FCBE Professors, Drs. P.K. Jain and Rezaee, Win Honorable Mention Award

For release:  January 5, 2016

The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRC Institute) recently held its annual Research Award Challenge. Drs. Jain and Rezaee's paper entitled, "Investment Implications of Environment, Social, and Governance Sustainability: Evidence from Short Selling," was awarded honorable mention. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Pankaj K. Jain, George Johnson Professor and interim Chairman of the Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate; Dr. Zabihollah Rezaee, Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellence and professor of Accounting; and, their former Ph.D. student Archana Jain, who is now at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In this paper, they examined whether short sellers, as informed investors, take into consideration corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and disclosure in the areas of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability in making investment decisions. They found that short sellers avoid firms with high ESG scores and tend to target firms with low ESG scores.

To see all of the award recipients, please visit the IRRC web site. The award winners of the IRRC Institute's Research Award Challenge were also publicized in business press such as Yahoo Finance and Digital Journal.

Drs. P.K. Jain, A. Jain, and Zabi Rezaee's manuscript entitled "Value-relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Short Selling" is also conditionally accepted publication in the Journal of Management Accounting Research, which is published by the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association (AAA).