RESEARCH ROUNDUP

Read more Mendoza business research insights at mendoza.nd.edu/news-events.

COVID-19 JOB STRESS

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan, China, doctors and nurses faced incredibly stressful working conditions. Management professor MIKE CRANT studied the impact of “proactive personality” on job performance at one hospital in the beleaguered city.

SHIFTING LOYALTY

What happens to customer spending when rewards programs go mobile? ITAO researcher YOONSEOCK SON sheds light on the opportunities and challenges retailers face when digitalizing loyalty programs.

TIMING PROBLEMS

Some automotive firms time their product recalls to minimize stock price penalties, resulting in unnecessary delays. According to ITAO researcher KAITLIN WOWAK, an initial recall by one firm prompts clusters of additional recalls in close proximity by competitor firms. Researchers analyzed 3,117 auto recalls using a model to investigate recall clustering.

PATTERN OF OPTIMISM

Finance researcher PETER KELLY found that when past earnings announcement returns were high, individual investors often became overly optimistic about a firm’s future earnings.

DEGREES OF HAPPINESS?

Earning a college degree doesn’t necessarily pay off in job satisfaction, according to management researchers BRITTANY SOLOMON (HALL) and DEAN SHEPHERD.

MARKETING VOLUNTEERS

Entrepreneurs in emerging markets randomly paired with volunteer marketers had significant firm growth compared with those matched with volunteers from different professional backgrounds, marketing researcher FRANK GERMANN found.

AUDIT DISTRACTIONS

Regulators have expressed concerns that audit firms’ emphasis on non-audit services, such as consulting, could distract from an audit. A study by accountancy researchers ERIK BEARDSLEY and ANDREW IMDIEKE indicates that quality does suffer in certain cases.