What's New in SMPP
2023-2024
Announcements, Awards & Publications
Over four days this past summer, graduate students heard from guest speakers and delved into frameworks and analyses about AI and its future potential in Professor Thomas Debass's course, Business & Society: AI. In addition to being a lecturer in Strategic Management and Public Policy at GW, Professor Debass serves as managing director of the Office of Global Partnerships in the U.S. Department of State, a role he has held since 2016. In this capacity, Debass leads public-private partnerships that advance foreign policy aims, many of them intended to promote entrepreneurship and innovation and each one requiring the interdisciplinary cooperation of business and society.
Professor Joel Gehman delivered the keynote address "Tackling Grand Challenges: Theoretical Perspectives and Future Prospects" at the 2nd Organization & Society Network Meeting hosted by UNSW Sydney School of Management and Governance in Hamilton Island, Australia, in December 2023. Professor Vikram Bhargava delivered a lecture, "Social Media, off-duty laudatory conduct and employment," at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in October 2023. The lecture was part of a seminar series called R:ETRO - Reputation: Ethics, Trust, and Relationships.
Professor Jim Wade published “Racial disparity in leadership: Evidence of valuative bias in the promotions of National Football League Coaches” in the American Journal of Sociology with Christopher Rider of the University of Michigan, Anand Swaminathan of Emory University, and Andreas Schwab of Iowa State University. Professor Jennifer Merluzzi published "A Hidden Barrier to Diversification? Performance Recognition Penalties for Incumbent Workers in Male-Dominated Occupations" in the American Sociological Review with Jirs Meuris of the University of Wisconsin.
Professor Ernie Englander presented "HOW Did CEOs Learn Not to Diversify? Institutional Change and MBA Corporate Finance Textbooks” at the Academy of Management 2024 annual meeting in Chicago. He also presented "Campaign GM — a revised history of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility" with David Gindis, University of Warwick, at the International Association for Business & Society 2024 annual meeting in Annapolis.
Professor Vikram Bhargava recently published the paper, “Autonomous Vehicles and the Ethics of Driving” in the journal Social Theory and Practice. Bhargava and his co-author argue that when autonomous vehicles are scaled to market they will reduce driver errors and make the roads safer. At that time, there will be strong grounds to regulate the sale of regular cars and, ultimately, to ban humans from driving non-autonomous vehicles. Bhargava's research was also featured in GW Today.
Professor Voni Pamphile published an article in Organization Science with Rachel Ruttan of the University of Toronto, titled "The (Bounded) Role of Stated-Lived Value Congruence and Authenticity in Employee Evaluations of Organizations." See her discuss the paper here.
The Academy of Management's Organizations and the Natural Environment (ONE) Division and the Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division each named Professor Jorge Rivera's book, Business Adaptation to Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, with Chang Hoon Oh, Jennifer Oetzel, and Vivianer Clement) as the 2023 book of the year at the annual meeting in August.
Professor Joel Gehman was elected chair of the Academy of Management's Organization and Management Theory Division. His five-year term begins in August.
Professor Jorge Walter received the GW School of Business 2023 Dean's Teaching Award. Professor David Halliday received the Outstanding Master of Management Faculty Award. Professor Gaston de los Reyes received the Outstanding Part-Time Master of Business Administration Faculty Award.
Professor Herb Davis received a 2023-2024 Fulbright Specialist Program award and completed his research at Joao Saldanha University in Timor-Leste.
Professor Jennifer Merluzzi presented two papers at Wharton's People and Organizations Conference in October: "Devaluation by association: Gender diversification and performance recognition in male-dominated occupations" (with Jirs Meuris, University of Wisconsin-Madison) and “Changes in Hiring Discrimination Against Stay-at-Home Fathers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Online Field Experiments, 2019-2021" (with Julia Melin, Dartmouth). The paper with Professor Meuris also won the Academy of Management OMT Division 2023 Best Paper on Environmental and Social Practices.
Professor Vikram Bhargava received the 2023 Best Ethics Paper Award from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) 2023 for his paper, "The Case for Heritage Reparations" (with Suneal Bedi, Indiana University).
The Academy of Management's Organization & Management Theory division awarded its 2023 Best Paper on Environmental and Social Practices to Professor Jennifer Merluzzi and her co-author, Jirs Meuris (University of Wisconsin-Madison), for their paper, "Devaluation by Association: Gender Diversity and Performance Recognition in Masculine Occupations."
