The Costello College of Business at George Mason University is a leading center for impactful business research.
Our faculty are engaged with research that is both rigorous and relevant. Our faculty love to bring their research to the classroom, where they talk about their findings and ideas—which enriches the knowledge our students are exposed to. Our faculty research also shows up in policy and business practice, and is making an impact on the business of government and industry.
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55k
Research Citations by Costello’s Top 10 most-cited scholars
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#81
UT-Dallas North American Business School Research Rankings
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19
Costello professors holding editorial positions at academic journals
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22
Published papers in premier journals by Costello faculty in 2024-2025
Hot Topics
August 27, 2024With the right operational strategy, transitioning from selling products to delivering services can be the right move for profits, people and the planet. Ioannis Bellos, associate professor of information systems and operations management (OM) and MBA Program Director at the Donald G. Costello College of Business, and Hang Ren, associate professor of OM at Costello, have published research exploring how servicization can live up to its massive potential.
August 22, 2024Artificial intelligence can perform peer firm selection—a key task for investors—at least as accurately as well-established alternative algorithms and human experts, according to research by Costello profs Long Chen and Yi Cao.
August 16, 2024Fake trades engineered to juice an exchange’s numbers have been a part of bitcoin exchanges since the beginning, finds a George Mason finance prof.
June 4, 2024The controversy about biased policing seems to draw endless fuel from race-based differences in public perception. Simply put, the vast majority of White citizens in the United States believe the police are doing a good job, including on issues of racial equality, while a similar percentage of Black citizens hold the opposite opinion. Brad Greenwood, professor of information systems and operations management, researches how digital technologies are bringing unprecedented transparency to police practices.
May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
May 10, 2024George Mason researchers Nirup Menon and Brian Ngac recently won a two-year award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to create unique experiential learning opportunities and workshops designed to enhance cybersecurity education and workforce development.
April 18, 2024Bo Hu, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is developing new research methods to better capture the intricate, interlinked dynamics of financial markets.-
April 16, 2024Like financial markets, the creative industries are driven to seek equilibrium, which may be good news for both human content creators and their algorithmic adversaries. Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance, is researching this in a new working paper.
April 5, 2024You can spend millions to buy a company for its employees, but how do you know they’ll stay put? Now, AI can predict post-deal turnover with a startling degree of accuracy. In a recently working paper, Jingyuan Yang, an information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, discovers how to efficiently predict employee turnover using an innovative AI-driven approach-
February 22, 2024Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business, has received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. According to the NSF website, the CAREER award is given to “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”
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February 15, 2024Why the legal framework currently in play to protect our online data isn’t working—and how it might be improved. Brad Greenwood, an information systems professor at the Costello College of Business, researches breach notification laws.
January 22, 2024To stay competitive in the war for talent, tech companies must weigh secrecy against specificity when crafting job ads. Are they disclosing too much?
December 11, 2023Open-source learning materials promise to democratize education, while reducing the financial burden on students. But how can schools bring faculty on board?
October 11, 2023Can wearable tech resolve the crisis of underemployment among neurodiverse individuals? A multidisciplinary Mason research team is about to embark on a major study to find out.
June 20, 2023Why are some firms more forthcoming than others about their social and environmental impact? It may have to do with the CEO’s personal incentives.
May 22, 2023How can you convince someone to give you their time or money free of charge? Focus on the head, not the heart.
May 10, 2023A Mason professor is the sole academic working with the U.S. government in an unprecedented effort to measure environmental-economic activity.
March 9, 2023The moment a brand publicizes its good works, it’s at risk of seeming cynical. A Mason professor offers research-based advice on how to generate lasting brand value from sustainability.
February 22, 2023Human trafficking is a global crisis of overwhelming scope. Fortunately, anti-trafficking organizations can use AI to predict the criminals’ next moves–with the help of a George Mason University professor.
February 2, 2023Thanks to TikTok, Twitter, Instagram et al, we are living in the age of social influence. But how can influence be harnessed to make the world a better place? Yun Young Hur, assistant professor of information systems at George Mason University School of Business, explores that question in a recently published paper in Information Systems Research.
