In his August 16 letter to campus, Father John Jenkins charged each of us to “… live up to our highest ideals, making this community, rich in diversity, ever more one characterized by mutual respect, care for one another, and solidarity.” His letter recognized the many efforts across campus to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, but also affirmed there is much more to be done.

The importance placed on diversity by the University is true of Mendoza as well. My purpose in this column is to give you an idea of the current sentiments of College staff on DE&I-related matters by sharing the findings from the Mendoza Staff DE&I Pulse Survey conducted in May. I also want to provide an update on the work that has been done and/or is planned for the future in response to the feedback we received, as well as areas where we have great opportunities for continued advancement.

First, thank you to all who responded to the inaugural DE&I Pulse Survey. We had almost a 50% response rate to the anonymous survey which included over individual 125 comments. This information provided additional context to the quantitative responses. Your candor, transparency and suggestions were greatly appreciated

The Staff DE&I Council analyzed the results and conducted a SWOT analysis that was later shared with the dean, associate deans and directors in the College. Following are key points in each category.

With approval and support from the dean and in partnership with associate deans and directors, the Council identified several key objectives to advance toward a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for all.

These include:

Continuing the Mendoza Staff Pulse Survey throughout the year with analysis and action plans to follow in conjunction with feedback and results from the 2022 ND Voice Survey (scheduled to launch in early 2022.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me, or any member of our staff DE&I Council or reach out to our College and University DE&I contacts.

In closing, I’ll quote again from Father John’s letter: “Our commitment must be for the long term, so that the change we seek will last.” As a community, it’s essential we all come together to be advocates, allies and leaders in this space.

In Notre Dame,

Kara

Kara J. Palmer
Director of Administration 

Here are several research papers recently published in top academic journals from across our departments:

John Donovan, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
"Private Lenders’ Use of Analyst Earnings Forecasts When Establishing Debt Covenant Thresholds" (The Accounting Review)
We provide evidence that lenders use analyst forecasts of the borrower’s future earnings as an input when establishing covenant thresholds in private debt contracts. Our evidence is contrary to the view that covenant thresholds are set based on a minimum level of expected performance. Our study also contributes to the literature on the role of analysts in informing market participants and suggests that analysts also provide information to lenders with access to private information.

Tim Kundro, Assistant Professor of Management & Organization
“Understanding When and Why Cover-Ups Are Punished Less Severely” (Academy of Management Journal)
Cover-ups are remarkably costly, often immoral, and problematic for organizations, but research paints competing perspectives about how organizational insiders respond to cover-ups. We explore why organizational insiders punish or fail to punish transgressors. We find that cover-ups that are perceived as loyal go unpunished, suggesting that loyalty comes with costs in this context.

John Sherry, Raymond W. & Kenneth G. Herrick Professor of Marketing Emeritus
"Attachment to and Detachment from Favorite Stores: An Affordance Theory Perspective" (Journal of Consumer Research)
Retail locations offer opportunities for attachment away from home. In commercial settings, consumers construct personal geographies, creating stable references for their lives. We show how sensual, symbolic, and cerebral affordances – invitations for action extended by the built environment - trigger meaningful ties, stimulate new affective and behavioral repertoires, and transform biographies. Bonds evolve over life courses and are affected by disturbances such as store closures. We reveal how disruptive and tractable detachments precipitate constructive change.

Sriram Somanchi, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations
"To Predict or Not to Predict: The Case of the Emergency Department" (Production and Operations Management Journal)
We develop a novel two-stage prediction framework that improves the efficiency of hospital operations in terms of handoff from an Emergency Department (ED) to an inpatient facility. Working with a healthcare startup, we show that our method identifies subgroups of patients for whom we can send early signals to an inpatient facility about an admitting patient with limited information while still maintaining high accuracy. Our work has significant potential value to healthcare entities and contributes to a growing stream of work on how to best realize the value of healthcare analytics efforts.

Rafael Zambrana, Assistant Professor of Finance
"A Tale of Two Types: Generalists vs. Specialists in Asset Management" (Journal of Financial Economics)
We study the allocation of human capital within management companies and analyze whether there is an optimal assignment of portfolio managers based on their investment strategy. We find that management companies achieve higher performance by assigning stock pickers to manage funds within a single investment objective (specialists) and market timers to run multiple funds with different investment objectives (generalists). Overall, our results are consistent with decision-making in management companies that add value to their investors by aiming to optimally assign portfolio managers.

My thanks to these faculty members and the many others whose efforts contribute new knowledge to their disciplines and who “grow the good in business” through their research.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn