The Costello College of Business at George Mason University is a leading center for impactful business research.
Our faculty are engaged with research that is both rigorous and relevant. Our faculty love to bring their research to the classroom, where they talk about their findings and ideas—which enriches the knowledge our students are exposed to. Our faculty research also shows up in policy and business practice, and is making an impact on the business of government and industry.
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55k
Research Citations by Costello’s Top 10 most-cited scholars
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#81
UT-Dallas North American Business School Research Rankings
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19
Costello professors holding editorial positions at academic journals
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22
Published papers in premier journals by Costello faculty in 2024-2025
Hot Topics
January 14, 2025In her off hours, Mariia Petryk, assistant professor of information systems and operations management, is using her data science expertise to help bring decentralized medicine to conflict zones—starting with her birth country, Ukraine.
November 26, 2024New research suggests there’s at least one group of people applauding the collapse of local journalism in the United States: corrupt politicians.
November 25, 2024A George Mason marketing professor is using AI to help organizations gain deeper insights into consumers based on very little information
October 22, 2024Under the supervision of Costello professor Derek Horstmeyer, student-driven research insights are raising eyebrows among employers—and readers of major newspapers.
August 27, 2024With 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, 2024Artificial 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, 2024Fake trades engineered to juice an exchange’s numbers have been a part of bitcoin exchanges since the beginning, finds a George Mason finance prof.-
June 4, 2024The controversy about biased policing seems to draw endless fuel from race-based differences in public perception. Simply put, the vast majority of White citizens in the United States believe the police are doing a good job, including on issues of racial equality, while a similar percentage of Black citizens hold the opposite opinion. Brad Greenwood, professor of information systems and operations management, researches how digital technologies are bringing unprecedented transparency to police practices.
May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
May 10, 2024George Mason researchers Nirup Menon and Brian Ngac recently won a two-year award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to create unique experiential learning opportunities and workshops designed to enhance cybersecurity education and workforce development.
April 18, 2024Bo Hu, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is developing new research methods to better capture the intricate, interlinked dynamics of financial markets.-
April 16, 2024Like financial markets, the creative industries are driven to seek equilibrium, which may be good news for both human content creators and their algorithmic adversaries. Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance, is researching this in a new working paper.
August 6, 2024The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.-
June 4, 2024The controversy about biased policing seems to draw endless fuel from race-based differences in public perception. Simply put, the vast majority of White citizens in the United States believe the police are doing a good job, including on issues of racial equality, while a similar percentage of Black citizens hold the opposite opinion. Brad Greenwood, professor of information systems and operations management, researches how digital technologies are bringing unprecedented transparency to police practices.
December 11, 2023Open-source learning materials promise to democratize education, while reducing the financial burden on students. But how can schools bring faculty on board?
October 11, 2023Can wearable tech resolve the crisis of underemployment among neurodiverse individuals? A multidisciplinary Mason research team is about to embark on a major study to find out.
June 20, 2023Why are some firms more forthcoming than others about their social and environmental impact? It may have to do with the CEO’s personal incentives.
May 22, 2023How can you convince someone to give you their time or money free of charge? Focus on the head, not the heart.
May 10, 2023A Mason professor is the sole academic working with the U.S. government in an unprecedented effort to measure environmental-economic activity.
March 9, 2023The moment a brand publicizes its good works, it’s at risk of seeming cynical. A Mason professor offers research-based advice on how to generate lasting brand value from sustainability.
February 22, 2023Human trafficking is a global crisis of overwhelming scope. Fortunately, anti-trafficking organizations can use AI to predict the criminals’ next moves–with the help of a George Mason University professor.
February 2, 2023Thanks to TikTok, Twitter, Instagram et al, we are living in the age of social influence. But how can influence be harnessed to make the world a better place? Yun Young Hur, assistant professor of information systems at George Mason University School of Business, explores that question in a recently published paper in Information Systems Research.
December 1, 2022George 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.
October 19, 2022For 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.
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October 1, 2024Not 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, 2024Post-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, 2024Thanking 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, 2024With 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.
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August 22, 2024Artificial 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.
June 17, 2024George 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.-
May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
April 29, 2024The executive director of George Mason’s government contracting research center highlights “agile acquisition” as the key to beefing up national defense.