University of Michigan Professor Jerry Davis recently visited the GW School of Business for the final event of the 2022-2023 SMPP Speaker Series to discuss taming corporate power in the 21st century.
ICR Sustainable Investment Project: The Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR), with the Cocoa Research Centre at the University of West Indies, were awarded a grant from the Inter-American Development Bank to develop a sustainable investment plan that will benefit the sustainable cocoa farming sector in Trinidad and Tobago. The project, “Cocoa, Carbon and Community,” was launched last month.
SMPP doctoral student Soolim Park won the 2023 Professor Chei-Min Paik Endowment Fund in Business Award for her research and conference presentation in 2022.
Professor Jennifer Merluzzi co-authored paper nominated for the 2023 “Responsible Research in Management” Award. Sponsored by the Academy of Management Fellows, the award recognizes research that is “rigorously conducted and societally beneficial” and whose findings have a broad impact
Professor Vikram Bhargava was invited to join the Journal of Business Ethics editorial board as co-editor of the Technology and Business Ethics section.
Professor Jennifer Merluzzi was named a Senior Editor at Organization Science.
Faculty Expertise in the News
In a Wall Street Journal video, SMPP Professor Vikram Bhargava and Allen & Overy Partner David Wakeling share how risk and compliance professionals should consider the risks and opportunities of ChatGPT and generative AI.
The Automated Employment Decision Tools law will require companies to regularly audit their hiring software and notify job candidates of its use. In an eight-minute Marketplace Tech podcast, SMPP Professor Vikram Bhargava wonders whether these tools will undermine HR accountability.
Professor Joel Gehman participated as a panelist for a symposium hosted by the IE University in Madrid on Wednesday, 10 May 2023. The symposium focused on the ways that businesses are making a social impact with the use of metrics, certifications, the expanded role of chief sustainability officer (CSO), and other strategies that advance ESG. The panel is part of the IE University Research Initiative on "Businesses with Purpose."
Professor Joel Gehman was quoted by Inc. magazine in an article titled, “To B Corp or Not to B Corp? For Many Founders, There's No Question.”
Professor Vanessa Perry commented for an article by Marketplace, titled “Lower mortgage fee will help some buyers with Fannie and Freddie loans.”
Professor John Forrer was interviewed for a broadcast story by KHON2 News about President Biden’s first veto, to a bill related to environmental, social, governance (ESG) retirement investing.
Professor Vikram Bhargava commented for an article in HR Review, entitled “Performance review cycles are tough — could ChatGPT help?” Professor Bhargava was also featured in a piece titled “Shops Dial Back Cellphone Perk” from Ignites, a news source from the Financial Times that highlights news about the mutual fund industry.
Professor Vanessa Perry co-authored “Algorithms for All: Has Digitalization in the Mortgage Market Expanded Access to Homeownership?” and presented its findings as part of a symposium hosted by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Professor Vanessa Perry presented “Housing Finance & Social Equity: Addressing Race And Racism In Mortgage Lending,” on Tuesday, February 28, as the first speaker in a public lecture series for a housing and finance course at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT.
Professor Vikram Bhargava was interviewed by Fox 5 DC for a story about how "HR managers using artificial intelligence for hiring and firing" and by Fortune for an article titled "A major bank has banned ChatGPT — should your company follow suit?"
Professor John Forrer was quoted in an article titled “What is a Paydex score?” in Business Insider.
Professor Joel Gehman co-authored an article for University World News, titled “Collegiality – A global university governance model at risk.”
Professor Vanessa Perry was quoted in an article titled “Biden Wants to Level the Playing Field in the Mortgage Market,” published by Bloomberg and Financial Advisor Magazine.
Professor Vanessa Perry was interviewed for an article by Bloomberg News, titled “What You Need to Know About the Biden Administration’s New Mortgage Fees.” Professor Perry’s comments were also quoted in a story by Forbes, titled “Biden’s Mortgage ‘Socialism’? Right Claims New Policy Pushes Higher Fees To Americans With Better Credit — But That’s Not Really True.”
Professor Vikram Bhargava, assistant professor of strategic management & public policy, commented for an article in HR Review, entitled “Performance review cycles are tough — could ChatGPT help?”
Professor Vikram Bhargava was featured in a piece titled “Shops Dial Back Cellphone Perk” from Ignites, a news source from the Financial Times that highlights news about the mutual fund industry.