News | School of Business

Wed, 12/17/2025

KU Business faculty experts discuss: Last-mile delivery, transportation and parking

Recent increases in consumer preference for convenience and online shopping has caused the e-commerce market to grow tremendously in recent years, with the market size expected to reach $1,526.42 billion by 2030, according to a Grandview Research report. ...

Tue, 12/16/2025

Superman’s bygone battle with hate group provides strategy for thwarting modern conspiracy theories

In a new book chapter, Colin McRoberts, associate teaching professor of business at the University of Kansas, traces the story of Superman’s battle with the Ku Klux Klan in a 1946 radio serial and suggests it may provide strategies for thwarting the damage done by conspiracy theories.

Tue, 12/09/2025

Lack of competition leads to more efficient and effective auditing, study finds

In a new working paper, Will Ciconte, assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, investigates the relation between audit competition, quality and labor hours, finding that auditors who appear to be operating in less competitive markets are more efficient and more effective.

Mon, 11/24/2025

Strong incentives may lead to even more employee burnout, research finds

In a new article, Rob Waiser, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Kansas, examines how firms should account for effects like fatigue and burnout when designing incentive compensation for their employees.

Mon, 11/24/2025

KU Business hosts first Keeler Professor for interdisciplinary research rethinking workplace wellbeing

The KU School of Business is hosting Meredith Bagwell-Gray, Keeler Professorship recipient, for an interdisciplinary research project with Elizabeth Embry about trauma-informed workplaces. Supported by the professorship and Embry’s New Faculty Research Development Award, the collaboration advances innovative approaches to employee well-being and reflects KU’s commitment to cross-disciplinary scholarship.

Tue, 11/18/2025

KU Business faculty experts discuss: Remote work

Patrick Downes, associate professor of management, draws on his past research in group and organizational management and work environments to discuss future implications of the topic.

Tue, 11/11/2025

KU Business professor named to U.S. State Department Foreign Service board

KU Professor Jill Ellingson was recently appointed to the U.S. State Department Board of Examiners for Foreign Service.

Thu, 10/30/2025

KU Business faculty experts discuss: Trauma-informed care in the workplace

Meredith Bagwell-Gray, Ph.D., LMSW, associate professor at the KU School of Social Welfare and visiting professor in the School of Business for the fall 2025 semester, is collaborating with Beth Embry, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at KU Business, to bring trauma-informed care principles into broader workplace settings.

Wed, 10/29/2025

KU professor’s lifetime contributions to academic sales research earn American Marketing Association recognition

Murali K. Mantrala, Ned Fleming Professor of Marketing, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the AMA's Selling and Sales Management Special Interest Group.

Tue, 10/21/2025

Professional stock recommendations on social media prove a surprisingly valuable source, according to new study

In a new article, Eric Weisbrod, associate professor of accounting at the University of Kansas, examines sell-side analysts’ stock recommendation revisions on Twitter, observing increased levels of price discovery during intraday windows with more revision-related tweets. This was especially notable for tweets with more user engagement and those posted by more influential authors.

Tue, 09/16/2025

KU School of Business welcomes six research faculty members

Six researchers joined the University of Kansas School of Business at the start of the 2025–26 academic year.

Wed, 08/20/2025

B2B sales now require a ‘holistic’ selling approach, study finds

In a new study, Murali Mantrala, the Ned Fleming Professor of Marketing at the University of Kansas, examines how the key role of the salesperson has evolved in business-to-business sales, in response to changing buyer behavior during the purchase journey.

Fri, 08/01/2025

Matching skills with jobs in mutual fund industry leads to higher risk-adjusted performance, study finds

In a new study, Gjergji Cici, the Koch Professor in Business Economics at the University of Kansas, explores how firms that match skills of their employees with jobs in the mutual funds industry leads to significantly higher risk-adjusted performance.

Tue, 07/15/2025

IT-capable employees improve relevance and timeliness of financial reporting, study finds

In a new study, University of Kansas School of Business researcher Adi Masli examines IT-capable employees’ role in the production process of financial information, deducing that enhanced management of raw data during this process decreases technical errors and increases data processing speed.

