Graziadio Faculty Research

Abstracts of selected published, peer-reviewed journal articles.

APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

Darren Good: “Contemplating mindfulness: An integrative review,” Journal of Management

Mindfulness research activity is surging within organizational science. Emerging evidence across multiple fields suggests that mindfulness is fundamentally connected to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge base has not been systematically integrated to date. This review coalesces the burgeoning body of mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide mainstream management research investigating a broad range of constructs. The framework identifies how mindfulness influences attention, with downstream effects on functional domains of cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. Ultimately, these domains impact key workplace outcomes, including performance, relationships, and well-being. Consideration of the evidence on mindfulness at work stimulates important questions and challenges key assumptions within management science, generating an agenda for future research.

Good, D. J., Lyddy, C., Theresa, G., Joyce, B., Brown, K. W., Michelle, D., Ruth, B., Brewer, J., Sara, L. (2015). Contemplating mindfulness: An integrative review. Journal of Management.

Darren Good: “Being while doing: An inductive model of mindfulness at work,” Frontiers In Psychology

Mindfulness at work has drawn growing interest as empirical evidence increasingly supports its positive workplace impacts. Yet theory also suggests that mindfulness is a cognitive mode of ‘Being’ that may be incompatible with the cognitive mode of ‘Doing’ that undergirds workplace functioning. Therefore, mindfulness at work has been theorized as ‘being while doing,’ but little is known regarding how people experience these two modes in combination, nor the influences or outcomes of this interaction. Drawing on a sample of 39 semi-structured interviews, this study explores how professionals experience being mindful at work. The relationship between Being and Doing modes demonstrated changing compatibility across individuals and experience, with two basic types of experiences and three types of transitions. We labeled experiences when informants were unable to activate Being mode while engaging Doing mode as Entanglement, and those when informants reported simultaneous co- activation of Being and Doing modes as Disentanglement. This combination was a valuable resource for offsetting important limitations of the typical reliance on the Doing cognitive mode. Overall our results have yielded an inductive model of mindfulness at work, with the core experience, outcomes, and antecedent factors unified into one system that may inform future research and practice.

Lyddy, C. J., & Good, D. J. (2017). Being while doing: An inductive model of mindfulness at work. Frontiers In Psychology, 7

Darren Good: “Predicting Real-Time Adaptive Performance in a Dynamic Decision-Making Context,” Journal of Management and Organization.

Individuals in organizations must frequently enact a series of ongoing decisions in real-time dynamic contexts. Despite the increasing need for individuals to manage dynamic decision-making demands, we still understand little about individual differences impacting performance in these environments. This paper proposes a new construct applicable to adaptation in such real-time dynamic environments. Cognitive agility is a formative construct measuring the individual capacity to exhibit cognitive flexibility, cognitive openness and focused attention. This study predicts that cognitive agility will impact adaptive performance in a real-time dynamic decision-making microworld computer game called the Networked Fire Chief; a simulation developed to study and train Australian fire fighters. Cognitive agility, operationalized through three distinct methods (performance measures, self-reports and external-rater reports), explained unique variance beyond measures of general intelligence on the total score of adaptive performance in the microworld.

Good, D. (2014). Predicting Real-Time Adaptive Performance in a Dynamic Decision-Making Context. Journal Of Management And Organization, 20(6), 715-732.

Zhike Lei: “Team Adaptiveness in Dynamic Contexts,” Group & Organization Management.

Previous research asserts that teams working in routine situations pass through performance episodes characterized by action and transition phases, while other evidence suggests that certain team behaviors significantly influence team effectiveness during nonroutine situations. We integrate these two areas of research—one focusing on the temporal nature of team episodic performance and the other on interaction patterns and planning in teams—to more fully understand how teams working in dynamic settings successfully transition across routine and nonroutine situations. Using behavioral data collected from airline flight crews working in a flight simulator, we find that different interaction pattern characteristics are related to team performance in routine and nonroutine situations, and that teams engage in more contingency, in-process planning behavior during routine versus nonroutine situations. Moreover, we find that the relationship between this in-process planning and subsequent team adaptiveness is curvilinear (inverted U-shaped). That is, team contingency or in-process planning activity may initially increase team adaptiveness, but too much planning has adverse effects on subsequent performance.