December 1, 2022George Mason University’s Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) recently convened an in-person Stakeholder Roundtable on the subject of Corporate Governance. The half-day event took place at Point of View International Retreat & Research Center at Mason Neck in Lorton, VA on October 21.
October 19, 2022For most drivers in the U.S., obeying a stop sign upon approaching an intersection is an unavoidable annoyance. But for Mason finance professor Jiasun Li, it’s a problem waiting to be solved. His recent working paper proposes a simple and economical improvement: removing one stop sign from every four-way intersection. According to his calculations, this would boost not only driver safety, but environmental sustainability as well.
October 12, 2022Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the business leadership agenda for more than 50 years, yet executives and corporate boards still demand to see the "business case" for CSR. Clearly, CSR’s familiarity as a concept has not translated into coherent ideas of where it fits into the cost-benefit calculations that motivate business strategy. A forthcoming article in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis by Lei Gao, associate professor of finance at George Mason University School of Business, Jie (Jack) He (of University of Georgia) and Juan (Julie) Wu (of University of Nebraska – Lincoln) goes beyond the business case to form cause-and-effect connections involving companies’ CSR efforts.
May 18, 2021Years spent engaging with consumers in the business world made School of Business Marketing faculty Niki Vlastara realize that how sustainability concepts and proposals were marketed significantly influenced how successful they became.
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August 27, 2024With the right operational strategy, transitioning from selling products to delivering services can be the right move for profits, people and the planet. Ioannis Bellos, associate professor of information systems and operations management (OM) and MBA Program Director at the Donald G. Costello College of Business, and Hang Ren, associate professor of OM at Costello, have published research exploring how servicization can live up to its massive potential.
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August 22, 2024Artificial intelligence can perform peer firm selection—a key task for investors—at least as accurately as well-established alternative algorithms and human experts, according to research by Costello profs Long Chen and Yi Cao.
June 17, 2024George Mason senior associate dean and associate professor of accounting, JK Aier's prizewinning paper shows how firms can benefit from executive roles that strategically bridge the board and management.-
May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
April 29, 2024The executive director of George Mason’s government contracting research center highlights “agile acquisition” as the key to beefing up national defense.-
April 5, 2024You can spend millions to buy a company for its employees, but how do you know they’ll stay put? Now, AI can predict post-deal turnover with a startling degree of accuracy. In a recently working paper, Jingyuan Yang, an information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, discovers how to efficiently predict employee turnover using an innovative AI-driven approach
March 28, 2024The college that now bears Donald G. Costello’s name is a fitting testament to his entrepreneurial legacy. This extends not only to coursework and outreach programs, which have long stressed entrepreneurship, but also to the faculty’s research expertise. Indeed, a number of Costello College of Business professors were key contributors to Mason’s being named the #2 university for entrepreneurship research in North America by independent ratings agency EduRank.-
February 22, 2024Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business, has received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. According to the NSF website, the CAREER award is given to “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”
February 13, 2024Deciding whether to reveal someone else’s secrets isn’t just a moral dilemma. It can also have a serious impact on your reputation. Costello College of Business assistant professor of management, Einav Hart, explores this issue in a series of studies.
February 6, 2024Mason finance professor Lei Gao, finds a “precautionary effect” at work in the minds of Republican-supporting CEOs, leading to more frequent and accurate earnings forecasts.-
January 22, 2024To stay competitive in the war for talent, tech companies must weigh secrecy against specificity when crafting job ads. Are they disclosing too much?
January 5, 2024Even famously neutral news organizations are not immune to the pressure to compete for clicks in the increasingly partisan online marketplace.
September 18, 2023When government contractors merge, comparing their customers can predict a lot about how investors will respond to the deal.
May 30, 2023Not all pharmaceutical companies are equally well-suited to surf the sea change that’s happening in healthcare.-
May 22, 2023How can you convince someone to give you their time or money free of charge? Focus on the head, not the heart.
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May 18, 2023In China, auto sales rose sharply when Uber came to town. That should make you re-examine received wisdom about the sharing economy.