Tue, 07/01/2025

Corporate victims of ransomware may make matters worse by paying attackers, study finds

In a new study, University of Kansas business researcher Debabrata Dey examines when organizations accede to ransomware payment demands and, in doing so, incentivize attackers to launch more attacks, elevating the chance of a future breach not just for themselves but for others.

Fri, 05/23/2025

Three KU Business faculty among 158 universitywide promotion and tenure honorees

Chancellor Douglas A. Girod has approved the promotion and award of tenure, where indicated, for 44 individuals at the University of Kansas Lawrence and Edwards campuses and 114 individuals at the KU Medical Center campus.

Tue, 05/06/2025

Profit motivation of social media companies may compel them to inject bias and create polarization, study finds

Social media companies thrive on the subtle influencing of users’ behavior. “It is of interest to social media companies to nudge users in such a way that their engagement level increases, but as a result, echo chambers are created and the level of polarization increases,” said Debabrata Dey, a professor of business at the University of Kansas.

Tue, 04/29/2025

Airlines can improve travel efficiency and resilience by incorporating passenger-level data, study finds

Mazhar Arikan, associate professor of business at the University of Kansas, explores how airlines that incorporate passenger-level data along with flight-level data could make modest adjustments in passenger itineraries that result in major travel improvements without significantly deteriorating efficiency.

Tue, 04/22/2025

Partisan politics proved most significant factor for speed of corporate shutdowns during pandemic, study shows

In a new study, Shradha Bindal, assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, investigates the speed with which U.S. firms shut down their headquarters because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that the political orientation of the firms and their CEOs proved the most significant factor.

Wed, 01/22/2025

Not all financial analysts impeded by sleep disruptions, study finds

In a new study focusing on financial markets, William Bazley, assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, finds that sleep disruptions following spring daylight saving time clock shifts may negatively affect the forecast quality of the professional analysts — but it depends on their level of experience.

Mon, 10/21/2024

Health effects of trauma linked to performance at work

In a new paper, Elizabeth Embry, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Kansas, offers a theory linking health effects of trauma to performance outcomes at work, suggesting how managerial awareness of trauma manifestations is a necessary step toward workplaces becoming supportive or healing.

Mon, 09/09/2024

Human values and expertise improve AI reliability, study finds

In a new paper, Michael Lash, assistant professor of business at the University of Kansas, proposes a novel approach for incorporating human experts in machine learning models. This increases reliance, trusting and sense-making of the explanations returned by artificial intelligence.

Wed, 08/28/2024

Online sports betting drains household finances more than other gambling options, research shows

In a new working paper, Kevin Pisciotta, assistant professor of finance at KU, finds that not only does online sports betting lead to increased betting activity, it also leads to higher credit card balances, less available credit and a reduction in net investments.

Tue, 06/18/2024

Attorney marketing tactics compared to ‘corporate ambulance chasing’ in new study

New research examines how social media announcements of plaintiff’s attorneys’ corporate investigations strongly predict future litigation. It finds how these attorneys’ efforts to recruit additional plaintiffs after a lawsuit has been filed signal that the action is more likely to succeed and result in more severe damages.

Tue, 06/11/2024

PCAOB risk-based inspection consequences evaluated using new model

Mike Wilkins, the Larry D. Horner and KPMG Professor of Accounting at KU, examines the effects of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's decision to move to more random-based audit selection. The findings suggest there are more benefits than costs associated with auditors’ responses to a selection approach that is primarily risk-based.

Wed, 04/17/2024

People underestimate AI capabilities due to ‘exponential growth bias,’ study finds

In a new paper, Nathan Meikle, a KU assistant professor of business, examines the human biases that impede assessment of AI’s potential threats to humanity. His experiments find that people are prone to underestimate AI capabilities due to exponential growth bias and that they reject the aversive implications of rapid technological progress even in cases in which they themselves predict the growth rate.

Thu, 02/29/2024

KU School of Business accounting faculty again earn top spot in BYU rankings

For the fifth year in a row, accounting faculty at the University of Kansas School of Business earned a No. 1 global ranking for their audit archival research contributions over the past six and 12 years, according to Brigham Young University’s 2023 rankings.