Academic Research
I am a tenured Associate Professor at the Argyros School of Business and Economics and a research associate with the Economic Science Institute. I received my Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Minnesota in 2008 where John Dickhaut was my advisor. Prior to graduate school, I was a controller at a private multi-state firm and senior auditor for a public accounting firm. For the 2016-17 years, I was a visiting professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. During the Spring of 2018, I was on sabbatical as a visiting professor at Emory University.
My research examines the effect of institutional features, namely accounting systems, have upon strategic behavior within group settings. The research methodology employed is exclusively experimental, and predictions of behavior are based upon economics-based analytical theory and psychology theory. I have published several articles in peer-reviewed journals including Management Science, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Economic Inquiry, Accounting Horizons, and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. I have also been awarded several competitive grants including the American Accounting Association Steve Berlin/CITGO Award and Certified General Accountants/Canadian Academic Accounting Association Research Grant. My research has been presented at numerous major conferences in accounting, economics, religion, and evolutionary psychology.
I currently teach undergraduate Introductory Managerial Accounting and in the Master of Accounting program I teach Ethics using Adam Smith's The Moral Sentiments. In the past, I have taught graduate Accounting for Management and Control and Financial Accounting and Analysis, as well as undergraduate Introductory Financial Accounting.
Research Interests
Coordination & Communication Settings
Determinants of Cooperation
Institutional Influences upon Behavior
Incentives & Disincentives to Trust
Effects of Ambiguity
Links
Online Ambiguity Generator. CSV files are created by default. Click on the API examples if you want to call directly from Mathematica, Python, or Curl.
Source Code for Ambiguity Generator. Written in Haskell, distributed freely under MIT license and on the linked page.
Affiliations
American Accounting Association
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Canadian Academic Accounting Association
Economic Science Association
Academic Past and Current Service
Accounting Faculty Search Committee Chair
Internal Review Board
Faculty Senator
Argyros School of Business and Economics Faculty Chair
Acting Chairperson of Accounting
Community Service
Orange County Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Ride to Cure Diabetes
Ad-hoc Referee
Accounting, Organizations, and Society
American Economic Review
Behavioral Research in Accounting (member Editorial Board)
European Economic Review
Experimental Economics
Games and Economic Behavior
Journal of Accounting Research (excellence in reviewing 2021, 2022, & 2023)
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Journal of Management Accounting Research
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Journal of Conflict Resolution
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Managerial and Decision Economics
Management Science
Theory and Decision
Publications
Schniter, E., and Shields, T. W. (2023) "Better-than-chance Prediction of Cooperative Behaviour from First and Second Impressions", Evolutionary Human Sciences, 6 (2): 1–23. pdf
Chakravarthy, J., and Shields, T.W. (2023) "The Conservatism Principle and Asymmetric Preferences Over Reporting Errors”, Behavioral Research in Accounting, forthcoming. pdf
Schneider, M., and Shields, T.W. (2022) ``Motives for Cooperation in the One-Shot Prisoner's Dilemma", Journal of Behavioral Finance, 23(4): 438-456, pdf
Lunawat, R., Shields, T.W., and Waymire, G. (2021) “Financial Reporting and Moral Sentiments”, Journal of Accounting & Economics, 72(1): 101421, pdf
Gómez-Miñambres, J., Schniter, E., and Shields, T.W. (2021) “Investment Choice Architecture in Trust Games: When ‘All-in’ Is Not Enough", Economic Inquiry, 59(1): 300-314, pdf, data
Schniter, E., and Shields, T.W. (2020) "Gender, Stererotypes, and Trust in Communication", Human Nature, 31(3): 296-321, pdf, data
Schniter, E., Shields, T.W. and Sznycer, D. (2020) “Trust in Humans and Robots: Economically Similar but Emotionally Different”, Journal of Economic Psychology, 78, pdf data
Rietz, T., Schniter, E., Sheremeta, R. and Shields, T.W. (2018) “Trust, Reciprocity, and Rules”, Economic Inquiry, 56(3). pdf
Sheremeta, R., and Shields, T.W. (2017), "Deception and Reception: The Behavior of Information Providers and Users", Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 137: 445-456. pdf
Schniter, E., Sheremeta, R., and Shields, T.W. (2015), “Conflicted Emotions Following Trust-Based Interaction”, Journal of Economic Psychology, 51: 48-65. pdf