Lei, Z., Waller, M. J., Hagen, J., & Kaplan, S. (2016). Team Adaptiveness in Dynamic Contexts. Group & Organization Management, 41(4), 491-525.

Zhike Lei: “Understanding Positivity Within Dynamic Team Interactions,” Group & Organization Management.

Positivity has been heralded for its individual benefits. However, how positivity dynamically unfolds within the temporal flow of team interactions remains unclear. This is an important oversight, as positivity can be key to team problem solving and performance. In this study, we examine how team micro-processes affect the likelihood of positivity occurring within dynamic team interactions. In doing so, we build on and expand previous work on individual positivity and integrate theory on temporal team processes, interaction rituals, and team problem solving. We analyze 43,139 utterances during the meetings of 43 problem-solving teams in two organizations. First, we find that the observed overall frequency of positivity behavior in a team is positively related to managerial ratings of team performance. Second, using statistical discourse analysis, we show that solution-focused behavior and previous positivity within the team interaction process increase the likelihood of subsequent positivity expressions, whereas positivity is less likely after problem-focused behavior. Dynamic speaker switches moderate these effects, such that interaction instances involving more speakers increase the facilitating effects of solutions and earlier positivity for subsequent positivity within team interactions. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of micro-level team positivity and its performance benefits.

Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Chiu, M. M., Lei, Z., & Kauffeld, S. (2017). Understanding Positivity Within Dynamic Team Interactions. Group & Organization Management, 42(1), 39-78.

Jaclyn Margolis: “Vertical flow of collectivistic leadership: An examination of the cascade of visionary leadership across levels,” Leadership Quarterly,

This study explores the connection between formal leaders and collective leadership in teams through the examination of how collective strategic vision flows downward in organizations and the function that formal leaders play in the resulting cascade of collective leadership. Building from a sensemaking framework, we propose that a supervisor’s perceptions of the collective navigator role (the establishing and enacting of strategic vision among members of a team) in their immediate supervisor-level work group ultimately links to the collective leadership navigator role in the lower-level team he or she leads thereby illustrating the vertical flow of collective leadership across organizational levels. To understand how this cascading process operates, we propose that two key characteristics of supervisors, their job satisfaction and empowering leadership behaviors, mediate the linkage between collective strategic visions at these different levels. We find support for this connection in our study of teams within a large manufacturing company.

Margolis, J. A., & Ziegert, J. C. (2016). Vertical flow of collectivistic leadership: An examination of the cascade of visionary leadership across levels. Leadership Quarterly, 27(2), 334-348

DECISION SCIENCES

James DiLellio: “Optimal Strategies for Traditional versus Roth IRA/401(k) Consumption During Retirement,” Decision Sciences.

We establish an algorithm that produces an optimal strategy for retirees to withdraw funds between their tax-deferred accounts (TDAs), like traditional IRA/401(k) accounts, and their Roth IRA/401(k) accounts, in the context of a financial model based on American tax law. This optimal strategy follows a geometrically simple, intuitive approach that can be used to maximize the size of a retiree’s bequest to an heir or, alternatively, to maximize a retiree’s portfolio longevity. We give examples where retirees following the approach currently implemented by major investment firms, like Fidelity and Vanguard, will reduce their bequests by approximately 10% or lose 18 months of portfolio longevity compared to our optimal approach. Further, our strategy and algorithm can be extended to many cases where the retiree has additional, known yearly sources of money, such as income from part-time work, taxable investment accounts, and Social Security.

DiLellio, J. A. and Ostrov, D. N. (2017), Optimal Strategies for Traditional versus Roth IRA/401(k) Consumption During Retirement. Decision Sciences, 48: 356–384.

