“The symbolic management of performance: Public opinion and attention to performance in a public arena during the Iraq war" (with Mary Kate Stimmler), 2015
Extending research on the symbolic management of performance, this study examines the relationship between public opinion and attention to performance in a public arena in the context of the second Iraq war. Analyses of press briefings by Pentagon officials reveal that favorable public opinion for the war increases attention to performance and moderates the influence of U.S. casualties on attention to performance. Whereas favorable public opinion is associated with high levels of attention that are unaffected by variations in U.S. casualties, unfavorable public opinion greatly magnifies the negative influence of U.S. casualties on attention. In addition, lesser attention to performance in press briefings is related to decreases in U.S. troop levels. Implications of these results for organizational research on the symbolic management of performance and public opinion are discussed.
"The diffusion of an invisible corporate practice: Evidence from stock backdating, 1981-2005," (with F. K. Yao), 2011.
We studied the spread of stock backdating, an unethical corporate practice about which public information was virtually absent until 2005. In contrast to corporate practices accessible to outsiders, this "invisible" practice did not diffuse through board interlocks. Rather, stock option backdating spread through geographic proximity. Lending support to the importance of localized interactions among members of the local business elite, the effect of geographical proximity was conditional on high levels of local board interlocks. In addition, consistent with stock backdating’s unobservability by outsiders, this practice did not diffuse through indirect channels that often underlie the diffusion of corporate practices. Together these findings suggest that invisible corporate practices follow unique diffusion patterns.