Did you know that Rice Business accepts video essays for MBA applications? Stacy Fish, a former Full-Time MBA student, shares how choosing the video option for her essay allowed her to tell her story as her most authentic self. There's no better way to find an MBA program that's right for you.

Looking for more information about the Rice MBA application process? Check out our admissions guide to see the different ways you can share your story with us. 

Based on research by Yan Anthea Zhang, Robert E. Hoskisson and Wei Shi 

• CFOs often use language that mimics that of their CEOs. 
• CFOs who do this might please the boss, but could fail to adequately express opposing opinions during company decision-making. 
• The result may be higher CFO compensation — but worse decisions for the firm. 

It’s time to meet with company leadership. Whether it’s a top level conference or a routine all-company huddle, have you ever noticed a certain sameness in the way the CEO and the CFO speak? Do they ever sound too similar?

You’re not imagining things, say Rice Business professor Yan Anthea Zhang and emeritus professor Robert E. Hoskisson. Partnering with University of Miami professor Wei Shi, the researchers analyzed 11 years of conference calls by companies making decisions about high level mergers and acquisitions.

They found that seeming similarities between CEO and CFO language are real — and usually rooted in the personal goals of the CFO.

The motive isn’t too surprising. As senior-level leaders, CFOs consistently acquire responsibility in their organizations. It stands to reason that people who rise to this level are focused, motivated and looking to advance — typically, to a higher salary or a seat on the company’s board.

One way CFOs can aid their rise, the researchers found, is by using language style matching, or unconscious verbal mimicry of their bosses. To measure this mimicry, Zhang, Hoskisson and Shi tracked function words (articles, pronouns, prepositions, etc.) to reveal the similarity in top officers’ language styles.

The researchers then used these findings to predict advancement outcomes for CFOs and their companies. The predictions tended to be accurate because, quite simply, it’s easier to advance with people who are similar to you. When CFOs use high levels of language mimicry, they create a pleasant, familiar rapport with their superiors. Language mimicry also indicates a shared opinion — always flattering to hear. However, one important aspect of a CFO’s job is to challenge important decisions to make sure that they are financially sound, and here mimicry doesn’t help.

High mimicry levels have three major outcomes, the researchers found, and not all are good.

• Since CEOs often influence compensation, high mimicry levels boost a CFO’s chances of a raise.
• But high mimicry levels lower a CFO’s likelihood of serving the company by playing devil’s advocate.
• Firms lacking authentic critical input from CFOs make less favorable decisions for shareholders.

What about those CFOs who are less fun for their bosses to be with — the CFOs with low mimicry rates? They’re better for business, the researchers found. Declining, or just failing, to mimic the boss actively benefits shareholders, because the CEO is more likely to hear reasoned opposition to flawed decisions. 

These dynamics affect everyone involved in a business, the researchers write. For board members and shareholders, too much similarity in top officers’ speech should be a red flag: Your CFO may care more about pleasing the boss than about protecting the company.

CEOs themselves should think twice when a CFO’s language sounds pleasantly familiar. A lieutenant who sounds too much like you may not help you make the best choices. Even if you have minimal contact with your company’s CFO or CEO, such mimicking behavior often surfaces in other power relationships as well – with potentially similar outcomes.

So when you do end up at that C-suite meeting — or simply any presentation by two people in power — it’s worth listening to how much the second in command sounds like the boss. 

It may be the sound of someone working her way to the top.

Yan Anthea Zhang is the Fayez Seraphim Vanguard Professor of Management and Robert E. Hoskisson is the George R. Brown Emeritus Professor of Management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

To learn more, please see: Shi, W., Zhang, Y., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2019). Examination of CEO-CFO social interaction through language style matching: Outcomes for the CFO and the organization. Academy of Management Journal, 62(2), 383–414.

Based on research by Bruce Carlin, Li Jiang and Stephen A. Spiller

Key findings:

• ​Though financial literacy has been studied — and taught — for generations, new-media platforms such as YouTube offer new opportunities for educating consumers.
• YouTube and similar video platforms host all kinds of entertaining (and otherwise) content, but in recent years have become a major outlet for educational videos. 
• Viewers who watched a YouTube video on what to look for in credit card ads were more likely to choose the card with the best terms. 

Think of the last time that you read all the way through the terms and conditions on a credit card ad — or, even more worryingly, on your own credit card application. We all mean to make well-informed decisions, but the sheer quantity of words on many financial products can overwhelm. Even a financial professional can find it hard to hack through the verbiage.

