The Fox School’s top Knowledge Hub posts of 2022 

For researchers, the phrase ‘knowledge is power’ takes on a whole new meaning. Having and sharing knowledge to empower students, faculty and industry is a cornerstone of the Fox School’s mission. As part of that work, the Knowledge Hub, a compendium of the school’s latest research innovation, was launched.  

Since its inception, the Knowledge Hub has been consistently providing the Fox community with information on the latest developments and breakthroughs in business strategy, accounting, policy and leadership. Check out the 10 most popular posts from 2022 below: 

1. The Role of Purpose in Driving Employee Motivation  

Bucky Fairfax, DBA ’21, in collaboration with TL Hill, set out to discover what was missing from the extant labor market research on employee motivation. They found that individuals seek out employers whose organizational values align with their own individual purpose. Talent acquisition teams can use this information to better understand how employee purpose fit can help guide their recruiting practices. 

2. Salary vs. Purpose: What do Employees Want?  

In this follow-up piece, Fairfax and Hill ask a select group of workers to rank four factors in order of importance when searching for employment: opportunities for growth, relationship with co-workers, purpose fit and salary. Somewhat surprisingly, purpose fit ranked second, behind only opportunities for growth, even amongst job seekers who were financially unstable. This evidence suggests that many individuals are willing to forfeit financial security for a position in a company whose mission statement aligns with their own personal values.  

3. Assessing Mergers and Acquisition Success  

In order to determine why companies still make thousands of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) when most are expected to fail, and the difference between academic forecasting and practice, Daniel Haws, DBA ’22, recognizes the limitations of the means scholars use to measure M&A transactions. He finds that most firms use their own metrics of M&A achievement, which should encourage academics to look beyond traditional measures and examine firms’ specific strategic goals when attempting to measure success.   

4. Tattoo Recognition Technology: Helping or Hurting the Community? 

Tattoo recognition technology (TRT) helps law enforcement officials identify perpetrators by saving images of their body art in a database. While this technology has proved effective, it’s not without its faults. Samuel Hodge examines the ways in which TRT disproportionately affects the Black community by falsely implicating individuals with similar body art as criminals.   

5. What Happens When Auditors are Sued? 

While states differ in policy on who can sue an auditor, Barbara Su and her coauthors have found that in places where auditors face a higher risk of litigation, client satisfaction is greater, as auditors in these areas are more careful to produce quality financial reporting for fear of legal ramifications.   

6. Should Your Company Consider Creating a Finance Committee? 

Sudipta Basu and PhD student Eunju Ivy Lee analyzed over 20,000 firms in order to determine the differences between firms with finance committees and those without. They conclude that while finance committees don’t guarantee success, they do prove beneficial in certain circumstances, such as when firms have small audit committees or fully independent finance committees. 

7. The Limits of #MeToo Bots in the Workplace  

In an effort to combat workplace harassment, some companies in the U.S. and Europe have taken to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor digital communication among employees. However, Leora Eisenstadt has found that this technology has proven to be flawed in several ways. The most significant may be that because victims of harassment and discrimination must come forward themselves to complain, an AI reporting system robs employees of full legal protection under Title VII.  

8. The Impact of Ride-Hailing Services on Real Estate Prices in Urban Districts 

Accessibility and proximity to public transportation have long since impacted property value, as commuters seek out housing near public transit. However, with the rise of ride-sharing services such as Lyft and Uber, commuters are no longer beholden to the rigid schedules of mass transit and can instead dictate the marketplace based on their own schedules, thus affecting adjacent property value. In his research dissertation, Amit Serusi,  DBA ’22, studies this change to help alert city planners and real estate developers of the rapidly changing landscape.  

9. Less than Half of Eligible Firms Accepted COVID-19 Relief Loans  

Under the Payment Protection Program (PPP) public firms were able to receive government loans; however, Sam Rosen found that many chose not except, for fear that receiving financial assistance would send the public a message of distress or uncertainty, resulting in reputational damage from which they may not recover.  

10. Overcoming the Information Gap in Syndicated Loans  

Lead arrangers of syndicated loans-or loans offered by more than one bank-often have more information about the borrower than they disclose to their partner lenders, causing friction among the participants. Wei Wang and his coauthors have found value in researching the information provided by equity analysts, which fills in the information gaps. Providing lenders with access to this information improved borrowers’ financing outcomes.  

For more of the latest research insights, visit the Fox School’s Knowledge Hub, which has more than 200 article summaries, news stories, podcasts and more about research relevant to real life.