Hunt Business: A* and UT-Dallas List of Publications in 2025

Seo, J., Ding, W., Ke, Y., & Shi, Z. (2025). How do investors perceive firms’ hiring of local CEOs? Evidence from the cost of equity capital. The British Accounting Review, 101694.

Abstract: According to Yonker (2017a), the U.S. executive labor market shows a striking “hiring home bias” in that firms are more likely to hire local CEOs, or CEOs from their own states. We explore how investors perceive such hiring practices by examining whether they demand different costs of equity capital from firms led by local versus non-local CEOs. Our empirical evidence suggests that, on average, investors perceive hiring local CEOs positively by demanding lower costs of equity capital. The finding holds up to a battery of robustness tests. Cross-sectional tests show that the effect is more pronounced in firms that are more locally based, when firms potentially receive more local monitoring, when firms issue more earnings forecasts, and when firms have strong corporate governance. In addition, the level of social capital in the state where a firm is located attenuates the negative relation. Overall, we find evidence consistent with the notion that capital market participants price CEOs’ geographic characteristics and provide implications to the boards of directors on CEO-firm matches.

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Yan, J., Leidner, D. E., Balozian, P., Villacis Calderon, E., & Ionescu, R. (2025). Workplace cyberbullying: A multidisciplinary review and agenda for future research in the era of artificial intelligence. International Journal of Information Management, 83, 102910.

Abstract: Workplace cyberbullying is a pervasive issue that adversely impacts individuals and organizations, fueled by technological advancements and the ubiquity of digital communication tools. This study conducts a multidisciplinary review of existing WCB research. By analyzing 83 articles, we synthesized key themes, including the attributes of WCB, its technological enablers, emotional drivers, environmental factors, and organizational control mechanisms. We highlight gaps in detecting, preventing, and addressing WCB, with a particular emphasis on leveraging artificial intelligence technologies. We propose a research agenda exploring how AI can mitigate WCB through multimodal detection, emotional intervention mechanisms, and pattern recognition. Our study underscores the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing WCB and offers actionable insights for future research and organizational practices, aiming to enhance employee well-being and workplace culture.

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Cook, A., Esplin, A., Glass, C., Judd, J. S., & Olsen, K. (2025). Management Forecasts and Reactions by Analysts and Investors: The Effect of CEO Gender. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 52(4), 1840-1867.

Abstract: We examine whether CEO gender is associated with management forecast properties and analysts’ and investors’ reactions to those management forecasts. Using a dataset of CEO transitions, we find that while women CEOs are more likely to issue management earnings forecasts, the properties of those forecasts issued by women and men CEOs do not exhibit differences in the likelihood of missing the forecast, forecast bias, and forecast precision. We find that analysts and investors react less to forecasts issued by women CEOs than men CEOs. Additional analyses suggest that this result is attributable to internally hired rather than externally hired women CEOs. Our results are generally consistent with analysts and investors treating management forecasts issued by women CEOs to be less credible than forecasts issued by men CEOs, despite no apparent differences in their forecast properties.

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Gao, B., & Omer, T. (2025). Lead Independent Directors and Corporate Tax Policy. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 52(4), 2010-2036.

Abstract: Companies voluntarily adopt lead independent directors for the benefits they could bring to the board, such as further improving board independence, mitigating unresolved agency issues, enhancing board monitoring, and countering criticisms of corporate governance. We find that companies with LIDs have more conservative tax policies. The influence of LIDs on corporate tax policies is greater when the level of tax avoidance is more aggressive compared to their size and industry peers. We also find that investors favorably value the more conservative tax policies of companies with LIDs. Companies with LIDs have lower tax risk, pursue more conservative tax planning, such as lower UTB settlements, and are less likely to use tax shelters. These companies do not have aggressive valuation allowance releases and have fewer permanent book-tax differences. Lastly, we also find an associated non-tax benefit: CEOs in companies with LIDs do not have a higher likelihood of subsequent forced turnover for not engaging in tax avoidance. Thus, the investors’ higher valuation of more conservative corporate tax policies reduces the likelihood of subsequent forced CEO turnover.

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Tiron-Tudor, A., Rodgers, W., & Deliu, D. (2025). The accounting profession in the Twilight Zone: navigating digitalisation's sided challenges through ethical pathways for decision-making. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 38(3), 990-1018.

