Articles Accepted in 2018
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Jabs Faculty Research Booklet (PDF)
Accounting & Finance topics
"Certified B corporations and the growth penalty"
Academy of Management Discoveries
Ed Gamble · Associate Professor of Accounting
Co-authors: Simon Parker, Peter Moroz, & Oana Branzei
Summary:
This paper investigates the impact of B Lab certification — a rapidly growing type
of thirdparty
certification for organizations with social and/or environmental missions
— on the short-term growth rates of certifying firms. To date, this kind of certification
has generally been regarded as an unalloyed good for the organizations that adopt
it; but
prior research has overlooked the possibility that it may also entail attentional
deficits
and internal organizational disruption, leading to a short-term growth slowdown. This
study reports results based on a novel, hand collected dataset of 249 mainly privately
held
North American Certified B Corporations over 2011-2014. Their results, derived from
a
difference-in-difference framework, and augmented with insights from a set of in-depth
interviews, identifies a short-term growth slowdown arising from certification, which
is
more pronounced for the smallest and youngest firms. These findings highlight the
need
for management theorists to pay greater attention to internal re-organization costs
as well
as external benefits flowing from B Lab certification; they also carry important practical
implications for organizations contemplating certification.
"Going pro-social: Extending the individual-venture nexus to the
collective level"
Journal of Business Venturing
Ed Gamble · Associate Professor of Accounting
Co-authors: Oana Branzei, Peter Moroz, Simon Parker
Summary:
The aim of this Special Issue is to demonstrate how drawing on multidisciplinary insights
from the literature on prosociality can broaden the individual-opportunity nexus to
make room for a variety of actors. Five feature articles emphasize the collective
level of
the analysis, underscoring the social distance between the entrepreneurs and the different
communities they serve. Leveraging construal level theory, we abductively derive an
organizing framework that helps us articulate how stretching or compressing social
distance can transform initial opportunities into occasions for serving the greater
good.
They identify two distinct mechanisms present in all five empirical studies that explain
how
the needs and hopes of many others may add creativity, consistency and connectivity
to
one’s venture. The researchers also connect these abductive insights with the two
editorials
that follow this introduction and nudge our collective attention towards the research
opportunities awaiting our academic community once we begin to relax the egocentric
reference point that, until recently, has defined the discipline of entrepreneurship.
"‘Bang for buck’ in microfinance: Wellbeing mentorship or business
education?"
Journal of Business Venturing Insights
Ed Gamble · Associate Professor of Accounting
Summary:
Within the microfinance literature, there is a growing interest in institutional logics.
This
paper explores ways that microfinance institutions can overcome the logic-tension
of
offering developmental programs and maintaining financial stability. First, Ed conducted
a randomized control trial in Uganda to examine the financial and non-financial outcomes
of loan recipients. Second, He used results from the field experiment, in a resource
allocation model, to optimize the goals of a lending institution. He found that wellbeing
mentorship, rather than business training, is the best ‘bang for buck’ when considering
the
interests of both the women entrepreneurs and the microfinance lending institution.
Click here to view on MSU ScholarWorks.
"Imprinting with purpose: New pro-social opportunities and B Corp certification"
Journal of Business Venturing
Ed Gamble · Associate Professor of Accounting
Co-authors: Peter Moroz, Oana Branzei, Simon Parker
Summary:
Certified B Corporations are ventures that have chosen to embrace third party voluntary
social and environmental audits conducted by an entrepreneurial non-profit enterprise
called B Lab. In this special issue, the focus is on the lifecycle of Certified B
Corporations
and its relation to the entrepreneurial journey. They highlight research at the intersection
of opportunities and prosocial certification to identify patterns and processes which
add
significant value to ongoing conversations in the field of entrepreneurship while
charting
new research pathways. They developed a framework of prosocial venturing and certification
that pinpoints several elements of likely consequence and curiosity. This offers new
insights
about the entrepreneurial process that hint at the importance of opportunity, identity
metamorphosis and sedimentation/superseding work. They thereby interpret how the
exploration of prosociality may add to conversations on how and why ventures resist
or
embrace change over time, to what effect and ultimately, how opportunities may be
reborn.
Click here to view the abstract and link to the article. View article on ScholarWorks.
"Deriving three key cash flow equations using the dynamic identity approach"
Journal of Financial Education/Financial Education Association
Frank Kerins · Associate Professor of Finance
Angela Woodland · Associate Professor of Accounting
Co-author: Greg Durham
Summary:
This study derives the Statement of Cash Flows, the Cash Flow Identity, and the Capital
Budgeting Cash Flow Equation from a dynamic version of the Balance Sheet Identity
and
tells a unique, critical story about the cash flow activity of a company or a project.
