Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

SBUS Management Department

Management Faculty Research

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

School of Business Faculty Niki Vlastara Says Changing Consumer Behavior is the way to Ensure a Sustainable Future

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 20:06:19 +0000

School of Business Faculty Niki Vlastara Says Changing Consumer Behavior is the way to Ensure a Sustainable Future Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 16:06

In This Story

Mariniki (Niki) Vlastara

Years spent engaging with consumers in the business world made Niki Vlastara realize that how sustainability concepts and proposals were marketed significantly influenced how successful they became. As she worked her way into academia and eventually to the ��AV School of Business it’s been her focus to study how to best engage and convince both customers and corporations to act with people, planet, and prosperity in mind.

Niki Vlastara

Vlastara, an assistant professor in the Marketing Department, joined the School of Business in 2019. Her research interests focus on consumer behavior, consumer ethics and sustainable development— making her a perfect member of the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) Affiliate Faculty team. Before entering academia, she held different executive positions in marketing and revenue planning in the leisure industry and served as a consultant in business development for startup ventures, developing their marketing strategy and communications plans.

Recently, we had the opportunity to catch-up with Vlastara to learn more about her journey to the business for good space, and how his research contributes to the cause.

What motivated you to start working in the sustainability space?

Before transitioning into academia, I spent a number of years in business—particularly in executive positions. In those roles, I was involved in streamlining and introducing sustainability into our operations and marketing department in order to minimize costs and waste. Years later, after I had started my PhD, I realized that change is most possible and achievable when all stakeholders are involved. Moreover, I came to understand that people must be convinced of the benefits a new or different approach will bring—such as acting in a sustainable way—before they will change their behavior. That is the main reason my research, both then and through today, is focused on consumer behavior, and, in particular, examines the intersection of the ethics of consumption and sustainability. I believe understanding what motivates changes in customer behavior may lead us to identifying more effective ways to communicate both the urgency, and the benefits of sustainable behavior. Ideally this will result in a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

What can you tell us about your ongoing research?

The United Nations World Commission defines development as sustainable if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. I am very motivated to contribute to efforts that will help ensure that kind of development increases. Consequently, my research pays close attention to the messages consumers and corporations alike receive on that issue. Trying to define what affects the future is in itself difficult, and I have been trying to determine how to characterize, outline, and describe a future with increased risk due to climate change, and how that to make the message understandable, relevant, and pressing enough to motivate change in consumer behavior.

But you’re doing more than just research, can you describe some of your other activities?

I am part of the Centre for Research into Sustainability, which is a group of academic researchers in accounting, finance, marketing, management, and operations management that work on sustainability issues. In addition to my affiliation with B4BW, while at Mason I also joined the Institute of Sustainable Earth because I believe that sharing and cooperating through disciplines can provide a wealth of original ideas and courses of action to achieve our goals. In that same vein, my being part of the Gender and Consumer Behavior group of academic researchers has provided me with a more inclusive and diverse way to approach certain subjects and problems in business.

Before coming to Mason, I was on board of the Miami Chapter of U.N. Association where I helped promote the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals to the local community, corporations and education centers.

Niki, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support you and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

I believe that B4BW is offering tremendous value serving as a platform for discussions, the exchange of ideas, and most importantly by spearheading ways for action. Looking to the future, the development of a minor based on the principles espoused by B4BW would help ensure our students and faculty truly think about these issues differently, and help create a better world indeed.

Topics

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

SBUS Marketing Department

Marketing Faculty Research

Nirup Menon is Motivated to Uncover Disparities in our Health Care System

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:32:20 +0000

Nirup Menon is Motivated to Uncover Disparities in our Health Care System Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 15:32

In This Story

Nirup Menon

Using statistics, econometrics, and data mining techniques Nirup Menon is hard at work trying to understand how unequal access to health care technology might be linked to unequal outcomes in health care.