ECONOMICS

Michael Olabisi: “The Impact of Exporting and Foreign Direct Investment on Product Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturers,” Contemporary Economic Policy

To understand the drivers of product innovation at the firm level, I compare the effects of foreign direct investment ( FDI) and exporting on product innovation using a rich firm-level database of manufacturing and industrial enterprises. The article focuses on product innovation, as it is vital to economic development. Estimates from linear regressions and propensity score matching tests show that learning-by-exporting is a stronger predictor of product innovation. Firms that receive foreign investment also tend to engage in more product innovation, but not at the same level as the firms that export. Additional tests confirm that as they start and stop exporting, firms change their patterns of investment in the drivers of product innovation-fixed capital and research.

Olabisi, M. (2017). The Impact of Exporting and Foreign Direct Investment on Product Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturers. Contemporary Economic Policy, 35(4), 735-750.

FINANCE

Agus Harjoto: “Legal vs. Normative CSR: Differential Impact on Analyst Dispersion, Stock Return Volatility, Cost of Capital, and Firm Value,” Journal of Business Ethics

This study examines how the sell-side analysts interpret firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Specifically, we examine the differential impact of overall, legal, and normative CSR on the analysts’ earnings forecast dispersion, stock return volatility, cost of equity capital, and firm value. Employing a sample of U.S. public firms during 1993–2009, we find that overall CSR intensities reduce analyst dispersion of earnings forecast, volatility of stock return and cost of capital (COC), and increase firm value. However, its impact is reduced for firms with better accounting and disclosure quality. When we disaggregate CSR into legal and normative CSR, we find that legal (normative) CSR decreases (increases) analysts’ dispersion, stock return volatility, and COC, while legal (normative) CSR increases (decreases) firm value. The sell-side analysts tend to have less (greater) information asymmetry regarding the net benefits of pursuing CSR that is (not) required by laws. We find, however, that the benefit of having normative CSR realized in 1 year lag such that analyst dispersion, stock return volatility, COC decrease, respectively, and firm value increases. Furthermore, we find that the benefit of normative CSR is offset for firms with higher accounting and disclosure quality.

Harjoto, M. A. (2015). Legal vs. Normative CSR: Differential Impact on Analyst Dispersion, Stock Return Volatility, Cost of Capital, and Firm Value. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(1 (March 2015)), 1-20 (Lead article).

Agus Harjoto, Robert Lee: “Board Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Journal of Business Ethics

This study examines the impact of board diversity on firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Using seven different measures of board diversity across 1,489 U.S. firms from 1999 to 2011, the study finds that board diversity is positively associated with CSR performance. Board diversity is associated with a greater number of areas in which CSR is strong and a fewer number of areas in which CSR is a concern. These findings support the stakeholder theory and are consistent with the view that board diversity enhances firms’ ability to satisfy the needs of their broader groups of stakeholders. We find that gender, tenure, and expertise diversity seems to be the driving factors of firms’ CSR activities. Furthermore, we find that board diversity significantly increases CSR performance by increasing CSR strengths and reducing CSR concerns for firms producing consumer oriented products and firms operating in more competitive industries. Our results remain robust using different measures of CSR performance, different estimation methods, and different samples.

Harjoto, M. A., Lee, R. H. (2014). Board Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics.

Dongshin Kim: “NAV Premiums & REIT Property Transactions”

This study explores the outcome for REIT investment in response to NAV premiums considering (i) the volume of acquisition activity, and (ii) relative prices paid for individual assets. Regarding the first, we provide evidence that REIT managers increase real estate investment following positive changes in NAV premiums. Regarding the second, we use a large sample of transactions for retail, office, and multifamily property and find that REITs appear to pay significantly higher prices relative to other investors. Transaction prices paid by REIT managers for all three property types are positively and significantly affected by market‐wide NAV premiums.

Kim, D. & Wiley, J. A. (22 March 2018). “NAV Premiums & REIT Property Transactions.” Real Estate Economics. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12239  [Accepted, unedited articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of record will appear in the future.]

