​Strategic Communication and Stakeholder Behavior

We examine how firms use language as a strategic tool to shape stakeholder behaviors. Unlike common wisdoms suggesting that executives only benefit from open and clear communication, we investigate the scope in which executives have to communicate ambiguously, abstractly, or unauthentically to shape stakeholder behaviors to the firms' advantages. We study in the contexts of earnings calls, sustainability reports, and entrepreneurial pitches.

    [Ambiguous Communication and Stakeholder Attention] w/ Mukund Chari and James Evans

    [Unauthentic Communication in ESG Reports] w/ Ronen Feldman, Yuval Feldman, and Hajin Kim (sponsored by Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago)

    [Entrepreneurial Pitches and Investor Perception] w/ Shiyang Lai and James Evans (sponsored by Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago)

Stakeholder Communication and Firm Behavior

We examine how language used by stakeholders serves as an artifact of culture and reputation in shaping firm behaviors. Extending from literature that focuses on uniform effect of culture and reputation, we investigate how firm behaviors form in the tensions inherent in internal and external social evaluations. We study in the contexts of employee reviews and product recalls.

    [Toxic Culture and Organizational Failure] w/ Partha Kadambi and James Evans

    [Multiple Reputation and Response to Crisis] w/ Mukund Chari and Milo Wang

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