Research

[1] “The Value of Employee Morale in Mergers and Acquisitions: Evidence from Glassdoor” (Solo-Authored) - Presented at FMA European Meeting: Doctoral Student Consortium (2022), World Finance Conference (2022), Paris Financial Management Conference (2022), SGF Conference: Ph.D. Poster Session (2023), EFMA Annual Meeting (2023), MFS Conference (2023), ASFAAG Conference (2023), EuropeanFA Annual Meeting: Poster Session (2023), FMA Annual Meeting (2023), and Fostering Inclusion: A Workshop to Advance Research on DEI (2024)

Abstract: In this paper, I define employee morale as employees’ attitudes toward and perceptions of the tasks they perform and the dynamics within their companies. I explore how employee morale affects merger probability, merger outcomes, and the morale of the merged firm using various proxies. The paper makes several novel findings. Firms with similar employee morale are more likely to merge, achieve greater short-run and long-run post-merger synergies, perform more effective takeover restructurings, and exhibit higher likelihood and speed of merger completion. Firms with aligned morale demonstrate better post-merger integration compared to those with dissimilar morale. I introduce weather as an instrumental variable to proxy for morale, providing an additional test to strengthen the analysis, which confirms the significant impact of morale on these outcomes. Furthermore, the low (high) morale of target employees worsens (enhances) post-merger morale, subsequently worsening (improving) the acquiring company’s performance. This finding highlights the transmission of low target employees’ morale to acquirer employees as a key channel for worsened performance, and I identify two primary mechanisms through which target morale transmits to acquirer morale – the integration of management from target industries and the integration of the broader labor force within those industries. The results also indicate that acquiring companies value the morale profile of target companies, often bidding for those with high morale.


[2] “Untangling Employee Morale in Buyouts” (Solo-Authored)

Abstract: The paper documents evidence of private equity’s focus on post-acquisition performance and their expertise in managing and integrating companies with different attributes. I make the following findings. For the average company in the sample, private equity is more likely to merge with companies with dissimilar employee morale. The search for companies with dissimilarities points to private equity acquirers performing a pre-deal screening process wherein both companies learn about each other and match with each other. Following the acquisition, due to private equity’s experience with managing companies with dissimilarities, they grow the companies they acquire, increase operating performance and efficiency of target companies with dissimilarities. This also points to private equity viewing companies with dissimilarities as value-enhancing. For companies with similarities, private equity hurts long-term performance. It is likely that private equity will decide to let go of less efficient workers to achieve those performance goals in dissimilar firms where target employees fit in private equity culture less. 


[3] “Predicting Bankruptcy: Ask the Employees” (with John Knopf) - Presented at FMA Annual Meeting – New Ideas Session (2022), World Finance Conference (2023), FMA Annual Meeting (2023), Michigan State University Brown Bag (2024), International Business Analytics Conference for Academics and Industry Professionals (2024), FMA European Conference (2024), MFS Conference (2024), FMA Asia/Pacific Conference (2024, accepted), Harvard-Wharton Insolvency and Restructuring Conference (2024)*, Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at Emory University School of Law (2024)*, and Generative AI in Finance Conference (2024)*

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to show how employees’ attitudes predict bankruptcy throughout various years (phases) of the bankruptcy process – from two and three years before (1), one year before (2), and from the time of filing to the time of liquidation/reorganization (3). We find that our prediction model, inclusive of employees’ attitudes, more accurately predicts bankruptcy two to three years before bankruptcy filings, while the other models are more accurate in the year prior to the bankruptcy. While already-established models’ predictive power increases the closer we get to bankruptcy filings, our model’s predictive power, compared to other models, is higher the further we move from bankruptcy filings. Moreover, the addition of employee satisfaction into already-established models improves their predictive performance. We create a machine learning model consisting of reviews and ratings separately and together in the same model and show that textual reviews provide additional predictive power for bankruptcy filings on top of rating and financial information. In survival analyses, we show that employee satisfaction (both in terms of aggregated and individual rating categories) one, two, and three years before bankruptcy filings is a strong predictor whether a company would emerge from bankruptcy successfully. Our paper is the first paper to show that not only is employee satisfaction a predictor of bankruptcy in addition to financial and market data, but that it also is a more powerful predictor of bankruptcy emergence than financial and market data.


[4] "Scoring Profits? The Impact of Private Equity on Soccer Clubs" (with Brennan Cimpeanu) - Presented at World Finance Banking Symposium (2024)*

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of private equity on European football, focusing on the 96 male teams (67 female teams we have data on) in the five principal European soccer leagues – Premier League (Super League) (England), La Liga (Liga F) (Spain), Bundesliga (Frauen-Bundesliga) (Germany), Serie A (Serie A Women) (Italy), and Ligue 1 (Feminine Division 1) (France), and the 2,178 male soccer players in these 96 teams and the 1,645 female soccer players in these 67 teams as of the 2023-2024 season. Using a staggered difference-in-differences methodology and both hand-collected and private datasets on soccer clubs' financials, male player salaries, male and female player and match performance statistics, and team and sponsorship changes, the paper examines PE's impact across three dimensions – managerial, financial, and male and female player and match performance. The findings suggest that while PE investments may have successfully boosted commercial aspects, such as revenues, on-field individual soccer player performance declines (mostly that of individual female soccer players) as well as team match performance (mostly observed in both female and male away games). This discrepancy highlights a trade-off where off-field gains haven't translated into on-field success. This suggests that soccer clubs move through a transition period and a strategic shift (as evidenced by immediate chairman, management, and squad changes). Despite male players' salary increases following PE investments, reflecting PE's alignment with strategic goals, individual player and match performance suffers because of team dynamics changes. We document that degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality among male and female players decline following the PE deal, which has a direct impact on male and female home and away match performance.


[5] "Robinhood Snacks' Newsletter Sentiment and Retail Investors' Behavior" (Solo-Authored) - Draft available upon request


[6] "The Labor Market Outcomes of Diversity Visa Lottery Winners: A Comparative Study of Eastern and Western European Immigrants in the U.S."


[7] "PE Failed-Bank Resolutions and Labor Demand" 


*: Denotes upcoming presentations