But what if a simple video could clarify credit card terms and conditions for the layperson — or even the professional? 

With the rise of YouTube and other video social media, new opportunities to share all sorts of information abound. Each day, hundreds of thousands of people log onto YouTube “how-to” videos to learn about everything from building a house in the Arctic to baking a cake. It’s one of the most-used self-education channels available today. 

This teaching opportunity intrigued Bruce Carlin, now a professor of finance at Rice Business. Carlin was previously a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business, and with Li Jiang and Steven A. Spiller, also of the Anderson School of Business, hypothesized that online video content could make specific financial knowledge accessible to a large population easily and quickly. 
 
To investigate, the researchers studied 1,603 participants with a median age of 30, whom they recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. These participants were randomly shown one of two “educational” videos: a baseline video featuring a character using a remote to uncover “hidden” messages in credit card advertising, and the same video with an added informational tag that summarized the messages and showed where to find key information in the standard terms in a credit card agreement. 

Once they’d viewed the videos, participants were randomly split into two groups. The first group reviewed a website with four credit card options, each linking to information described in the videos such as APRs, fees and spending limits. The second group reviewed the website as well — but this time, each of the four credit card options had a heading that was distracting or even misleading.

Regardless of which version of the website they were shown, the participants who had viewed the informational video that included a summary were more likely to choose a card with consumer-friendly terms. Within this group, those who weren’t exposed to the misleading headings were the most likely to make the consumer-friendly choice. 

“Distracting advertising curtails the time people invest in searching for the best alternative and causes worse decisions,” the researchers write. “Content geared toward giving better instructions helps to overcome this effect.” This content, they found, improves both the quality and the outcome of a person’s research.

But what good is a video if few people see it? Carlin and his colleagues next wanted to see if study participants who typically share videos via email or social media would share either version of the credit card tutorial. If they did, the researchers reasoned, the videos theoretically could protect a wide range of consumers.

But while participants who watched the videos came away better informed, they were less likely to share the version that included the summary and steps for action than the one that didn’t.

Was that because people are more inclined to share an entertaining or distracting video than a purely informative one? Was it because credit/financial literacy can be a touchy subject? Or was it simply that different kinds of videos require different metrics of success — for example, views rather than shares? Getting video viewers to share content that contains financial guidance, in other words, remains a fly in the batter. 

The researchers’ primary findings were clear, however: Online instructional videos can make a difference in consumers’ lives. Much like a cooking video that takes the viewer step-by-step to a glorious mille crepe, the right video can make even intimidating financial decisions a piece of cake. 

Carlin, B. I., Jiang, L., & Spiller, S. A. (2018). Millennial-style learning: Search intensity, decision making and information sharing. Management Science, 64(7): 2973-3468. 

Do you wonder what it’s like to work as an auditor? Read our interview with recent Rice MAcc alumna Megan Palmer (Class of ‘17). She explains how she decided on a career in audit, what a typical work day looks like, and her favorite parts of the job.

Tell us a little bit about your background and why you decided to pursue the MAcc.

I was a Rice undergrad and on the Women's Basketball team from 2012-2016. Like most freshman, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I thought pre-med had a nice ring to it, so I started out there. But I realized after a few disastrous doctors’ appointments that needles and blood did not settle well for me, and so I was in search of a new passion! I took my first accounting class in the summer of 2014, and I loved it! Prof. Lansford came to talk with my class about the new Master of Accounting program Rice was starting up again, and I was very interested. As with most big decisions, I talked it over with my mom. She told me that she thought it was a great idea and that accounting was in my blood. Unbeknownst to me, her father, my grandfather whom I had never met, was a controller at a car manufacturer before he passed away. From then on, I was set on pursuing my master’s degree in accounting, and I couldn't imagine a better place to earn my degree than Rice University.

Where do you work and how long have you been there?

I am a senior audit associate at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) in the Private Company Services sector and have worked there for two years. 

What drew you to auditing?

While in the MAcc, I did enjoy my tax classes, mostly because we had a great tax professor. However, I have always had more of an interest in audit. I enjoy getting to know my clients, finding new ways to test the financial statements, and working with a team. Week to week my schedule is always different. I work two to four weeks on a client, and then I move on to something else with a different team. It keeps my work exciting and fresh. 

What personality characteristics make for an effective audit professional?

