Research Stories

Through their innovative research, Gatton College faculty generate knowledge that shapes the thinking of business leaders, policy-makers and scholars worldwide. And they bring that real-world knowledge to the classroom.

For a relatively small sized faculty, our peers hold research in high regard. We rank #78 among all universities in the UT Dallas research rankings. Gatton faculty are often featured in the popular press, including the New York Times, National Public Radio and the Wall Street Journal. In the past five years, our faculty have published more than 165 articles in leading academic journals, and numerous Gatton faculty members serve as editors or on editorial review boards of top journals in their fields.

At Gatton, our research goes beyond traditional topics and applies directly to the way businesses work. Our scholars discover how artificial intelligence impacts accounting practice, the latest financial developments with blockchain and digital currency, why employees commit fraud, how social network analysis can help organizations become more successful and much more.

Here, you can read articles, watch videos, and browse faculty profiles to discover the outstanding achievements of our teaching community.

View Articles by Area

Management

Responding to Crises With Speed and Agility

“It’s as if we woke up and it was suddenly Cyber Monday, but everyone in the world wanted only one product, and it was a product that basically didn’t exist two weeks before.”

Marketing & Supply Chain

From Forest to Factory: How Taylor Guitars Became a Socially Responsible Company

Sun and her co-authors suggest that companies have two ways to sell “imperfect” products. The first is to sell at a lower price and appeal to consumers who are unable to afford the high-end product. The second is to position the product as “green” and appeal to environmentally-conscious customers. 

Finance & Quantitative Methods

How Have COVID-19 and Crowdsourcing Affected the Financial Industry?

Russell Jame examines the ramifications of major work environment changes and how they impact the financial industry.

Accounting

Fair Value Exposure, Auditor Specialization, and Banks’ Discretionary Use of the Loan Loss Provision

Research by Brian Bratten and co-authors examines whether banks’ use of the loan loss provision (LLP) to manage earnings is associated with the extent to which banks hold assets subject to fair value reporting; and the use of an industry specialist auditor.

Economics

Mapping the Clean Air Haves and Have-nots

Research by Lala Ma recently published in Science explores the relationship between environmental quality and socioeconomic status. 

Economics

The Effect of Oil Supply Shocks on Economic Activity: What Have We Learned?

Ana María Herrera discusses how oil prices affect economic activity in a recent article published  in the Journal of Applied Econometrics. 

Economics

Is Fertility a Leading Indicator?

In a recent paper in The Economic Journal, Steven Lugauer asks, "Is fertility is a leader or follower of economic activity?"

Economics

Strong Social Distancing Measures Reduced the COVID-19 Growth Rate

In their paper published in Health Affairs, Charles Courtemanche and Aaron Yelowitz examine how social distancing measures limited the spread of COVID-19.

Economics

Trouble in the Tails? What We Know About Earnings Nonresponse Thirty Years After Lillard, Smith, and Welch

In an article published in The Journal of Political Economy, Christopher R. Bollinger and James P. Ziliak study the patterns of earnings nonresponse across the distribution as well as its potential consequences for important labor-market issues such as earnings gaps by gender and race, and inequality. 

Economics

After the Panic: Do Financial Crises Cause Demand or Supply Shocks? Evidence from International Trade

Are financial crises a negative shock to aggregate demand or a negative shock to aggregate supply? Felipe Benguria explores the topic in his article published in American Economic Review: Insights. 

Management

Exiting Employees: Traitor or Trailblazer?

Meet Bob. He used to work at Google as a software engineer, but he came up with a great idea for a new venture, and he left to pursue his dream. Is he a traitor to Google?

The reflex characterization of employee mobility as negative got Ji Youn (Rose) Kim thinking, and the result is a research article she co-authored with H. Kevin Steensma, titled “Employee Mobility, Spin-outs, and Knowledge Spill-In: How Incumbent Firms Can Learn from New Ventures," published in Strategic Management Journal.

Marketing & Supply Chain

Does a Corporate Crisis Affect Your Buying Habits?

Remember in Spring 2018 when a Starbucks manager called the police after two black men asked to use the store’s restroom without making a purchase, and the men were arrested? Did it change your opinion of the coffee retailer, or would you chalk up the incident to a misunderstanding? 

Marketing & Supply Chain

How to Make a Two-Day Delivery Seem Shorter

Gatton marketing professor Adam Craig delves into the concept that time has a critical influence on consumer decisions choices and is a key component of many financial decisions.

Marketing & Supply Chain

The Psychological Effects of Branding

Studies on brand identity and why people prefer certain brands has been around for a while. But looking at the impact it has on consumers is fairly new. Gatton's Aaron Garvey studies at the psychological impacts of products and brands. 

Finance & Quantitative Methods

Harnessing the Wisdom of the Crowd

New research by Russell Jame, assistant professor of finance and Garvice D. Kincaid Faculty Fellow in University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, is the first of its kind to validate crowdsourcing financial forecasts.

Marketing & Supply Chain

How Real-Time Feedback Influences Spending

Building on budgeting and spending theories, Gatton marketing professor Dan Sheehan and co-authors conducted three lab and grocery store experiments, showing that real-time feedback has a marked impact on consumer spending.

Marketing & Supply Chain

Saying “Thank You” Pays Off

In her study, Gatton marketing professor Alexis Allen found that developing new strategies to enhance relationships with consumers who are “already delighted” can lead to substantial gains.

Accounting

Have You Kept Your Auditor Too Long?

Gatton faculty Monika Causholli asks, “Does audit quality decline with extended firm tenure, or fees from auditor-provided non-audit services become large?” 

Management

Do Powerful People Perceive their Social Networks More Accurately?

The University of Kentucky’s #2 most-cited researcher, Gatton management professor Steve Borgatti’s work in social network analysis is used worldwide to help companies become better structured for success.

Marketing & Supply Chain

The Price of Pursuing Perfection

Research by Gatton's Adam Craig found new parallels between idealized body images in advertising and consumer spending. 
 

Management

Subtraction by Addition

Gatton management professor Joe Labianca looks at why many high-performing employees choose to leave their companies in the event of a merger. 

Marketing & Supply Chain

Marketing Messages Can Be Contagious

Gatton marketing professor David Hardesty’s study finds that the positive emotions produced in one marketing message are often translated to unrelated products.

Accounting

Temporary Tax Woes

Research from Gatton faculty Brian Bratten and David Hulse used the temporary R&D credit setting to investigate the financial accounting and market consequences of enacting tax law retroactively.

Finance & Quantitative Methods

Does Misconduct Spread Like A Disease?

Gatton's Will Gerken explores the pattern of fraud in the financial industry, particularly whether fraud is contagious.