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March 28, 2023There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to growing a franchise business. But stock market reactions to companies’ strategic moves can give you more than a clue.
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March 9, 2023The moment a brand publicizes its good works, it’s at risk of seeming cynical. A Mason professor offers research-based advice on how to generate lasting brand value from sustainability.
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February 2, 2023Thanks to TikTok, Twitter, Instagram et al, we are living in the age of social influence. But how can influence be harnessed to make the world a better place? Yun Young Hur, assistant professor of information systems at George Mason University School of Business, explores that question in a recently published paper in Information Systems Research.
December 8, 2022Marketing professor Tarun Kushwaha’s recent research finds that the effectiveness of brands’ growth strategies can be correlated with the state of the economy. Analyzing 17 years of data on U.K. brands, Kushwaha concludes that brands that prioritize assortment and wider distribution are in the best position to weather the ups and downs of the macroeconomic cycle.
November 2, 2022It’s 9 am. Do you know where your team members are? Before Covid, the answer was simple: They were – or were expected to be – in the office. The pandemic erased that certainty and accelerated the pace toward work-place flexibility. As we move forward in our post-covid work environment, employees are strongly indicating their preference for flexibility and self-determination regarding their working environment. A portion of the workforce will desire to stay at home with high flexibility, whereas others will return to the office by choice.
September 20, 2022Selling is inseparable from relationship management. In the past, the one-to-one "human touch" of a salesperson compensated for the standardized nature of their wares. However, today's sales environment tends towards customized solutions and co-creation with the client, especially in the B2B space. In many cases, these trends have greatly increased the network of stakeholders whom salespeople are obliged to keep happy. Research shows that B2B customers benefit from being more involved in the process, but what about the sales force? Does their increased interpersonal burden translate to higher risk of burnout? George Mason University School of Business Marketing Area Chair Jessica Hoppner's recently published paper in Industrial Marketing Management, co-authored by Paul Mills of Cleveland State University and David A. Griffith of Texas A&M University, finds some surprising answers.
May 2, 2022In the earliest stage of innovation, creative proposals are judged according to their perceived novelty and usefulness. Sharaya Jones, assistant professor of marketing at Mason, has a simple yet counterintuitive rule for would-be innovators hawking their ideas: More is more. Her recent paper in Marketing Science, co-authored by Laura J. Kornish of University of Colorado Boulder, pits verbose and detailed idea descriptions against terse ones.-
April 7, 2022Turbulent times are challenging for decision-makers in business. This pervasive condition scholars call economic policy uncertainty (EPU) can turn a wise move into a costly one virtually overnight and is known to weigh on firm innovation, investments and value. When confronting EPU, what’s a firm to do? Saurabh Mishra, professor and area chair of marketing at Mason, and co-authors explores that question.
November 29, 2022Mehmet Altug, an associate professor of operations management, has been researching retail returns policies for a decade. The issue has recently come to prominence, as the lenient policies of online retailers have led to skyrocketing return rates (now exceeding 20 percent in the U.S.). Altug’s various academic papers delve into the difficult trade-offs retailers face when setting returns policies. While there are no easy answers, Altug’s research identifies factors that can help retailers achieve more strategic flexibility.-
May 18, 2021Years spent engaging with consumers in the business world made School of Business Marketing faculty Niki Vlastara realize that how sustainability concepts and proposals were marketed significantly influenced how successful they became.
April 12, 2021Yannis Bellos, associate professor for Information Systems and Operations Management, has been with George Mason University School of Business since 2012. His research interests sit at the intersection of sustainability and service operations, making him a perfect member of the Business for a Better World Center affiliate faculty team.-
May 21, 2020Ioannis Bellos, associate professor of information systems and operations management, began researching service design as a PhD student at Georgia Tech.
September 4, 2024Thanking someone in advance for something you’re asking them to do increases their motivation and commitment to the task. This savvy managerial technique also raises some tricky ethical questions.