Abstract: Purpose - The paper aims to explore the sided challenges facing the accounting profession in an advanced digitalised future where humans and robots will collaborate in working teams. Design/methodology/approach - Employing a qualitative approach, the paper conducts a reflexive thematic analysis to identify challenges and associated socio-ethical risks of digitalisation; it then introduces an ethical decision-making model aimed at addressing these challenges. Findings - Key professional accountants’ sided challenges refer to autonomy, privacy, balance of power, security, human dignity, non-maleficence and justice, each of them possessing multifaceted dimensions that are interconnected dynamically to create a complex web of socio-ethical risks. Practical implications - The ethical decision-making pathways corresponding to each detected challenges provide a useful reference and guideline for PAs in the digitalised future of the profession. Social implications - Using an anthropocentric perspective, the research addresses the sided challenges of accounting profession’s accelerated digitalisation; it contributes to fostering accountability and legitimacy of the accounting profession which serves the public interest. Originality/value - By innovatively intertwining ethical positions with decision-making pathways, the paper offers a potential solution to address digitalisation’s sided challenges that might interfere with practitioners’ professional judgement and identity.

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Cook, A. C., Sirmans, E. T., & Smith, R. A. (2025). The Effects of Medical and Recreational Cannabis Laws on Prescription Drug Claims in Commercial Group Insurance Markets. Health Economics, 34(8), 1396-1409.

Abstract: Initially introduced as an alternative medical treatment, cannabis has been conditionally legalized in most U.S. states. Using prescription drug claims as reported by small and large group insurers in the NAIC Supplemental Health Care Exhibit from 2010-2019, we examine the impact of medical and recreational cannabis laws on prescription drug expenditures of working-age individuals. We use a difference-in-differences framework and find significant reductions in prescription drug claims per enrollee of $34-42 annually in the small group insurance market following recreational cannabis legalization. While we do not observe similar reductions in claims in large group insurance markets, we find weak evidence that the reduced expenditures in small group insurance correspond with reductions in premiums indicating positive spillover effects from recreational cannabis for insured enrollees of small group insurance plans.

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Black, J. R., Das, N., & Leal, D. (2025). Economic policy uncertainty and corporate bond liquidity. Journal of Banking & Finance, 170, 107340.

Abstract: We find that elevated economic policy uncertainty is associated with reductions in corporate bond dealer inventories and worsening liquidity, suggesting bond dealers react to increased inventory risk by reducing their capital commitments and compensating themselves via increased transaction costs. A one standard deviation increase in EPU is associated with a 2.19% widening in bid-ask spreads, 2.36% increase in Amihud illiquidity, and 3.38% reduction in average inventories. This effect is greater for bonds issued by firms with direct exposure to government policy, and less pronounced in small firms, illiquid bonds, and calmer markets, suggesting that EPU affects bond liquidity more when macroeconomic, but not idiosyncratic, factors are the primary determinant of bond risk.

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Vatsa, P. (2025). Do minority banks matter? Evidence from the Community Reinvestment Act. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 101163.

Abstract: This paper estimates the elasticity of minority credit supply to deposit shares of Minority Depository Institutions. I use within-county tract-level variation in exposure to the Community Reinvestment Act and show that if a census tract loses MDI presence following a merger between an MDI bank and a community bank, its minority mortgage credit declines by 40%. These effects are driven by the loss of operationally efficient MDIs, and about half of the overall impact is attributable to the loss of mission alone. A 1% increase in county market shares of such tracts leads to roughly a 3% decrease in county-level minority homeownership.

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Bucheli, J., & Fontenla, M. (2025). The impact of return migration on economic development. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 107(2), 393-407.

Abstract: Mexican migration to the United States — one of the largest flows in human history — inverted in the late 2000s, and during the next decade more Mexicans returned home than those who migrated north. We exploit this historical reversal to estimate the effects of return migration on economic development in Mexico. We find that return migration leads to higher levels of development through improved income, labor, health, and educational outcomes. Our findings suggest that the benefits of migration extend beyond individuals’ tenure abroad, as accumulated capital, skills, and social norms have the potential to contribute to development back home.

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Barnes, S., Clarke, N., & Schrowang, A. (2025). Corporate share repurchases and the 2023 excise tax. Journal of Corporate Finance, 102881.

Abstract: The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 imposes a 1% excise tax on U.S. corporate share repurchases, effective January 1, 2023. The tax's implementation is associated with a significant decline in corporate repurchases that is not offset by a corresponding increase in dividends. Aggregate repurchases decline from about $1 trillion in 2022 to just over $800 billion in 2023, and the average firm reduces quarterly repurchases as a fraction of market capitalization by roughly 25%. The decline in repurchases by U.S. firms far exceeds a contemporaneous decline in repurchases by Canadian firms, is large in a historical context, and is not driven by firm fundamentals. Tax-induced cuts to repurchases are associated with an increase in cash but no increase in investment, implying that the tax has not generated the stated policy objective.

