Newsroom

The best way to resolve a consumer’s doubts about electric cars is to let them drive one for a day or two. But Ioannis Bellos and Hang Ren, professors in the information systems and operations management area at George Mason University, argue that extended test drives can sometimes do more harm than good, for both profits and the planet.

In his award-winning dissertation, now a published paper, George Mason University accounting professor Steven Maex reveals that privacy laws such as the European Union’s GDPR can spur firms to improve how they manage one of their most valuable assets: their data.

Legalized gambling can bring in significant economic rewards from tax revenue and job creation. But at what cost to society? The states that legalized online sports betting saw a 3.1 percent increase in suicide rates, according to research co-authored by Brad Greenwood, professor of information systems and operations management.

The widely used machine-learning technique known as LASSO relegates smaller market events to an ignored “inactive zone”. How can that be a good thing for ambitious asset traders? Bo Hu, assistant professor of finance, explores the logic (and illogic) behind LASSO’s popularity and power.

A real-world experiment found that when men on matching platforms were shown only the women whose profiles fit established cultural criteria, it improved outcomes for women without harming men, says Sabari Rajan Karmegam, assistant professor of information systems and operations management at Costello College of Business.

How do “blind box” products like the Labubu make money? Zhechao Yang, assistant professor of information systems and operations management, has co-authored a paper that breaks down the “win-win-win” at the center of this trendy selling strategy.

Co-owned companies are more likely to use the same audit firm. This has positive implications for institutional investors and the market as a whole, according to Young Hoon Kim, assistant professor of accounting at Costello.

When a popular online video game added AI-controlled opponents that mimicked human activity, the entire ecosystem improved. Zhechao Yang, professor in the information systems and operations management area, believes this example holds general lessons for education and competition design.

Management professor Kevin Rockmann’s research concerns the often-ignored, multifaceted value of workplace relationships. In a recent executive education course at Costello College of Business, Rockmann put his findings into action, with strongly positive results for a leading company.

In-process work by Jingyuan Yang, a professor of information systems and operations management at George Mason University, suggests that downward redistribution of high-value opportunities can increase performance outcomes as well as fairness.

The SEC’s communications with equity issuers are a potential treasure trove for info-hungry investors, according to research by accounting professor David Koo. But they are not always getting into the public eye early enough to make a difference.

Bridging the information gap between HQ and the local level is one of the main challenges for consolidated companies. In a forthcoming paper in Management Science, Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello, explores how multi-bank holding companies rely on internal accounting information as a complement to financial performance, to help them make intramural investment decisions.