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 But accounting scholars are still working from an outdated playbook.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

  • December 7, 2022
    Management professor Toyah Miller recently co-edited a special issue of Global Strategy Journal exploring how changes in our world are shifting the opportunity space for start-up founders and funders. Miller is the new research director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the School of Business and an expert in the rapidly expanding field of social entrepreneurship.
  • December 1, 2022
    George Mason University’s Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) recently convened an in-person Stakeholder Roundtable on the subject of Corporate Governance. The half-day event took place at Point of View International Retreat & Research Center at Mason Neck in Lorton, VA on October 21.
  • November 29, 2022
    Mehmet Altug, an associate professor of operations management, has been researching retail returns policies for a decade. The issue has recently come to prominence, as the lenient policies of online retailers have led to skyrocketing return rates (now exceeding 20 percent in the U.S.). Altug’s various academic papers delve into the difficult trade-offs retailers face when setting returns policies. While there are no easy answers, Altug’s research identifies factors that can help retailers achieve more strategic flexibility.
  • November 10, 2022
    On the morning of Wednesday, October 26th, George Mason University professor Suzanne C. de Janasz conducted her first-ever negotiations workshop for female high school students at McLean High School in Northern Virginia. An enthusiastic audience of about 100 young women came to hear de Janasz explain why negotiation is important for women of all ages and walks of life, and how to build negotiating skills for the future. De Janasz, an organizational researcher who holds a joint appointment in the School of Business and the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, says there is a pervasive cultural bias against women who ask for what they deserve. The negative labelling begins in childhood, with terms such as “bossy” being applied to more assertive girls.
  • November 2, 2022
    It’s 9 am. Do you know where your team members are? Before Covid, the answer was simple: They were – or were expected to be – in the office. The pandemic erased that certainty and accelerated the pace toward work-place flexibility. As we move forward in our post-covid work environment, employees are strongly indicating their preference for flexibility and self-determination regarding their working environment. A portion of the workforce will desire to stay at home with high flexibility, whereas others will return to the office by choice.
  • October 19, 2022
    For most drivers in the U.S., obeying a stop sign upon approaching an intersection is an unavoidable annoyance. But for Mason finance professor Jiasun Li, it’s a problem waiting to be solved. His recent working paper proposes a simple and economical improvement: removing one stop sign from every four-way intersection. According to his calculations, this would boost not only driver safety, but environmental sustainability as well. 
  • October 12, 2022
    Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the business leadership agenda for more than 50 years, yet executives and corporate boards still demand to see the "business case" for CSR. Clearly, CSR’s familiarity as a concept has not translated into coherent ideas of where it fits into the cost-benefit calculations that motivate business strategy. A forthcoming article in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis by Lei Gao, associate professor of finance at George Mason University School of Business, Jie (Jack) He (of University of Georgia) and Juan (Julie) Wu (of University of Nebraska – Lincoln) goes beyond the business case to form cause-and-effect connections involving companies’ CSR efforts.
  • September 28, 2022
    As Jenelle Conaway, assistant professor of accounting at George Mason University School of Business, says, “Being able to compare companies more easily makes for more efficient investment choices. And that scales from the individual level up to banks choosing who they lend to, and companies choosing who they want to merge with and acquire.” Her recent research finds that comparability trends have grown complicated.
  • September 26, 2022
    Jingyuan Yang, an assistant professor of information systems and operations management at Mason's School of Business, is at the forefront of AI research that aims to crack the codes of the physical world. Her results so far point toward innovative solutions for some of the biggest societal, governmental, and business challenges we face. 
  • September 22, 2022
    Exceptions may prove the rule, but they must first be explained. That is why finance researchers are drawn to the distress anomaly-- a well-documented phenomenon that challenges the risk-return paradigm in equity markets. Generally, higher-risk investments are expected to yield higher returns than safer, more stable securities. In recent years, however, studies have shown that high-credit-risk securities for companies in distress – i.e. when their already-low credit rating is being downgraded -- realize abnormally low returns compared to non-distressed securities of the same or lower risk.  Academics have proposed a range of rationales for this puzzle. Alexander Philipov, finance area chair and associate professor at George Mason University, says they mainly fall into two categories. 
  • September 20, 2022
    Selling is inseparable from relationship management. In the past, the one-to-one "human touch" of a salesperson compensated for the standardized nature of their wares. However, today's sales environment tends towards customized solutions and co-creation with the client, especially in the B2B space. In many cases, these trends have greatly increased the network of stakeholders whom salespeople are obliged to keep happy. Research shows that B2B customers benefit from being more involved in the process, but what about the sales force? Does their increased interpersonal burden translate to higher risk of burnout? George Mason University School of Business Marketing Area Chair Jessica Hoppner's recently published paper in Industrial Marketing Management, co-authored by Paul Mills of Cleveland State University and David A. Griffith of Texas A&M University, finds some surprising answers.
  • September 14, 2022
    Today's workforce might best be described in terms of tumult: Great Resignation, Great Retirement, Great Reshuffle, etc. In this "new normal," managers must learn to navigate a state of continual transition in their teams and organizations, while keeping up with day-to-day demands. Likewise, George Mason University School of Business Management Professors Sarah Wittman and Kevin Rockmann believe that it is time for scholars to change the way they think about role transitions to better align their theories with our increasingly uncertain world.

Faculty Teaching, Research, and Engagement Awards