April 5, 2024You can spend millions to buy a company for its employees, but how do you know they’ll stay put? Now, AI can predict post-deal turnover with a startling degree of accuracy. In a recently working paper, Jingyuan Yang, an information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, discovers how to efficiently predict employee turnover using an innovative AI-driven approach
March 28, 2024The college that now bears Donald G. Costello’s name is a fitting testament to his entrepreneurial legacy. This extends not only to coursework and outreach programs, which have long stressed entrepreneurship, but also to the faculty’s research expertise. Indeed, a number of Costello College of Business professors were key contributors to Mason’s being named the #2 university for entrepreneurship research in North America by independent ratings agency EduRank.-
February 22, 2024Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business, has received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. According to the NSF website, the CAREER award is given to “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”
February 13, 2024Deciding whether to reveal someone else’s secrets isn’t just a moral dilemma. It can also have a serious impact on your reputation. Costello College of Business assistant professor of management, Einav Hart, explores this issue in a series of studies.
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October 1, 2024Not 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, 2024Post-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, 2024Thanking 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.
September 18, 2023When government contractors merge, comparing their customers can predict a lot about how investors will respond to the deal.
May 30, 2023Not all pharmaceutical companies are equally well-suited to surf the sea change that’s happening in healthcare.-
May 22, 2023How can you convince someone to give you their time or money free of charge? Focus on the head, not the heart.
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May 18, 2023In China, auto sales rose sharply when Uber came to town. That should make you re-examine received wisdom about the sharing economy.
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March 28, 2023There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to growing a franchise business. But stock market reactions to companies’ strategic moves can give you more than a clue.
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March 9, 2023The moment a brand publicizes its good works, it’s at risk of seeming cynical. A Mason professor offers research-based advice on how to generate lasting brand value from sustainability.
-
February 2, 2023Thanks to TikTok, Twitter, Instagram et al, we are living in the age of social influence. But how can influence be harnessed to make the world a better place? Yun Young Hur, assistant professor of information systems at George Mason University School of Business, explores that question in a recently published paper in Information Systems Research.
December 8, 2022Marketing professor Tarun Kushwaha’s recent research finds that the effectiveness of brands’ growth strategies can be correlated with the state of the economy. Analyzing 17 years of data on U.K. brands, Kushwaha concludes that brands that prioritize assortment and wider distribution are in the best position to weather the ups and downs of the macroeconomic cycle.
November 2, 2022It’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.
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May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
-
April 29, 2024The executive director of George Mason’s government contracting research center highlights “agile acquisition” as the key to beefing up national defense.
-
June 20, 2023Why are some firms more forthcoming than others about their social and environmental impact? It may have to do with the CEO’s personal incentives.
-
May 10, 2023A Mason professor is the sole academic working with the U.S. government in an unprecedented effort to measure environmental-economic activity.
November 29, 2022Mehmet 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.
May 18, 2021Years spent engaging with consumers in the business world made School of Business Marketing faculty Niki Vlastara realize that how sustainability concepts and proposals were marketed significantly influenced how successful they became.
April 12, 2021Yannis Bellos, associate professor for Information Systems and Operations Management, has been with George Mason University School of Business since 2012. His research interests sit at the intersection of sustainability and service operations, making him a perfect member of the Business for a Better World Center affiliate faculty team.-
May 21, 2020Ioannis Bellos, associate professor of information systems and operations management, began researching service design as a PhD student at Georgia Tech.
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October 1, 2024Not 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, 2024Post-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, 2024Thanking 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.
July 16, 2024If 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.-
April 5, 2024You can spend millions to buy a company for its employees, but how do you know they’ll stay put? Now, AI can predict post-deal turnover with a startling degree of accuracy. In a recently working paper, Jingyuan Yang, an information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, discovers how to efficiently predict employee turnover using an innovative AI-driven approach
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March 11, 2024Sarah Wittman, an assistant professor of management at Mason's Costello College of Business, unpacks this complex problem and proposes some potential research-based solutions.
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February 13, 2024Deciding whether to reveal someone else’s secrets isn’t just a moral dilemma. It can also have a serious impact on your reputation. Costello College of Business assistant professor of management, Einav Hart, explores this issue in a series of studies.
January 22, 2024To stay competitive in the war for talent, tech companies must weigh secrecy against specificity when crafting job ads. Are they disclosing too much?
January 8, 2024A Mason professor unpacks the complex, nuanced impact of the “revolving door” between industry and regulators in the accounting world.
December 8, 2023No matter who you are, feeling threatened in your identity is bad for your well-being—and your career.
November 6, 2023With the rise of online learning, cheating has become easier than ever. And perhaps more prevalent as well, suggests one Mason accounting professor.-
October 11, 2023Can wearable tech resolve the crisis of underemployment among neurodiverse individuals? A multidisciplinary Mason research team is about to embark on a major study to find out.
May 5, 2025Companies looking to bend reporting rules need to find accountants who will play ball. That’s why job postings can be a reliable indicator of intent.
April 30, 2025Sure, laid-off journalists can “learn to code”, but that won’t undo the damage done to local economies when their hometown newspaper folds.
