Tippie Faculty Research Highlights

Backdating Scandal Uncovered by Erik Lie Rocks Corporate America

University of Iowa Associate Professor Erik Lie has been in the press lately for his research that uncovered stock option backdating. Lie’s findings have lead to criminal investigations resignations and firings of hundreds of corporate executives. 

Read his research
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Read his testimony

Ohlmann Develops Model for Drafting Fantasy Football Team

Jeff Ohlmann, an assistant professor of management sciences in the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business, is one of the first academics to study sports league drafts from a scholarly perspective. In the paper, Ohlmann and his co-authors describe a decision-making model that utilizes mathematical techniques to maximize the value of the players a team drafts. More >

Ledolter Helps Businesses Grow with Experimental Design

Readers would rather buy a magazine from Kelly Ripa than Dr. Phil. University of Iowa Professor Johannes Ledolter discovered that fact as part of a project he undertook that helped Des Moines-based Meredith Publishing increase subscriptions for its Ladies Home Journal title. His work with Meredith also demonstrates that many businesses are missing an opportunity to build their customer base by ignoring a statistical technique called experimental design. More >

Research Finds Mutual Funds Take Advantage of Novices

Resarch done by Assistant Professor Todd Hogue has found evidence that mutual fund companies take advantage of less knowledgeable investors by charging higher fees on funds that charge sales loads, the kind of funds in which less savvy investors are more likely to put their money. Houge's research paper, "The Use and Abuse of Mutual Fund Expenses," was published in Journal of Business Ethics. More >

Rego Studies Lousy Customer Service

No, it's not just your imagination. Customer service really does stink. "All measures of customer service and customer satisfaction have declined significantly, especially in the past 10 years," said Lopo Rego, an assistant professor of marketing in the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business who studies customer service and customer satisfaction. He said dozens of studies confirm what we all have a feeling is true as we wait in the line that never moves, or try to return something without a receipt. More >

Singing Penguins Help MBA Students Learn About Markets

Hollywood thinks that singing and dancing cartoon penguins are the formula for movie gold, but how about America's movie-going public? Tom Gruca, a business professor in the Tippie College of Business, is using Friday's release of the movie "Happy Feet" as a chance for graduate marketing students to learn about the operation of prediction markets by forecasting whether the heavily promoted movie will be bust or boffo. More >

Research at UI Studies Ad Placement

When businesses pay millions of dollars to advertise in magazines and on television, they don't expect to make their potential customers mad at them. But new research by UI marketing professor Jing (Alice) Wang suggests that the more readers or viewers are absorbed in the narrative flow of a story, the more likely they are to resent the ads that disrupt it. Wang's study was noted in a U.S. News compilation of research from U.S. business schools. More >

Kristof-Brown Wins Research Award for Employee/Job Fit Study

Amy Kristof-Brown, an associate professor in the Tippie College of Business Department of Management and Organizations at the University of Iowa, has won the Academy of Management Human Resources Division Scholarly Achievement Award for a study of how well employees fit in their jobs. More >