Research

Working Papers

Drilldown Data Access Rates and Managerial Target Achievement

Job Market Paper

In this study, I use proprietary click-level data on the rate at which frontline managers (FLMs) access a performance dashboard and disaggregated performance information underlying top-level KPIs (“drilldown data”) at a large U.S. footwear and apparel retailer. I address the debate on the value of detailed decision-oriented information and the interaction between the decision-supporting and monitoring roles of performance information by showing that variation in FLM drilldown access rates is associated with higher performance target achievement, consistent with FLMs using the drilldown data to support their operational decision-making. I combine my data on access rates and cross-sectional surveys conducted at the retailer to show that the impact of superiors’ use of data for supervisory purposes on FLMs’ use of drilldown data depends on the purpose for which the drilldown data was designed and the ways in which their superiors use it.

Links: Video Summary

The Use and Design of Emissions Targets and Internal Carbon Pricing:

Evidence from a Global Sample

With Carolyn Deller and Shawn Kim.

Using broad-sample CDP data, we provide novel evidence on the sources of variation in firms’ use and design of emissions targets and internal carbon pricing (ICP), two theoretically motivated internal mechanisms for firms to reduce their emissions. We find that a rich set of variables capturing climate-related risk exposures explains the highest proportion of variation in emissions target and ICP usage. Moreover, these risk exposures influence the use and design of targets and ICP in several intuitive ways. Our results also indicate that firms’ emissions target and ICP choices are influenced by external pressure and the importance of other risks, as well as board-level climate preferences. Lastly, we find that emissions targets and ICP are complements, with ICP use most pronounced when firms’ targets imply a strong commitment to reducing emissions. Our findings suggest that many (but not all) firms’ emissions targets and ICP choices are intentional rather than symbolic.

Links: SSRN

Bout of Sales: Impact of Alignment between Leadership Style and Incentive Systems

With Pablo Casas-Arce and Asís Martínez-Jerez.

Using a field experiment at a large retail chain, we provide evidence that managers' leadership styles moderate the effectiveness of different types of incentives. Store managers using the servant leadership style are more able to leverage non-fungible team incentives, such as a store outing, than non-servant leader managers.

Motivating from the Heights: A Field Experiment on Top Managers Visiting the Front Line

Review of Accounting Studies 30 (2): 1099-1136

With Pablo Casas-Arce and Asís Martínez-Jerez.

We study the motivational effects of top managers' visits to front-line employees through a field experiment. Our results indicate that managing by walking around can provide workers positive motivation, separate from the monitoring and learning effects of managerial field visits previously identified in the literature.

Links: SSRN | Publisher | Video Summary

Media Coverage: Forbes

Moderators of Control System Cascade Effects

With Pablo Casas-Arce, Christopher Ittner, and Asís Martínez-Jerez.

We shed light on the phenomenon of cascade effects - the similar use of control practices by managers and their superiors - by investigating how theoretically-motivated economic, psychological, and sociological factors moderate these effects.

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