April 29, 2025Two Costello College of Business accounting professors are exploring how inherent personal traits may influence business success—and their early findings will gratify the left-handed among us.-
February 27, 2025Since 2008, the meteoric rise of index funds has produced extreme consolidation of corporate ownership. So far, the outcomes for firms are a mixed bag.
January 7, 2025One accounting standard to rule them all might be a less desirable state of affairs than the ‘managed divergence’ that currently exists between U.S.-GAAP and IFRS.
December 11, 2024Burned-out auditors are getting dangerously distracted by job postings that offer a glimpse of more appealing professional pathways.-
December 4, 2024Leaked payroll data may contradict everything you thought you knew about the economic impact of high-skilled legal immigration.
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November 19, 2024The 2008 financial crisis cast a pall of pessimism over veteran CEOs that took three years to lift. David Koo, assistant professor of accounting, has found that memories of past recessions, triggered by recent ones, can weigh on chief executives’ decisions, literally for years.
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August 22, 2024Artificial 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.
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August 6, 2024The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.
July 22, 2024You 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.-
June 17, 2024George 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.
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December 11, 2023Open-source learning materials promise to democratize education, while reducing the financial burden on students. But how can schools bring faculty on board?
November 1, 2023George Mason University is No. 1 among public universities for research performance in entrepreneurship, and No. 2 overall nationally, in the latest report from EduRank.
September 25, 2023The business school’s SOAR Initiative is a critical building block in George Mason University’s efforts to advance social mobility, or an individual’s ability to improve their socioeconomic status.
April 20, 2023Fifteen teams competed for $40K in prizes at the George Mason University School of Business Patriot Pitch Competition during the in-person April 13 event on Mason’s Fairfax Campus.
March 23, 2023With $40,000 in seed funding up for grabs, George Mason University undergraduate students and recent alumni are preparing to pitch their business ideas to a panel of local business professionals and Mason alumni on Thursday, April 13 at the School of Business Patriot Pitch Competition.
December 7, 2022Management 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, 2022George 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.
October 10, 2022Join Dr. Mort as he presents insights on law and business. Friday, 10/14 from 10am - 11 am At the MIX (lower level Horizon Hall). This class will help you become aware of some legal issues you need to understand as you form a company to make, market and sell your products and services.
September 6, 2022Whether you’re looking to meet like-minded founders from different universities or looking for a teammate to launch your next big idea, meet student entrepreneurs from American, Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason, and UMD on the rooftop of Western Market THIS Wednesday, September 14th from 5:30-7:30pm. During this time, you’ll get a chance to network with one another, share stories, challenges, and ideas over a drink or two.
September 6, 2022Explore how and where business opportunities start and examine which technology innovation and business ventures are worth development.
June 7, 2022In business, a specialist strategy can sometimes be riskier than a generalist one. Competing in only one industry leaves firms highly vulnerable to heightened income volatility, with extreme gains and losses, often alternating in quick succession. Innovative firms, whose business models are based on heavy R&D investments with uncertain returns, are especially affected by these fluctuations. Kelly Wentland, assistant professor of accounting, discusses this issue.
November 11, 2021The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s I-Corps program is an accelerator that helps entrepreneurs and researchers work together “to bring invention to impact.” Mason serves as an official I-Corps site, supporting local grantees through the exploratory stages of venture-building, as well as preparing them to apply for the national-level program.
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February 27, 2025Since 2008, the meteoric rise of index funds has produced extreme consolidation of corporate ownership. So far, the outcomes for firms are a mixed bag.
-
December 11, 2024Burned-out auditors are getting dangerously distracted by job postings that offer a glimpse of more appealing professional pathways.
November 21, 2024We know from prior research that savvy investors respond to ESG data. But a pair of finance professors have discovered perhaps the most lucrative wrinkle in this strategy.-
November 19, 2024The 2008 financial crisis cast a pall of pessimism over veteran CEOs that took three years to lift. David Koo, assistant professor of accounting, has found that memories of past recessions, triggered by recent ones, can weigh on chief executives’ decisions, literally for years.
-
October 22, 2024Under the supervision of Costello professor Derek Horstmeyer, student-driven research insights are raising eyebrows among employers—and readers of major newspapers.
-
August 22, 2024Artificial 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, 2024Fake 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, 2024In churchgoing counties, financial advisors are more likely to remember their ethical training and resist the temptation to misbehave.-
August 6, 2024The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.
-
July 22, 2024You 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.
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June 17, 2024George 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.
May 15, 2024The SEC’s unique treatment of companies that opt into public reporting shows that lighter-touch regulation can sometimes be just as effective. Associate professor of accounting Bret Johnson’s recent paper looks at how the SEC handles the added responsibility of reviewing voluntary filings.