Research in Action

In the post-COVID talent tug-of-war, potential employers are being critically evaluated by job seekers at every stage in the hiring process. 

Job seekers’ perceptions begin to form even before they click ‘Apply.’ Advertising, word-of-mouth and overall reputation are strong influences over job seekers’ initial preferences and dispositions toward an organization. 

Throughout the recruitment process, applicants appear to use these initial inclinations as a benchmark for comparing other organizations and potential job offers. This can lead to applicants perceiving subsequent job offers as lesser or incomparable to their initial preference.

Takeaways

• Organizations should prioritize quality initial touchpoints with potential hires, even before the formal recruiting process begins, and anticipate where they stand in comparison to their competitors in the eyes of job seekers. 
• Job seekers should actively acknowledge and counteract their initial preferences and biases toward their job choices and employ tactics such as ranking or weighing options. 

Knowledge workers are preparing for the battle of their lifetime: worker versus machine. But workers can function side-by-side with intelligent systems to expand their knowledge base and potentially improve performance. 

Employee reactions to intelligent systems can vary based on experience level, but managers can assuage these reactions with certain tactics, such as ensuring transparency, providing concrete examples of the systems’ benefits and carefully designing training programs. 

“Managers can tailor interventions to employees with different levels of work experience based on the insights from our work,” said Liwei Chen, PhD, assistant professor of operations, business analytics, and information systems, and Director, BBA Information Systems.

Takeaways

• Improved employee performance is not guaranteed when implementing intelligent systems in the workplace. 
• Employees will call upon their previous work experience to adapt to the technology — with novice and experienced employees adapting differently — but also need adequate support resources from their company to ensure a successful implementation and smooth transition process.

Many investors faced the dilemma of whether or not to invest in the aftermath of the COVID-19 market crash. But what can be learned from the outcome of this event?  

Through experimental data, Rashmi Adaval, PhD, professor of marketing, and her coauthors discovered that although individuals are hesitant to invest overall, investors were more likely to select high-priced stocks in a fear-based market crash when they do choose to invest, as they viewed these as more stable compared to lower-priced ones.  

“The key point to emphasize is that people read more into a stock’s price than might be warranted,” said Adaval. 

Takeaways

• In a fear-based market crash, investors often view high-priced stocks as more stable compared to lower-priced stock options. 
• Investors tend to display biases in decision making when selecting stocks in light of market crashes fueled by catastrophic events. Flawed or discordant logic thus drives them to be more drawn to high-priced stocks.

Accounting for income tax (AFIT) errors are some of the most common and complex accounting problems. And organizations face unique challenges in resolving these issues. 

Despite these barriers, and that top executives are rarely involved in the details of day-to-day tasks and minute business dealings, boards may still hold CEOs and CFOs uniquely accountable for AFIT errors.   

Turnover is the biggest risk for CEOs and CFOs when it comes to AFIT restatements. These research findings are important for regulators and managers to understand to potentially help prevent AFIT issues and their consequences.

Takeaways

• CFOs and CEOs are at greater risk of turnover after accounting for income tax (AFIT) restatements, compared to other accounting restatements.  
• Boards of directors do not view all areas of financial reporting the same and are beholden to their own biases and limitations. 
• How involved an auditor is in a company’s taxes does not affect the board’s unique view of AFIT restatements.

The parks that dot your city’s landscape may be beacons of summer fun and home to childhood memories, but they also double as heavy hitters when it comes to local home values and prices. 

A study of local townships, cities and villages in Ohio found that communities that voted to cut taxes and parks and recreation spending saw decreases in home values and an 11% fall in home prices after three years. Although these changes were not seen in the initial two years after the spending cuts, home prices continued to fall in subsequent years after that third year, consistent with worsening park maintenance over time.

Takeaways

• Communities that vote to cut park funding save $1,400 in lifetime taxes at a cost of $30,140 in house value. 
• Voting to cut park taxes reduces park spending by 16% and ends up reducing house prices by 13%.