Faculty

Omer

Unsal

Title

Associate Professor

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

Faculty

Omer

Unsal

Title

Contact Information

Research Interests

Research Summary

Education

Areas of Expertise

Recent Publications

Honors and Awards

Teaching

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