From my experience, the best personality characteristics to have would be:

Open-mindedness - there is more than one way to audit, and your first instinct may not always be the best way

Hard-working - sometimes you have to work long hours or just work really hard for the eight hours you do have to get the job done

Confidence - if you see something that is incorrect in the financial statements, you need to be able to voice your opinion and support it

Personable - it is important to form relationships with your clients. A good relationship with the client means that the audit will go smoother and you might even get support and answers to questions quicker.  

What do you like most about what you do?

My favorite part of my job is the people I work with. Everyone truly cares about me as a person and my professional growth. There are times to be serious and get work done, but there are also times to joke around and let off some steam. I always have a good balance of serious and fun at work. 

What does a typical workday for you entail?

There is no typical day for me as a senior associate. I could be working on things for three different clients in one day, or I could be only testing revenue for one client for the entire day. This is something I really enjoy about what I do. I'm never doing the same thing two days in a row.

What are some noteworthy experiences you’ve been able to have working at your firm?

I have two once-in-a-lifetime experiences I have had with my firm:

1) I was selected to be a member of the 2019 PwC Team USA basketball team and compete in the International Basketball Tournament held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Fifteen countries, about 180 people, competed in this tournament. I was one of only five females who participated, but I didn't let that slow me down! I had a great time playing basketball and getting to know my teammates, who were from all around the U.S. I also got to know other PwCers from all over the world. Team USA ended up taking home the gold! I didn't think I would ever get to compete in a sport that I loved again after college, but I was able to with PwC. It was truly a week I will never forget.

2) When I was promoted to senior associate, we had an event called "Discover" in Rancho Palos Verde, California. Discover is a week at a resort on the coast of California filled with events designed to lead you to discover what is important to you and how to better manage your life to include these important things. There was no mention of auditing, or even PwC really, the whole week. This wasn't an event to get you to "drink the Kool-Aid", but rather to teach you how to be a happier person. Discover helped me to be happier and healthier, and it has changed my life for the better.  

Does auditing sound like a career you’d like to pursue? Reach out to us! Most Rice MAcc graduates take their initial jobs in one of the Big Four public accounting firms, which are consistently ranked in Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. 

MAcc Home Page

Based on research by  Alessandro Piazza and Fabrizio Perretti

• Persistent activists can move mountains — or at least company locations. 
• Companies that capitulate to protestors may encourage them to protest for more. Companies that win against protestors may catalyze them to join similar movements nearby.
• Winning or losing a protest showdown can have long-term effects on other controversies.

It’s been more than 100 years since Pavlov’s dog showed the world that behavior is often guided by forces we don’t comprehend. 

The same is true of the interaction between companies and protestors, according to Rice Business professor Alessandro Piazza and Fabrizio Perretti of Bocconi University in Milan. In a recent study, the scholars show that when protestors fight to change a company’s policy, their future choices of where and how much to protest are shaped by the company’s response. 

Moreover, the outcome may not be what either group has planned for.  Companies that meet protestor demand often inadvertently spur the protestors to demonstrate further; conversely, companies that refuse to give in tend to propel protestors to redirect their energies toward related but different issues. 

The researchers based their conclusions on a deep dive into the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s, and a close analysis of protests and company responses in specific locations. 

During the time period studied, the researchers found, public sentiment toward nuclear energy changed from mild support to open hostility in the form of an organized protest movement. To quantify this movement’s impact on nuclear power plant construction, the researchers studied the aftermath of protestors’ local victories.

In Massachusetts, for example, the first nuclear power protest in 1974 persuaded Northeast Utilities to postpone, and then permanently cancel, its plant. This reaction, Piazza and Perretti found, catalyzed local protestors. In the years that followed, the region became one of the United States’ strongest bastions of anti-nuclear activism.

In order to quantify how company actions affected protests, the researchers first measured the number of U.S. protest events by geographic location from 1970 to 1995. They then compared this number to the number of nuclear facilities either completed or cancelled over a one-year time period within 100 miles of a given demonstration. They included controls to account for local economic and political differences upon local activism, and for any geographic bias of the newspaper sources used to identify protest events.

The patterns they found were intriguing. Proposing a new plant for construction boosted anti-nuclear protests by 18 percent in a 100-mile radius. Cancelling construction of a plant drove a 27 percent increase in anti-nuclear protests. And when a new nuclear plant was completed and connected to the grid, the researchers witnessed a 2.3 percent increase in the number of protests not directly aimed at nuclear power plants. 

