptation and resilience versus vulnerability and societal harm.

Dr Harati's research has been published in academic outlets including Psychological Science. His contributions to sustainability research were recognised with the 2024 Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award. He has also presented his research at major international conferences, including the Academy of Management, Association for Psychological Science, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, British Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, and the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management.

Dr Harati's research has reached a broad audience beyond academia through outlets including Chicago Booth Review, the Association for Psychological Science and its podcast, MedicalXpress, Inside Water, Mirage News, YouTube, and LinkedIn. His research also went viral on X/Twitter, attracting more than 150,000 views.

He has further contributed to public understanding of behavioural and sustainability research through podcast appearances on Under the Cortex and through journalism and research commentary published in the Observer, affiliated with the Association for Psychological Science, and Scientific American.

Before joining RMIT University, Dr Harati worked for six years as an academic at the University of Queensland, where he received the Excellence Award in Innovation in Teaching and Learning. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a Senior Management Consultant, gaining practical experience across various aspects of business and organisational dynamics.

Dr Harati earned his PhD from the University of Queensland Business School in Australia, where he received the Best PhD Thesis Pitch Award.