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While working for two Fortune 500 companies, Brian Connelly helped design electronics deployed in airport radar systems and POS satellite networks commonly used to facilitate gas purchases at pumps.
Today, Herbert College of Business professors and eminent management scholars David and Terri Luck have nothing to do with technology.
“I don’t even understand how to share contact information on my phone. It can be embarrassing when talking to young entrepreneurs,” joked Connery. He gives the person his business card.
What Causes Connelly’s “Road to Damascus” Moment?
By his own account, he was designing satellite systems in the 1990s and had to get approval from his boss on pricing. Knowing that the company was about to bid on another, much larger project, Connery’s boss suggested raising the price of the system so that competitors would think prices were high in the area.
“We bid a ridiculously high price, but we came back quickly, beat our competitors on price, and won a big project,” he said. “In that moment, I realized that strategy trumps technology.”
He returned to school soon afterward, earning a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate in business administration, paving the way for a transition from the world of sophisticated technical design to that of corporate strategy.
Connery was recently awarded the 2022 Auburn University Creative Research and Scholarship Award. His awards are in the fine arts, liberal arts, architecture and design, business, social sciences and human sciences categories.
By studying corporate behavior and fraud, his research has shed light on timely events such as environmental safety, financial fraud, and consumer harm. His research has helped shape public policy, played a role in establishing laws and regulations, and provided new theories of ethical decision-making.
Over the years, Connelly has enhanced the reputation of Auburn and Herbert Colleges. His scholarly publications have been cited over 10,000 times and he has given over 135 invited lectures at workshops, conferences and prestigious institutions around the world.He is now the editor-in-chief of the magazine journal of managementone of the most elite academic business school journals.. His work is frequently referenced in media such as: wall street journal, of new york times When United States of America today.
“The Creative Research and Scholarship Award is a deserving recognition of Brian’s pioneering research and ability to find solutions that have a positive impact on both the academy and the corporate world,” said a professor at the Regional Bank. said Joe Hannah, Herbert’s interim dean. “All of us at Herbert College of Business are extremely proud of Brian’s accomplishments and are pleased to call him a colleague.”
Timely and impactful research
In a recently published study, Connery and colleagues Miles Zachary of Auburn University, G. Taiji Payne of LSU, and Lori Tribble of Clemson University explored what they called “organizational virtue rhetoric.” behavioral standards. The authors found that managers need to be careful when endorsing how virtuous their companies are, especially when their words are more symbolic than substantive.
“The problem with using virtue rhetoric is that you have to tell a story,” says Connelly, David and Terri Luck Eminent Scholar and professor in the School of Management and Entrepreneurship. “We’ve found that when a company fails and behaves badly, investors react to that misbehavior by: four times Negative for a company that has made big shots with virtue rhetoric.
“In other words, top managers need to know that when they use virtue rhetoric, they basically raise the bar of acceptable corporate behavior.”
In another recent paper, Connelly and colleagues examined how corporate boards choose new CEOs in the wake of organizational misconduct. Together with Wei Shi of the University of Miami, Jack Walker of Auburn University, and Matt Hersel of Clemson University, the authors found that after corporate misconduct, the board could replace the CEO with someone with a religiously-related degree. developed a theory as to why University.
“We tested whether CEOs with religious institution degrees were actually less likely to engage in fraud than other CEOs,” Connelly said. “Sure enough, it turns out they are there. So it’s a contrast effect. could benefit the.”
Connelly’s research has received national acclaim. For example, his two papers, published in 2006 and her 2016, journal of managementIn short, Connelly isn’t just publishing in the best journals, he’s publishing the best papers in the best journals.
Connelly noted that ongoing research programs are examining the development of capital markets and public policy, a topic that is important in today’s Capitol. For example, he was one of the first management disciplines to consider the ethical implications of short selling.
Specifically, we’re looking at how CEOs react when their companies are attacked by short sellers, like the big attacks on Tesla and Herbalife. He is also at the forefront of management research on memetic trading, as he examines organizational responses to herd actions in the capital markets, such as what happened recently with GameStop and his AMC stock.
humble scholar
“I am grateful for the support of my wife and family, who have patiently accepted the time and energy I put into my work,” says Connelly, who came to Auburn in 2008 after earning a doctorate in business administration. I was. She is from Texas A&M University. “His father-in-law, Franz Geiling, who died a few years ago, must be particularly proud of this achievement. He was a role model for how I approached my work.”
Connelly is also a noted educator, having received one of the highest teaching awards on campus, including the 2014 Auburn Alumni Association Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award, as well as the Herbert College and School of Business Administration Teaching Awards. .
He is the second faculty member from Herbert University to receive a Creative Research and Scholarship Award. In 2018, his Harbert Eminent Scholar Dave Ketchen, Professor of Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, received the award.
“From the day I arrived on the plains, Dave has been careful and patient in guiding me,” Connery admitted.
Ketchen is ranked 23rd nationally on Research.com’s list of top business school professors.
“I am also grateful to David and Terry Luck for donating the Distinguished Scholars Chair I currently have,” Connery added. Without your generous gift, this would not have been possible.”