July 16, 2024If you’re nervous about negotiating a starting salary, that’s because your mind is playing not one, but two tricks on you. A George Mason management prof explains how to undo the mental spell.-
April 5, 2024You can spend millions to buy a company for its employees, but how do you know they’ll stay put? Now, AI can predict post-deal turnover with a startling degree of accuracy. In a recently working paper, Jingyuan Yang, an information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, discovers how to efficiently predict employee turnover using an innovative AI-driven approach
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March 11, 2024Sarah Wittman, an assistant professor of management at Mason's Costello College of Business, unpacks this complex problem and proposes some potential research-based solutions.
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February 13, 2024Deciding whether to reveal someone else’s secrets isn’t just a moral dilemma. It can also have a serious impact on your reputation. Costello College of Business assistant professor of management, Einav Hart, explores this issue in a series of studies.
-
January 22, 2024To stay competitive in the war for talent, tech companies must weigh secrecy against specificity when crafting job ads. Are they disclosing too much?
January 8, 2024A Mason professor unpacks the complex, nuanced impact of the “revolving door” between industry and regulators in the accounting world.
December 8, 2023No matter who you are, feeling threatened in your identity is bad for your well-being—and your career.
November 6, 2023With the rise of online learning, cheating has become easier than ever. And perhaps more prevalent as well, suggests one Mason accounting professor.-
October 11, 2023Can wearable tech resolve the crisis of underemployment among neurodiverse individuals? A multidisciplinary Mason research team is about to embark on a major study to find out.
September 27, 2023Online technology has made real-time performance feedback a workplace reality. But a pair of Mason professors have found out about a major bias in the system.
September 15, 2023It’s not the combined skill level of the team that counts, so much as the chemistry (or lack thereof) between the members.
December 4, 2024Leaked payroll data may contradict everything you thought you knew about the economic impact of high-skilled legal immigration.
November 19, 2024The 2008 financial crisis cast a pall of pessimism over veteran CEOs that took three years to lift. David Koo, assistant professor of accounting, has found that memories of past recessions, triggered by recent ones, can weigh on chief executives’ decisions, literally for years.-
August 22, 2024Artificial intelligence can perform peer firm selection—a key task for investors—at least as accurately as well-established alternative algorithms and human experts, according to research by Costello profs Long Chen and Yi Cao.
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August 6, 2024The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.
July 22, 2024You can tell a lot about a hedge fund’s quality—and long-term performance—from the market climate in which it was launched. Lin Sun, assistant professor of finance, recently published a paper in Review of Finance that compares hedge funds formed in high-demand, or “hot,” markets to those produced in a “cold” market climate.-
June 17, 2024George Mason senior associate dean and associate professor of accounting, JK Aier's prizewinning paper shows how firms can benefit from executive roles that strategically bridge the board and management.
-
May 30, 2024The Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting is working with the federal government to reform the military’s Cold War-era processes for tech development.
May 15, 2024The SEC’s unique treatment of companies that opt into public reporting shows that lighter-touch regulation can sometimes be just as effective. Associate professor of accounting Bret Johnson’s recent paper looks at how the SEC handles the added responsibility of reviewing voluntary filings.-
April 18, 2024Bo Hu, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is developing new research methods to better capture the intricate, interlinked dynamics of financial markets.
April 10, 2024Measuring risk in private equity is notoriously difficult. New research by Mason assistant professor of accounting, Mariia Nykyforovych, suggests that metric-based myopia, and the distorted incentives it creates, are partly responsible.-
April 3, 2024Mason accounting professor, David Koo, goes back through history to trace how financial reporting requirements affect investors’ long- vs. short-term thinking.
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January 22, 2024To stay competitive in the war for talent, tech companies must weigh secrecy against specificity when crafting job ads. Are they disclosing too much?
April 20, 2023Fifteen teams competed for $40K in prizes at the George Mason University School of Business Patriot Pitch Competition during the in-person April 13 event on Mason’s Fairfax Campus.
March 23, 2023With $40,000 in seed funding up for grabs, George Mason University undergraduate students and recent alumni are preparing to pitch their business ideas to a panel of local business professionals and Mason alumni on Thursday, April 13 at the School of Business Patriot Pitch Competition.
