Do you criticize or celebrate your colleagues? It may depend on your social position

Online technology has made real-time performance feedback a workplace reality. But a pair of Mason professors have found out about a major bias in the system.

An age gap in the C-suite makes companies more innovative

A Mason professor finds yet another example of the value of diversity in senior management teams.

What’s worse than a ‘toxic’ workplace? One that gaslights employees

When it comes to relationships between co-workers, organizations’ stated priorities must match what’s happening under the hood.

Mason professor helps accounting research catch up with a fast-changing economy

The economic balance is shifting toward private equity. But accounting scholars are still working from an outdated playbook.

Avoiding the “nothingburger” effect in GovCon M&A

When government contractors merge, comparing their customers can predict a lot about how investors will respond to the deal.

Research Highlights

The Costello College of Business at George Mason University is an acknowledged center for global business research.

Faculty take a multidisciplinary approach, with the goal of ensuring that business can be a force for the greater good.

Faculty publish in leading business journals on wide-ranging global business issues, are cited by the press, and are actively engaged in making discoveries to address a wide set of societal and institutional challenges.

 

Impactful Scholarship

Three pillars define the real-world impact of Costello College of Business thought leadership:

Ensuring Global Futures

Safeguarding our planet and societies from the crises identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recent highlights include:

Digital Transformation of Work

Preparing global organizations and professionals for the massive technological changes that are reshaping business. 

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Fostering the creative problem-solving skills needed for success in an increasingly unpredictable world. 

 

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55,000
Together, the top ten most-cited Costello College of Business scholars have more than 55,000 research citations.
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#81
The Costello College of Business' spot in the UT-Dallas North American Business School Research Rankings.
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17
17 Costello College of Business professors currently hold editorial positions at academic journals.
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20
In 2022-2023, Costello College of Business faculty published 20 papers in premier journals.

Costello College of Business Faculty Research

  • October 8, 2024
    Not only are retailers failing to retain and redirect business from shuttered physical locations, but their performance elsewhere also suffers as a result.
  • October 1, 2024
    Not all organizations measure success in dollars and cents. There are also the purists, whose unswerving integrity may deliver outsized market benefits—if they aren’t fatally misunderstood first.
  • September 19, 2024
    Post-Covid complaints about “Zoom fatigue,” work-life imbalance, etc. belie a deeper longing for what was lost in the transition to remote work.
  • September 4, 2024
    Thanking someone in advance for something you’re asking them to do increases their motivation and commitment to the task. This savvy managerial technique also raises some tricky ethical questions.
  • August 27, 2024
    With the right operational strategy, transitioning from selling products to delivering services can be the right move for profits, people and the planet. Ioannis Bellos, associate professor of information systems and operations management (OM)  and MBA Program Director at the Donald G. Costello College of Business, and Hang Ren, associate professor of OM at Costello, have published research exploring how servicization can live up to its massive potential. 
  • August 22, 2024
    Artificial intelligence can perform peer firm selection—a key task for investors—at least as accurately as well-established alternative algorithms and human experts, according to research by Costello profs Long Chen and Yi Cao.
  • August 16, 2024
    Fake trades engineered to juice an exchange’s numbers have been a part of bitcoin exchanges since the beginning, finds a George Mason finance prof.
  • August 8, 2024
    In churchgoing counties, financial advisors are more likely to remember their ethical training and resist the temptation to misbehave.
  • August 6, 2024
    The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.
  • July 22, 2024
    You can tell a lot about a hedge fund’s quality—and long-term performance—from the market climate in which it was launched. Lin Sun, assistant professor of finance, recently published a paper in Review of Finance that compares hedge funds formed in high-demand, or “hot,” markets to those produced in a “cold” market climate.
  • July 16, 2024
    If you’re nervous about negotiating a starting salary, that’s because your mind is playing not one, but two tricks on you. A George Mason management prof explains how to undo the mental spell.
  • June 17, 2024
    George Mason senior associate dean and associate professor of accounting, JK Aier's prizewinning paper shows how firms can benefit from executive roles that strategically bridge the board and management.

Faculty Teaching, Research, and Engagement Awards