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Jahantab, F., Anand, S., Vidyarthi, P. R., & Erdogan, B. (2025). Understanding i-deals through the social ledger lens: The role of trust and hindrance networks. Academy of Management Journal, 68(6), 1207-1234.

Abstract: Individually negotiated customized work arrangements or idiosyncratic deals are an increasingly common practice in contemporary organizations. We propose that these deals are created and implemented in the social context of the workgroup and that one’s position in the web of social relationships serves as a strategic advantage or barrier to accessing i-deals. Drawing on the social ledger model, we propose that being central in the trust network is positively associated with i-deals, whereas being central in the hindrance network is negatively associated with i-deals, with indirect effects on employee performance. Further, we predict that i-deals are affected more strongly by centrality in the hindrance network than by centrality in the trust network. Finally, we theorize that trust network density strengthens the negative relationship between hindrance network centrality and i-deals and that hindrance network density strengthens the positive relationship between trust network centrality and i-deals. Results of multilevel modeling and relative importance analyses in two field studies employing data from 305 employees and 57 supervisors in the United States and 502 employees and 101 supervisors in Iran provided support for our model. Implications and future directions for social network and i-deals research are discussed.

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Fultz, A. E., & Hmieleski, K. M. (2025). Cultivating and Harnessing Unexpected Opportunities: How Monochronic Orientation Fosters Innovation by Facilitating Serendipity in New Firms. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 49(6), 1565-1596.

Abstract: Despite growing interest in serendipity in entrepreneurship, its antecedents, contingencies, and outcomes remain understudied. We find that new firms with a monochronic orientation — a preference for handling tasks sequentially — experience more serendipity, which in turn enhances innovation performance. This is amplified in dynamic environments, where unexpected discoveries are more likely to generate value. Challenging assumptions that systematic search and broad information inputs drive innovation, our study highlights focused attention as a driver of serendipity. By linking serendipity to strategic attention allocation and environmental conditions, we offer insights into how firms can foster and capitalize on unexpected discoveries to drive innovation.

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Jahantab, F., Erdogan, B., Vidyarthi, P. R., & Anand, S. (2025). Individualized Deals for Overqualified Employees: An Investigation of Supervisor Perceptions of Employee Overqualification. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Abstract: In this study, we extend overqualification research by examining the indirect relationship between supervisor perceptions of employee overqualification and performance outcomes via task i-deals. We predict that employees are more likely to be granted task i-deals to the degree to which they are perceived as overqualified by their supervisors, which in turn indirectly and positively affects their task performance and citizenship behaviors. Further, we expect the relationship between supervisor-rated overqualification and task i-deals to be stronger when supervisor perceived peer overqualification and workgroup team orientation are lower. Analyses of multi-wave multi-source data from 682 employees nested in 115 workgroups in a consumer retail company in Iran provided support for our model. A second vignette-based experimental study of 183 participants offered additional support for the directionality of relations. Theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

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Garcia, M. F., Liu, H. F., Triana, M. D. C., & Treviño, L. J. (2025). Support for sustainable development goal 5 and social performance: the role of diversity targets, work-life balance practices, and female representation. Human Resource Management, 64(5), 1457-1479.

Abstract: Human resource management scholarship has neither fully engaged with the United Nations’ sustainable development goal 5, or SDG 5 — gender equality — nor deepened knowledge of the human resource practices that most likely contribute to the implementation of this goal. We address this gap by investigating the link between SDG 5 and multinational enterprises' social performance. We posit that attention to SDG 5 will facilitate MNEs' capacity to formulate and implement practices to increase gender equality in work settings. Drawing from the sustainable HRM framework and social role theory, we develop three hypotheses related to the role of diversity targets and work-life balance practices as mediators of the relationship between support for SDG 5 and MNEs' social performance. We also posit that women's representation across the organizational structure strengthens the relationship between support for SDG 5 and diversity targets as well as work-life balance practices. We tested these relationships with 418 MNEs in the S&P 500. We found that diversity targets and work-life balance practices, including flexible arrangements and daycare services, mediate the relationship between support for SDG 5 and social performance. In addition, the interaction between women's representation and support for SDG 5 enhances diversity targets and flexible arrangements. We theoretically contribute to the sustainable HRM literature by revealing the reasons for a spillover effect of support for gender equality to other demographic groups and explaining broader societal impacts of support for SDG 5 on the workforce, community, human rights, and product responsibility. To successfully integrate SDG 5, MNEs must weave diversity targets and work-life balance practices into strategic planning.