We study the effects of corporate acquisitions on workers using Swedish administrative data and document substantial, persistent earnings losses following acquisitions. These losses reflect both displacement and wage cuts among stayers from target firms. We find no evidence that increased...

Why do managers matter for firm performance? This paper provides evidence of the critical role of managers in matching workers to jobs within the firm using the universe of personnel records from a large multinational firm. The data covers 200,000 white-collar workers and 30,000 managers over 10...

Greenwashing can be perceived as dishonest behavior that can threaten trust in business deals due to the current trend of an intensive scrutiny of sustainability-related messages from organizations. Drawing on the literature concerning managerial trust, our study analyzes how perceived...

This paper develops a novel method to identify the causal contribution of managers to team performance. The method requires repeated random assignment of managers to multiple teams and controls for individuals' skills. A good manager is someone who consistently causes their team to produce more...

To date, the studies on managerial loss aversion have produced contradictory findings, making it impossible to: (i) identify the ultimate impact of managerial loss aversion on the value that organisations create for themselves and for their stakeholders, and (ii) mitigate the effect of...

While research has highlighted the benefits of variability in leader behavior to help deal with different demands, erratic variability in behavior might be problematic. Preliminary research suggests that when leader behavior seems to vary unpredictably, followers can perceive it as inconsistent,...

As the literature documents inconclusive evidence on whether tax avoidance affects CEO turnover, we examine the impact of tax avoidance on forced CEO turnover and the moderating effect of ownership structure, political connections and regional tax enforcement on this relationship. Using data on...

Agency theory holds that managerial discretion over stakeholder decisions creates agency costs through altruistic redistribution. We test this claim in a principal-agent experiment where agents choose effort and transfers affecting a third party under unenforceable flat-wage contracts. We find...

This study explores a new channel through which environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting mandates implemented in one country can influence firms' ESG performance in another country, focusing on returnee CEOs in China who studied or worked abroad. We find that compared with Chinese...

We show that executives' early-life poverty experiences reduce both internal (executive-employee) and external (executive-peer) corporate pay disparities. Three mechanisms drive this effect: increased risk aversion in poverty-exposed executives, strategic avoidance of negative media coverage to...

A growing interest in digitalisation provides continuous support for corporate governance in addressing strategic decision-making under uncertain environments. Although an increasing number of studies provide valuable insights and practical implications, limited research examines specific CEO...

We constructed an urban fintech index and analyzed data from 2834 publicly traded Chinese enterprises for the period 2010-2022 to investigate the impact of fintech on the innovation quality of enterprises. The findings indicate that this impact is positively reinforced by the innovation...

This study explores the relationship between Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) quality and team cohesion within the Croatian banking sector. Drawing from relationship-based leadership theories, we investigate how the quality of dyadic relationships between leaders and team members influences team...

The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of Germany's largest private companies has risen considerably since data collection for the DIW Women Executives Barometer began 20 years ago. While it was just over one percent on the executive boards of Germany's 200...

Using longitudinal data from the Gallup Panel covering more than 30,000 U.S. employees surveyed from 2023 to 2025, I document heterogeneous adoption of generative AI and its "organizational transmission" within firms. First, I show that the share of active (occasional) AI users grew from 9% to...

Using longitudinal data from the Gallup Panel covering more than 30,000 U.S. employees surveyed from 2023 to 2025, I document heterogeneous adoption of generative AI and its "organizational transmission" within firms. First, I show that the share of active (occasional) AI users grew from 9% to...

We establish three facts about work from home (WFH) in the United States. First, employees WFH more often at younger firms – almost twice as often at firms founded after 2015 than at firms founded before 1990. Second, employees working under younger CEOs have higher levels of WFH. The average...

We use novel data from a survey of nearly 750 corporate executives to study the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on productivity and the workforce. We document substantial heterogeneity in AI adoption across firms, with more than half having already invested, though many smaller firms are...

This study investigates the role of corporate culture in shaping earnings management behavior, positioning culture as an internal governance mechanism that can enhance financial reporting quality.Using a large panel of US publicly listed firms from 2001 to 2021, we employ a machine-learning...

This paper aims to analyze whether chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics are linked with corporate decisions to hire external auditors with forensic accounting skills.The research explores how attributes such as CEO education, compensation, age and duality influence this corporate...

The recent shift towards working from home (WFH) has far-reaching implications for social and economic outcomes. While firms are gatekeepers for the ongoing diffusion of flexible work arrangements, there is little evidence on how firms decide to offer WFH. We leverage two survey experiments...

Concerns about corporate scandals and abusive leadership suggest that individuals with an opportunistic and manipulative personality take advantage of incomplete incentive and control systems to get their way into managerial positions. Against this background, we examine whether there is an...

Many companies in Germany must provide information beyond financial figures in their annual reports. For some years now, legislators have increasingly required information on non-financial aspects, such as the shares of women in leadership positions. Using a quantitative text analysis of annual...

Acquiring skilled workers can be a key comparative advantage for firms. However, this process involves much uncertainty that firms need to navigate. Leveraging managers' social networks can help reduce search frictions, improve match quality, and boost firm performance. In this paper, we...

This chapter surveys recent advances in personnel economics. We discuss new research on incentives and compensation; hiring practices; the influence of managers and peers; and time use, technology, and training. Two main themes emerge from this survey. First, we illustrate the interplay between...

Greenwashing can be perceived as dishonest behavior that can threaten trust in business deals due to the current trend of an intensive scrutiny of sustainability-related messages from organizations. Drawing on the literature concerning managerial trust, our study analyzes how perceived...

We study the effects of corporate acquisitions on workers using Swedish administrative data and document substantial, persistent earnings losses following acquisitions. These losses reflect both displacement and wage cuts among stayers from target firms. We find no evidence that increased...

Why do managers matter for firm performance? This paper provides evidence of the critical role of managers in matching workers to jobs within the firm using the universe of personnel records from a large multinational firm. The data covers 200,000 white-collar workers and 30,000 managers over 10...