Pfeiffer, G., and Shields, T.W. (2015) “Performance-Based Compensation and Firm Value – Experimental Evidence”, Accounting Horizons, 29(4), 777–798. pdf
Kimbrough, E., Rubin, J., Sheremeta, R., and Shields, T.W. (2015) “Commitment Problems in Conflict Resolution”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 112: 33-45. pdf
Schniter, E., and Shields, T.W. (2014) “Ageism, Honesty and Trust”, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 51: 19-29 pdf
Kimbrough, E., Sheremeta, R., and Shields, T.W. (2014) “Parity Promotes Peace: Resolving Conflicts through a Random Device”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 99: 96-108. pdf
Schniter, E., and Shields, T.W. (2013) “Recalibrational Emotions and the Regulation of Trust-Based Behaviors” In Psychology of Trust: New Research, David Gefen Ed., Nova Publishers. pdf
Rietz, T., Sheremeta, R., Shields, T.W. and Smith, V. (2013) “Transparency, Efficiency and the Distribution of Economic Welfare in Pass-Through Investment Trust Games”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 94: 257-267. pdf
Sheremeta, R., and Shields, T.W. (2013) “Do Liars Believe? Beliefs and Other-Regarding Preferences in Sender-Receiver Games”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 94: 268–277 pdf
Dickhaut, J., Shields, T.W., and Stecher, J. (2011) “Generating Ambiguity in the Laboratory”, Management Science, Vol. 57 (4): 705-712 pdf
Under Review
Hong, B., and Shields, T.W. "Incentivizing Judgment and Decision-making: A Framing Effect"
Chakravarthy, J., Chen, K.Y., Nganga, T., and Shields, T.W. "Making Talk Less Cheap: The Intrinsic Verifiability of Bad News."
Working Papers
Hong, B., and Shields, T.W. "Incentivizing High-Quality Audit Judgments and Decisions: A Framework and Experiment.", Registered report proposal with PCAOB.
Chakravarthy, J., Chen, K.Y., Nganga, T., and Shields, T.W. "The Sinister Attribution Bias and Asymmetric Preferences Over Reporting Errors"
Published Data Sets
“Data Associated with Manuscript Titled: Predictive Mind Reading from First and Second Impressions: Better-than-chance Prediction of Cooperative Behavior.”, https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.7465287
“Participant Faces from a Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma.”, https://zenodo.org/record/4321821#.X9mAaS1h0h8
“Participant Faces from a Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma - Data Mapping Key”, https://zenodo.org/record/4321814#.X9mCGi1h0h8
“Economic behavior and emotion reports in trust game interactions with fellow humans and robots.”, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/gz35m94jkn.1
“Trust-game interactions and beliefs in continuous and ”All-or-Nothing” investment action spaces.”, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/bg9zfr7zhn.1
“Trust-based communication in known and unknown gender interactions.”, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/csf2rcztf8.1
"Data Associated with Manuscript Titled: Conflicted Emotions Following Trust-Based Interaction", https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10223634
Select Presentations
2024 Accounting and Economics Society Panel Discussion
2023 Department of Accounting at Lehigh University Workshop, Bethlehem
2023 Western Economic Association International Annual Conference, San Diego
2023 Economic Science Association Annual Worldwide Meeting, Lyon
2023 Experimental Research in Management Accounting Conference, Giessen
2023 Asia Pacific Economic Science Association Meeting, Seoul
2023 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop
2022 Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, Lake Tahoe
2022 European Network for Experimental Accounting Research (ENEAR), Seville
2022 Western Economic Association International Annual Conference, Portland
2022 Experimental Research in Management Accounting Conference, Bochum
2022 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, Saskatoon
2022 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop, Orange
2022 American Accounting Association Western Region Meeting, Long Beach
2022 Accounting and Economics Society Webinar
2022 Southern California Accounting Research Forum, Fullerton
2022 University of Texas Arlington Accounting Speaker Series, Arlington
2022 Asia Pacific ESA Meeting, Osaka
2022 University of Alberta Accounting Speaker Series, Alberta
2002 Hawai'i Accounting Research Conference, Honolulu
2021 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Tucson
2021 Accounting, Behavior, and Organization Section of American Accounting Association, San Antonio
2021 11th annual French Association of Experimental Economics (ASFEE) International Conference
2021 Western Economic Association International 96th Annual Conference, Seattle
2020 Accounting and Economics Society Webinar
2020 57th Edwards Bayesian Research Conference, Fullerton
2020 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop, Orange
2019 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Los Angeles
