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Girard School of Business

Faculty

Girard School of Business
Profile
Omer
Unsal

Omer

Unsal

Title

Associate Professor, Finance

Contact Information

Research Interests
  • Corporate Governance
  • Labor Lawsuits
  • Employee Treatment
  • Innovation

 

Research Summary

My research focuses on corporate governance. I examine how employee treatment affects firm performance. I examine labor litigations, filed by employees, and study why labor disputes are important to firms’ financial health. I also study the relationship between employee well-being and innovation and analyze whether employee treatment spurs corporate innovation. Some of my research has been published in the following journals:

  • Journal of Corporate Finance
  • Journal of Financial Research
  • The Financial Review
  • Economic Modeling
  • Corporate Governance: An International Review
Education
  • Ph.D., Financial Economics, University of New Orleans
  • M.S., Finance, University of New Orleans
  • M.A., Business Administration, Western Michigan University
  • B.A., Economics, Yildiz Teknik University
Areas of Expertise
  • Corporate Governance
  • Employee Treatment
  • Innovation
  • Labor Laws
  • Legal Disputes
Recent Publications
  • Rayfield, B., & Unsal, O. (2025). Employee disputes and innovation performance: evidence from the pharmaceutical industry. International Journal of Managerial Finance.
  • Unsal, O. (2024). Employee lawsuits and business downsizing: Evidence from labor unions. Journal of Financial Stability, 74, 101318.
  • Unsal, O., & Hippler, W. J. (2024). Corporate misconduct and innovation: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry. Research in International Business and Finance, 71, 102490.
  • Unsal, O. (2024). Rx for Legal Troubles: CEO Medical Degree and Corporate Litigation. Corporate Governance: An International Review.
  • Unsal, O. (2024). Rx for Legal Troubles: CEO Medical Degree and Corporate Litigation. Corporate Governance: An International Review.
  • Unsal, O., & Houston, R. (2024). R&D grants and medical innovation. Journal of Economics and Business, 128, 106148.
  • Zirek, D., & Unsal, O. (2023). Green bonds: Do investors benefit from third-party certification?. Global Finance Journal, 58, 100872.
  • Unsal, O., & Hassan, M. K. (2023). Employee treatment and firm performance: evidence from topic modelling in lawsuit announcements. Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, 1-38.
  • Unsal, O., & Brodmann, J. (2023). Corporate reputation and market reaction: Evidence from FinTech industry. Applied Economics Letters, 30(2), 141-148.
  • Brodmann, J., & Unsal, O. (2023). Employee treatment and Securities Exchange Commission investigations. Managerial Finance, (ahead-of-print).
  • Unsal, O. (2023). Corporate crimes and innovation: Evidence from US financial firms. Economic Modelling, 106183.
  • Rayfield, B., & Unsal, O. (2022). Green innovation and environmental misconduct. Managerial Finance.
  • Unsal, O. (2022). Reputational damage and name changes: Impact of financial crimes. Corporate Governance: An International Review.
  • Unsal, O. (2021). Labor lawsuits and debt maturity. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 22(2), 385-404.
  • Blank, D. B., Hadley, B., & Unsal, O. (2021). Financial consequences of reputational damage: Evidence from government economic incentives. Financial Review, 56(4), 693-719.
  • Kim, D., Kim, I., Krueger, T.M. and Unsal, O. (2021), “The influence of CEO political ideology on labor relations and firm value”, Managerial Finance, Vol. 47 No. 9, pp. 1300-1319.
  • Rayfield, B., & Unsal, O. (2021). Institutional monitoring and litigation risk: Evidence from employee disputes. Journal of Financial Research, 44(1), 81-119.
  • Unsal, O., & Brodmann, J. (2020). The impact of employee relations on the reputation of the board of directors and CEO. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 78, 372-388.
  • Unsal, O., & Hassan, M. K. (2020). Employee lawsuits and capital structure. Review of Managerial Science, 14(3), 663-704.
  • Unsal, O., & Rayfield, B. (2020). Corporate governance and employee treatment: Evidence from takeover defenses. Journal of Economics and Finance, 44(2), 392-416.
  • Unsal, O. (2020). Two faces of corporate lobbying: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry. The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 51, 100858.
  • Unsal, O., & Brodmann, J. (2019). Workplace environment and payout policy. Journal of Economics and Business, 106, 105843.
  • Unsal, O., & Rayfield, B. (2019). Employee disputes and CEO turnover: Evidence from labor lawsuits. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, 30(2), 44-63.
  • Unsal, O. (2019). Employee relations and firm risk: Evidence from court rooms. Research in International Business and Finance, 48, 1-16.
  • Rayfield, B. and Unsal, O. (2019), “Do overconfident CEOs stay out of trouble? Evidence from employee litigations”, Review of Behavioral Finance, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 441-467.
  • Brodmann, J., Unsal, O., & Hassan, M. K. (2019). Political lobbying, insider trading, and CEO compensation. International Review of Economics & Finance, 59, 548-565.
  • Unsal, O., & Rayfield, B. (2019). Institutional investors and medical innovation. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 74, 190-205.
  • Rayfield, B. and Unsal, O. (2019), “Product recalls, lobbying, and firm value”, Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 3, pp. 724-740.
  • Unsal, O. (2019). Analyst coverage and lawsuit risk. Applied Economics Letters, 26(11), 914-918.
  • Unsal, O., Hassan, M. K., & Zirek, D. (2017). Corporate lobbying and labor relations: Evidence from employee-level litigations. Journal of Corporate Finance, 46, 411-441.
  • Unsal, O., Hassan, M. K., & Zirek, D. (2017). Product recalls and security prices: New evidence from the US market. Journal of Economics and Business, 93, 62-79.
Honors and Awards
  • Institutional Monitoring and Litigation Risk, Top Cited Article, Journal of Financial Research, 2021-2022
  • Emerald Literati Awards, Outstanding Paper Award, 2019
  • Academy of Economics and Finance, Annual Meeting, Best Paper Award
  • McGraw-Hill Education Distinguished Paper Award, Southwestern Decision Sciences Institute Conference, 2017.
  • Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Graduate School, University of New Orleans, 2016.
  • Outstanding Doctoral Student Award, Review of Financial Economics, 2016.
  • Privateer Graduate Award, University of New Orleans, 2013-17.
Teaching

Undergraduate

  • Managerial Finance
  • Corporate Finace
  • Applied Corporate Finance
  • Financial Valuation

Graduate

  • Corporate Finance and Valuation
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