Cristina Gibson studies how culture, organizational structures, policies, and technology are influences on collective cognitive processes such as information exchange. Her research has informed global practice, providing guidance regarding the motivational processes that must be managed in order to successfully implement teams internationally.  More specifically, results shed light on the appropriate leadership and human resource practices needed in order to maximize the quality of the work experience, the effectiveness of  teams, and the competitiveness of multinational firms.

Professor Gibson is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing her research, including three major multi-year grants from the National Science Foundation. She has recently received a grant to research how film makers connect workers on several continents to create innovative  and impactful films under complex, dynamic environmental conditions.

She is co-editor of Virtual Teams That Work: Creating the Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness and co-author of the book Multinational Teams: A New Perspective. She has published numerous articles in leading journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, Advances in International Comparative Management, Journal of Managerial Issues, and Group and Organization Management.

She is a member of the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, and Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology. 

Cristina is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing her research, including three major multi-year grants from the National Science Foundation, as well as grants from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation for International Research, the Carnegie Bosch Institute for Applied International Management, and the Center for Innovation and Management Studies. 

Cristina recently received the UC Irvine Pedagogical Innovation Award, recognizing the most unique and innovative curriculum development effort on campus in 2008 for her design of the course, “Global Team Collaboration” which has students collaborating in multinational teams via technology with students from nine different universities to produce a real training program.