2019 Experimental Research in Management Accounting Conference, Bayreuth
2019 Western Economic Association International Annual Conference, San Francisco
2019 International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Sedona
2019 Georgia Institute of Technology Accounting Workshop, Atlanta
2019 Lafayette College Economics Workshop, Easton
2019 Economic Science Institute Workshop, Orange
2018 Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory, Taipei
2018 Georgia State University Accounting Workshop, Atlanta
2018 Emory University Experimental Workshop, Atlanta
2017 International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Taormina Sicily
2017 Western Section of American Accounting Association Conference, San Francisco
2017 Workshop Penn State University, State College
2016 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Tucson
2016 Workshop Bucknell University, Lewisburg
2016 Western Section of American Accounting Association Conference, Seattle
2016 Southern California Accounting Research Forum, Long Beach
2016 54th Annual Edwards Bayesian Research Conference, Fullerton
2015 UCLA Behavior, Evolution and Culture Speaker Series, Los Angeles
2015 Jr. Accounting Theory Conference, Chicago
2015 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Chicago
2015 Workshop at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
2015 International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Hong Kong
2015 Ninth Accounting Research Workshop, Zurich
2015 Canadian Economics Association Annual Conference, Toronto
2015 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, Toronto
2015 California Workshop on Evolutionary Social Science, San Luis Obispo
2015 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop
2014 Fundamentos del Análisis Económico Workshop on Gender Issues in Experimental Economics, Alicante
2014 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta
2014 Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, Lake Tahoe
2014 Thurgau Experimental Economics Meeting (theem), Stein am Rhein
2014 Southern California Accounting Research Forum, Pomona
2014 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop
2013 Accounting, Behavior and Organization Section of American Accounting Association, San Diego
2013 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Anaheim
2013 International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Zurich
2013 Economic Science Association Annual Worldwide Meeting, Zurich
2013 Western Economic Association International Annual Conference, Seattle
2013 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, Montreal
2013 Southern California Accounting Research Forum, Fullerton
2012 Invited workshop at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
2012 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Tucson
2012 New Developments in Signaling and Game Theory Conference, Monte Verita
2012 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC
2012 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Annual Meeting, Albuquerque
2012 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, Charleston
2012 Annual California Workshop on Evolutionary Perspectives of Human Behavior, San Los Pismo
2012 Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture Annual Meeting, Orange
2012 International Workshop on Neuro-Psychological and Socio-Institutional Foundations of Pro-social Behavior, Tokyo
2012 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop
2012 Economic Science Institute's Experimental Economics, Accounting, and Society: In Memory of John Dickhaut Conference, Orange
2011 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Tucson
2011 International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Amsterdam
2011 Western Section of American Accounting Association Conference, Newport Beach
2011 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, Toronto
2011 International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop
2010 Economic Science Association Annual North America Meeting, Tucson
2010 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco
Grants
2013-2014 Ralph W. Leatherby Center for “When and Why to Confess: The Rationale Behind Voluntarily Informing Others That You Have Caused Offense”
2013-2014 CGA-Canada/CAAA Research Grant Program for "Higher Order Beliefs and Efficiency"
2013-2014 Argyros School of Business and Economics summer research grant for “Effect of Minimum Standards Upon Trust and Reciprocity”
2013-2014 Scholarly/Creative Activity grant for “Predictable and Predictive Emotions in a Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma”
2013 Charles Koch Foundation for “Sexism & Cooperation” 2
2013 Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics for “Trust, Apology, & Confession”
2012-2013 American Accounting Association Steve Berlin/CITGO Award and Grant for “Incentives, Truth, and Consequences”
2012 Charles Koch Foundation for “Effect of Endogenously Dictated versus Exogenous Chosen Rules”