December 7, 2022Management professor Toyah Miller recently co-edited a special issue of Global Strategy Journal exploring how changes in our world are shifting the opportunity space for start-up founders and funders. Miller is the new research director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the School of Business and an expert in the rapidly expanding field of social entrepreneurship.-
December 1, 2022George Mason University’s Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) recently convened an in-person Stakeholder Roundtable on the subject of Corporate Governance. The half-day event took place at Point of View International Retreat & Research Center at Mason Neck in Lorton, VA on October 21.
October 10, 2022Join Dr. Mort as he presents insights on law and business. Friday, 10/14 from 10am - 11 am At the MIX (lower level Horizon Hall). This class will help you become aware of some legal issues you need to understand as you form a company to make, market and sell your products and services.
September 6, 2022Whether you’re looking to meet like-minded founders from different universities or looking for a teammate to launch your next big idea, meet student entrepreneurs from American, Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason, and UMD on the rooftop of Western Market THIS Wednesday, September 14th from 5:30-7:30pm. During this time, you’ll get a chance to network with one another, share stories, challenges, and ideas over a drink or two.
September 6, 2022Explore how and where business opportunities start and examine which technology innovation and business ventures are worth development.
June 7, 2022In business, a specialist strategy can sometimes be riskier than a generalist one. Competing in only one industry leaves firms highly vulnerable to heightened income volatility, with extreme gains and losses, often alternating in quick succession. Innovative firms, whose business models are based on heavy R&D investments with uncertain returns, are especially affected by these fluctuations. Kelly Wentland, assistant professor of accounting, discusses this issue.
November 11, 2021The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s I-Corps program is an accelerator that helps entrepreneurs and researchers work together “to bring invention to impact.” Mason serves as an official I-Corps site, supporting local grantees through the exploratory stages of venture-building, as well as preparing them to apply for the national-level program.
November 2, 2021Forming relationships with other accelerator participants and mentors from CAR and beyond, George Mason University is fostering a culture of entrepreneurship in the small African country.
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August 16, 2024Fake trades engineered to juice an exchange’s numbers have been a part of bitcoin exchanges since the beginning, finds a George Mason finance prof.
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August 8, 2024In churchgoing counties, financial advisors are more likely to remember their ethical training and resist the temptation to misbehave.
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August 6, 2024The economic data on climate and business outcomes paints a picture of profound disruption beneath a placid-seeming surface.
-
July 22, 2024You can tell a lot about a hedge fund’s quality—and long-term performance—from the market climate in which it was launched. Lin Sun, assistant professor of finance, recently published a paper in Review of Finance that compares hedge funds formed in high-demand, or “hot,” markets to those produced in a “cold” market climate.
-
June 17, 2024George Mason senior associate dean and associate professor of accounting, JK Aier's prizewinning paper shows how firms can benefit from executive roles that strategically bridge the board and management.
-
May 15, 2024The SEC’s unique treatment of companies that opt into public reporting shows that lighter-touch regulation can sometimes be just as effective. Associate professor of accounting Bret Johnson’s recent paper looks at how the SEC handles the added responsibility of reviewing voluntary filings.
-
April 18, 2024Bo Hu, an assistant professor of finance at Mason, is developing new research methods to better capture the intricate, interlinked dynamics of financial markets.
-
April 16, 2024Like financial markets, the creative industries are driven to seek equilibrium, which may be good news for both human content creators and their algorithmic adversaries. Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance, is researching this in a new working paper.
-
April 10, 2024Measuring risk in private equity is notoriously difficult. New research by Mason assistant professor of accounting, Mariia Nykyforovych, suggests that metric-based myopia, and the distorted incentives it creates, are partly responsible.
-
April 3, 2024Mason accounting professor, David Koo, goes back through history to trace how financial reporting requirements affect investors’ long- vs. short-term thinking.
-
February 22, 2024Jiasun Li, an associate professor of finance at the Costello College of Business, has received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. According to the NSF website, the CAREER award is given to “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”
-
February 6, 2024Mason finance professor Lei Gao, finds a “precautionary effect” at work in the minds of Republican-supporting CEOs, leading to more frequent and accurate earnings forecasts.