We investigate whether the gender of top executives influences a firm's reaction to competitive pressures. Our empirical approach is based on policy changes that varied the exposure of US banks to competition during the late 1990s. Results suggest that while banks with female executives...

Extant research shows that entrepreneurs are typically overly optimistic about their ventures' prospects, and that such optimism hampers performance. We analyze how dispositional optimism affects the adjustments to entrepreneurs' expectations after they receive negative feedback on their task...

We use a lab experiment to examine whether and how leaders influence workers’ (un)ethical behavior through financial reporting choices. We randomly assign the role of leaders or workers to subjects, who can choose to report an outcome via automatic or self-reporting. Self-reporting allows for...

Estimating difference-in-differences models on a comprehensive dataset of Italian companies, we provide novel insights into the literature on political uncertainty and firm investment. We first establish that local political uncertainty leads to declining investment. Next, we show that family...

We show that families are an engine of venturing activities: 1/3 of corporate venture capital (CVC) deals in the US from 2000 to 2017 originated from family firms. Family CVC is associated with more syndication, larger syndicates, and more proximate investment in terms of geography and industry...