Their
derivations proceed in a straightforward, easily-understood manner that helps students
to comprehend where these equations come from and how they relate to other financial
statements. More importantly, this approach provides a basis that is more intuitive
than
a traditional debits-and-credits approach for students to understand how changes in
balance sheet and income statement accounts affect the cash flow of a firm. This approach
strengthens students’ intuition for cash flows in advanced finance and accounting
courses, and is also useful to non-finance and non-accounting students in introductory
finance courses.
"The impact of the U.S. Employment Report on exchange rates"
Journal of International Money and Finance
Lisa Yang · Assistant Professor of Finance
Co-authors: Louis H. Ederington, Wei Guan
Summary:
They explore the impact of the major statistics of U.S. Employment Report on three
foreign exchange markets: Pound/Dollar, Yen/Dollar, and Euro/Dollar exchange rates.
They found that nonfarm payroll employment figure has the greatest impact. Moreover,
the exchange rate response to the payroll employment figure is strongly conditioned
on
the uncertainty of analysts, who routinely make predictions on the Employment statistics.
The median analyst forecast from Bloomberg anticipates over 80% of the monthly
variation in the payroll figure, and the markets appear to respond to these analyst
forecasts
prior to the government release. Uncertainty of Analyst forecast tends to increase
following
large forecast errors, which indicates that when the announced figure is far from
what
analysts expected, they tend to disagree on the implications for future payroll levels.
Management & Marketing topics
"Modeling and simulation as boundary objects to facilitate interdisciplinary
research"
Systems Research and Behavioral Science
Laura Black · Professor of Management
Co-authors: Luis F. Luna-Reyes, Weijia Ran, Deborah Lines Andersen, Holly Jarman,
George P. Richardson, and David F. Andersen
Summary:
This paper describes Group Model Building (GMB) as an effective tool to bring together
teams of researchers from different disciplines in theory-building efforts. The authors
propose that the simulation models, as well as other artefacts used during the modelling
process, work as boundary objects useful to facilitate conversations among researchers
of different disciplines, uncover insights, and build consensus on causal connections
and actionable insights. In addition to providing a more robust theoretical basis
for
participatory system modelling as an approach to theory development in interdisciplinary
work, the authors describe a study using GMB that illustrates its use. The assessment
of
the case suggests that system models provide interdisciplinary teams with opportunity
to
combine the strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches to express theoretical
issues, using an analytical meta-language that permits iteratively building theory
and
testing its internal consistency. Moreover, the GMB process helps researchers navigate
the tension between achieving interdisciplinary consensus (which often involves adding
details) and building a parsimonious theory of the phenomenon under study.
"The influence of employee performance appraisal cynicism on intent to quit
and sportsmanship"
Personnel Review
Virginia Bratton · Associate Professor of Management
Co-authors: Michelle Brown, Maria Kramer
Summary:
This paper examines how employees may respond in a cynical manner to the performance
appraisal process. This paper also examines how employee responses to this process
are
related supervisor perceptions of employee sportsmanship as well as employee intentions
to seek work elsewhere. Based on matched employee and supervisor survey responses,
we found that employees most cynical when they have high levels of job resources and
difficult performance objectives. Employees with high levels of cynicism toward the
performance appraisal process indicated that they were more likely to contemplate
leaving
their organization. Further, supervisors tend to rate employees with high levels of
cynicism
as bad sports.
"Do transformational leadership and growth mindset affect the safety of
wilderness work crews?"
Journal of Leadership & Management
Scott Bryant · Professor of Management
Bill Brown · Professor of Management
Summary:
They examined the impact of transformational leadership behaviors and growth mindset
on Wilderness Conservation Corp (WCC) work crew safety. They surveyed the crew
leaders and members on transformational leadership and growth mindset and WCC
provided safety data for each crew. They found that older crew leaders had fewer safety
incidents. They also found that crew leaders who were rated higher on transformational
leadership overall had fewer safety incidents. Leaders that showed individual consideration
for crew members, inspired crew members and served as role models had fewer safety
incidents. They also found that higher levels of transformational leadership was associated
with lower levels of growth mindset, contrary to our prediction. Future research should
further explore the impact of leadership on safety and growth mindset.
"Political will and public will for climate-smart agriculture in Senegal:
Opportunities for agricultural transformation"
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
Amber Raile · Associate Professor of Management
Co-authors: Eric Raile, Linda Young, Adama Sarr, Samba Mbaye, Lena Wooldridge,
Dianinatou Sanogo, Lori Ann Post
Summary:
Agriculture must transform as climate change progresses. The international community
has promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as a set of solutions. Previous analyses
of
opportunities for scaling up CSA have not looked closely at building political and
social
support for policies, practices, and programs. This paper looks to fill that gap in
the case
study country of Senegal by applying the conceptual definitions, operationalizations,
and assessment targets from the political will and public will (PPW) approach to social
change. We identified opportunities to generate political will to enable an environment
for
the widespread adoption of CSA. On the public will side, we identified opportunities
to
generate and channel demand for CSA.