The reason for the increase in other protests when a company prevailed and built a power plant? The researchers hypothesize that each time a plant was completed, demoralized activists attached themselves to other movements. 

These results raised a related question. Did company decisions on one type of controversy, such as a nuclear power plant, lead to greater support for related protest movements or for unrelated ones? The former, it turns out.  

To measure this, the researchers again looked at protests within given regions and categorized them into anti-nuclear weapon protests, environmental protests, public policy protests, anti-war protests and protests against the proximity of a given plant to a specific property, that is, “not in my backyard” protests. 

Nuclear power opponents, they found, were most likely to turn to adjacent issues such as protests against nuclear weapons. Protest activities, in other words, have a domino effect.

While most research tracks the effects of activism on companies, Piazza and Perretti’s study shows that the way companies act is also a critical event driver. Company choices can actually drive the evolution of activism, triggering activist mobilization in other causes. 

The research represents a challenge to traditional explanations of activism, which usually assume that mobilization and protests are most effective early on then dwindle over time, regardless of the behavior of the organization. 
 
Piazza and Perretti’s findings suggest a valuable lesson for companies, especially those operating in more than one location: Their decisions in one place may actually escalate activism elsewhere. Pacific Gas & Electric successfully acted on this insight in the 1980s. Working with the Sierra Club, the company swapped the cancellation of one site at Bodega Bay, California — the target of frequent protests — for support of a plant at a second site elsewhere in the state at Diablo Canyon. 

The findings also offer important insight for activists choosing a company on which to focus. These activists should keep in mind that the companies most likely to capitulate are also the ones most likely to feed a movement going forward — providing, in effect, the possibility of a double win.

Meanwhile, even if they fail in one effort, activists can take heart that their energy isn’t necessarily wasted. Only a little further afield, a similar movement may gain momentum from demoralized protestors looking for a new cause. 

Alessandro Piazza is an assistant professor of strategic management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

To learn more, please see: Piazza, A. & Perretti, F. (2020). Firm behavior and the evolution of activism: Strategic decisions and the emergence of protests in U.S. communities. Strategic Management Journal, publication pending.

Based on research by Alan Crane, Kevin Crotty, Patricia Naranjo and Sebastien Michenaud 

Alan D. Crane is an associate professors of finance at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Kevin Crotty is an associate professors of finance at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Patricia Naranjo is a former assistant professor of accounting at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

To learn more, please see: Crane, A. D., Crotty, K., Michenaud, S., & Naranjo, P. (2019). The causal effects of short-selling bans: Evidence from eligibility thresholds. Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 9(1), 137-170.

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were fired by team owner Jim Crane Monday after Major League Baseball suspended them for a year each following an investigation that discovered Houston cheated using technology en route to winning the 2017 World Series.

“Sports is a unique context where (fan) loyalty persists in spite of transgressions by the team or its players,” said Anastasiya (Annie) Zavyalova, associate professor of strategic management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. “Considering the Astros’ recent victory right after Hurricane Harvey, I expect Astros fans to continue to support the team in light of this scandal.”

Zavyalova is available to discuss the Astros’ crisis and reputation management with the media.

“This scandal is a chance for Major League Baseball to take a stance on how it views and punishes rule-breaking by teams,” she said. “The churning in management can be a chance for the Astros to start with a clean slate. If they succeed, it will reaffirm and strengthen fans’ loyalty and support for the team going forward.”

Zavyalova’s general research focuses on negative events in organizations and the role of the media and how stakeholders identify with and support an organization following such incidents.

To schedule an interview with Zavyalova, contact Jeff Falk, director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

Follow the Jones Graduate School of Business on Twitter @Rice_Biz.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related materials:

Zavyalova bio: http://business.rice.edu/person/anastasiya-zavyalova

Jones Graduate School of Business: http://business.rice.edu

Craving a cortado? Rice now has another option when it comes to getting caffeinated: Audrey’s, which is now open for business after a soft launch last semester.

Tucked into a first-floor corner of McNair Hall in the Jones Graduate School of Business, Audrey’s is the latest project from Houston coffee maven David Buehrer, who also runs popular shops in Rice Village, Montrose, the Heights and Greenway Plaza.

Named in honor of Audrey Moody Ley ‘35, mother of Judy Ley Allen ‘61, Audrey’s Coffee will serve as much as a community café as a place where students can learn more about the business of brewing beans.

The sunny space, which offers plentiful seating and views of the Jones School courtyard and West Quad, is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. (Photos by Jeff Fitlow)