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Nelson Granados: “Demand and Revenue Impacts of an Opaque Channel: Evidence from the Airline Industry,” Production and Operations Management

Over time, opaque intermediaries, such as Hotwire and Priceline.com, have become an established distribution channel for the travel industry. We use a market response model and a dataset of economy class reservations from a major international airline to empirically examine the demand and cannibalization effects of the opaque channel. We find that: (1) the impact of the opaque channel on total demand is positive and significant in markets with high levels of competition; and (2) overall, the opaque channel cannibalizes the online transparent channel, but not the offline channel nor the full-fare segment. However, we find that cannibalization of the offline channel moderately increases as markets become more concentrated. These results together suggest that airlines can benefit from opaque offerings mainly in markets with high levels of competition. Further, we develop a methodology to assess the revenue impacts of the opaque channel and show how it can be used by managers to develop and implement pricing tactics to increase demand and decrease cannibalization.

Granados, N., Han, K., & Zhang, D. (2017). Demand and Revenue Impacts of an Opaque Channel: Evidence from the Airline Industry. Production and Operations Management, online.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Doreen E. Shanahan, Margaret E. Phillips, Nancy Ellen Dodd: “Skateistan,” Case Research Journal

Skateboarding is a popular recreational and competitive sport in many countries in the world. However, skateboarding was relatively unknown in Afghanistan when Oliver Percovich arrived. An avid skateboarder, “Ollie” soon found that the children on the streets of Kabul were not satisfied with just watching him as in other countries, these children wanted to participate. When a few brave girls began to skateboard, he realized he might have found a loophole into the forbidden world of sports for girls. Using skateboarding as the hook to reach street children and provide opportunities for girls, he developed Skateistan as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the mission to use skateboarding as a tool to empower youth to create new opportunities and the potential for change. With the success of Skateistan in Kabul, the program expanded to Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and was entering Johannesburg, South Africa. After a strong start in Afghanistan and Cambodia, the founder contemplated—had Skateistan tapped into something universal or was their success simply serendipitous? Ollie sought to: 1) discern the universal lessons from his Skateistan experiences in Afghanistan that could be applied elsewhere; 2) identify the opportunities and challenges that were unique to the Afghan culture; and 3) leverage that knowledge to cultivate a Skateistan social brand that would symbolize the organization’s core values of “quality, ownership, creativity, trust, respect, and equality.”

Shanahan, D., Phillips, M., Rossy, G., Dodd, N., Scott, A. (2017). Skateistan. Case Research Journal, Vol. 32, 1.

MARKETING

Dave McMahon: “Customer Loyalty Program Management,” Cornell Hospitality Quarterly

Loyalty programs have proliferated throughout the hospitality industry, often with little evidence that these programs create behavioral or attitudinal loyalty to the firm that offers the program. Conversations with hotel managers revealed that customers have come to expect some type of reward in exchange for their patronage. Managers are often required to modify aspects of their reward programs to remain both profitable and competitive. Theoretical arguments suggest that consumers become used to a particular type of reward and may respond negatively to any changes in the reward structure. In this brief report, we explore the impact that program changes might have on consumer patronage. Drawing from a larger hospitality survey, 522 consumers completed an online survey indicating their degree of brand loyalty toward a particular hotel chain. We then assessed responses to various potential changes in their program. Results indicated that program changes including increasing reward tier requirements or even discontinuing the program are likely to increase consumer defection from the firm. The implications of these findings for reward program management are considered.

McCall, M., & McMahon, D. (2016). Customer Loyalty Program Management. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 57(1), 111-115.

STRATEGY

Mark Tribbitt: “A competitive dynamics perspective on firms’ product strategy,” Journal Of Business Research

We build on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework of competitive dynamics research to examine how a signal of a rival’s innovation, in the form of research and development (R&D) intensity, may influence a focal firm’s product actions. We argue that a rival’s R&D intensity increases a focal firm’s awareness of a competitive threat and thus its motivation to react by increasing its product actions. However, this competitive impact is conditional on the focal firm’s size and performance relative to the rival, as well as the strategic homogeneity of the two. We use the AMC framework to analyze such moderating effects.

Chen, T., Tribbitt, M. A., Yang, Y., & Li, X. (2017). Does rivals’ innovation matter? A competitive dynamics perspective on firms’ product strategy. Journal Of Business Research, 761-7.