"Analysis and action: The political will and public will approach"
Action Research
Amber Raile · Associate Professor of Management
Co-authors: Eric Raile, Lori Ann Post
Summary:
This article serves as a guide for facilitators supporting initiatives aiming to generate
social
policy. Without political will and public will for change, initiatives are unlikely
to have the
desired impact. The PPW approach integrates thinking about political will and public
will
in a way that recognizes the importance of both to social change efforts aimed at
affecting
policy change. Building on our previous definitions of political will and public will,
we
provide facilitators looking to affect policy with a flexible framework based on the
strong
foundations of research, practice, and theory from a variety of disciplines for application
across multiple contexts. This article identifies and walks through four key tasks
consistent
with those conceptual definitions are instrumental in building political will and
public will
for targeted policy or other social change in a way that produces mutual accountability.
The PPW approach for analysis and action guides facilitators through these tasks in
order
to assess and help build, as needed, political will and public will. Our hope is that
readers
will try the approach while working to address complex problems through policy.
Click here to view the abstract and link to the article.
"Measuring efficiency of community health centers: A multi-model approach
considering quality of care and hetergeneous operating environments"
Health Care Management Science
Andreas Thorsen · Assistant Professor of Management
Co-authors: Ronald G. McGarvey, Maggie L. Thorsen, Rohith Madhi Reddy
Summary:
Over 1300 federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) in the US provide care to
vulnerable populations in different contexts, addressing diverse patient health and
socioeconomic characteristics. In this study, they use data envelopment analysis (DEA)
to measure FQHC performance, applying several techniques to account for both quality
of outputs and heterogeneity among FQHC operating environments. To mitigate the
aforementioned heterogeneities, a data science approach utilizing latent class analysis
(LCA) is conducted on a set of metrics not included in the DEA, to cluster similar
FQHCs into groups. Each DEA quality approach is applied in both an aggregated
(including all FQHCs in a single DEA model) and a partitioned case (solving a DEA
model for each latent class, such that an FQHC is compared only to its peer group).
Based
on our results, they provide general insights into the trade-offs of using these two
models
in conjunction with a clustering approach such as LCA.
Click here to view the abstract and link to the article.
"Four poems"
Association for Consumer Research / Blackstaff Basement Media
Graham Austin · Associate Professor of Marketing
Summary:
Consumer Culture Theory is a field of research that examines human consumption
behaviors in real life. This approach leads to researchers collecting data using qualitative
methods, such as participant observation (rather than by using surveys or experiments).
To help make their findings more accurately reflect the complex phenomena they study,
researchers may choose to use non-traditional means of sharing their work, such as
films,
visual art, or poetry.
"Me first, then the environment: Young Millennials as green consumers"
Young Consumers
Eric Van Steenburg · Assistant Professor of Marketing
Co-author: Iman Naderi
Summary:
This research sheds light on Millennials’ green behavior by examining four aspects:
selfless,
frugality, risk-taking, and time orientation. Younger Millennials ranging in age from
18
to 30 were asked about their personalities and then their environmental attitudes.
The
resulting answers showed that environmental behavior of young Millennials was shaped
by rational rather than emotional motives. It was self-interest rather than the feeling
of doing good that lead Millennials to act pro-environmentally. The findings suggest
that environmental regulators and lawmakers should continue their efforts to provide
economic incentives to encourage pro-environmental purchases among Millennials. In
conclusion, Millennials grasp the environmental consequences of their actions and
have
the education, motivation and social awareness to participate in the green movement.
However, they have not truly begun to fully integrate their beliefs and actions.
Click here to view the abstract and link to the article.
"International expansion of retailers: The role of technical expertise,
alliances, and allocation of resources in economic crises"
International Journal of Technology Marketing
Christine (Eunyoung) Sung · Assistant Professor of Marketing
Co-author: Tia Goebel
Summary:
Although the challenges of economic downturns for international retailers have been
well
documented in previous studies, their potential opportunities are less well understood.
Economic downturns are often viewed as threats to prosperity; however, in this paper,
they propose three propositions regarding whether or how economic downturns can
actually trigger strategic market adjustment for international expansion through technical
(technology) expertise, alliances, and resources, which enable knowledge transfer.
They
mainly consider how international retailers engage in knowledge sharing of technical
(technology) expertise as they pursue international expansion into new markets during
economic downturns. Furthermore, they consider how technical expertise, alliance
strategies, and firm resources are related to knowledge transfer as a strategic orientation.
Specifically, this article focuses on cases of international retailers during three
major
financial crises: the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997, the U.S. recession
that began
in 2008, and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis that began in late 2009.
Click here to view the abstract and link to the article.
