Business, ethics & society

Leadership matters more in challenging times. How does a team’s captain preserve confidence and commitment to the group, even when performance dips? New research shows that successful team dynamics may have a good deal to do with ethical leadership.

For years, the Western United States has experienced increasing drought. A new paper by Darden economist Peter Debaere reveals the culprit: beef production. Long-term water security and ecosystem health will depend on change.

People born to higher social class can make good impressions, be confident and end up in leadership. But they’re also geared to self-interest rather than collaboration. Research examines ties between childhood and current social class, mobility and entitlement; what this may mean for opportunity equality; and how it can be detrimental for firms.

A feeling that part of one’s identity is unwelcome at work threatens an employee’s connection with others and the organization, and a feeling rejection due to religion can be extreme. Here: A framework to think about how people respond when they feel their religious identities are threatened at work, in context of organizational culture.

Once the domain of video games, Virtual reality (VR) is playing a growing role in the workplace. Darden Professor Roshni Raveendhran explores how business leaders can leverage VR technologies — in particular, avatars — in frequent monitoring situations.

Darden Professor Ed Freeman and Ben Freeman discuss stakeholder capitalism, the importance of and, and the key concepts we can learn from the problems imposed by the old story of business. They can lead us to a new one.  

With the 2020 presidential election season in full swing, Facebook faces a big test. Will the social media giant repeat the mistakes of 2016, when Russian propagandists used the site to target American voters, and Cambridge Analytica, a political firm with ties to the Trump campaign, obtained millions of users’ data without their knowledge?

During rising tensions between the U.S. and China, what happens when one professional makes a comment on Chinese innovation that offends his colleague? Professor Ming-Jer Chen offers a discussion of context and complex cross-cultural problems, an understanding of which can aid in appropriate action when no clear-cut answer may exist.

The social unrest of 2020 brought new attention to long-simmering issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the U.S. and around the globe, and prompted many to seek to learn more about longstanding societal inequities — and potential paths forward. Six Darden professors deliver their thoughts and share additional thought leadership.

Fiscal policy is a powerful tool to combat economic downturns, but the results depend on decreasing inequality, an imperative to the efficacy of fiscal multipliers. As COVID-19 cases rise, new research offers insights into which fiscal policies may bolster the economy — and the other options, which may have long-term ramifications.