Nirup Menon

Menon, a professor in the information systems and operations management area, has published more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles in domains such as health technology, information security, privacy, enterprise systems, and online platforms. His current work, examining and trying to understand the unequal outcomes in our health care system, is of particular interest to the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW). Additionally, Menon is actively working on a Smart City Initiative, focused on data privacy, after winning a grant from Arlington County and Virginia Commonwealth Cybersecurity Initiative.

Recently, Menon generously gave us some time to discuss what sparked his interest in health care disparities, his current research efforts, and a great idea he has for B4BW to connect businesses and researchers.

What motivated you to start working in the racial equity and health care disparity space?

Much of my prior research was on the hospital as an organization and how hospitals manage technologies. I spent several years studying health care improvements after the adoption of various information technologies. For all practical purposes, I thought of each patient as an “average” patient. I did not pay attention to the fact that not all patients have the same access to health care, or the same hospitals and its technology. Then I learned about Cara Frankenfeld’s work on racial disparities during the Provost’s Multidisciplinary Research event. It struck me then, that in order to seriously address technology management in hospitals, I must study whether hospitals are able to equitably dispense health care to all – to study if all patients are equally enjoying the benefits of the technological progress that we are making.

What can you tell us about your ongoing research?

I am continuing my research on health care disparity. Through our research on racial disparities in colon cancer outcomes, we found evidence of outcome disparities that could be linked to unequal access of health care technologies for groups of people. I am now working on analyzing over 6 million patient records, of which more than two million records are COVID-19 positive patients, to see if racial disparities played a role in how patients received treatment during the pandemic last year.

In my other research streams, I am working on the business of online platforms, including crowdsourcing platforms. We are looking at how a company posting an online contest should frame their challenge to attract more qualified contestants to participate and provide innovative solutions. Cybersecurity is another research stream that I am focusing on, specifically security governance in organizations. I am also working on a project on digital resilience when an organization is faced with an upheaval such as a pandemic.

But you’re doing more than just research, can you describe some of your other activities?

Sure. I am also a teacher. I teach data mining. I contribute to my profession. I am an associate editor for a peer-reviewed journal. I am also an administrator at the School of Business. I just stepped down as the area chair for information systems and operations management. I am now serving as the associate Dean for Arlington Ventures and Strategy.

Nirup, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support you and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

B4BW has been successful in inviting great speakers from the business community to present during its seminars. This is helping me understand what is important to businesses from an equity and responsibility point of view. It would be great if B4BW reached out to businesses to learn the problems that they want solved to become a responsible business, and then ask researchers such as myself to work with those companies on those problems.

Topics

SBUS Information Systems and Operations Management Department

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

SBUS Information Systems and Operations Management Department

ISOM Faculty Research

Doing More with Less: Talking Sustainability with School of Business Faculty Member Yannis Bellos

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:28:09 +0000

Doing More with Less: Talking Sustainability with School of Business Faculty Member Yannis Bellos Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 15:28

In This Story

Ioannis Bellos

His training as a mechanical engineer taught him to eliminate waste and squeeze inefficiencies out of manufacturing methods. When he realized he could take those same skills and use them to improve business processes and reduce negative environmental impacts, Yannis Bellos found his way into the field of sustainability.

Ioannis (Yannis) Bellos

Bellos, associate professor for Information Systems and Operations Management, has been with ��AV School of Business since 2012. His research interests sit at the intersection of sustainability and service operations—making him a perfect member of the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) affiliate faculty team. Bellos’ work places a particular emphasis on innovative business models shaping what is known as the sharing and access economy and has appeared in book chapters and leading academic journals alike.

Recently, we had the opportunity to catch-up with Bellos to learn more about his journey to the business for good space, and how his research contributes to the cause.

What motivated you to start working in the sustainability space?

I don’t think there was a single defining moment. As an undergraduate student, I studied Mechanical Engineering, which involved improving production processes and their efficiencies—essentially, identifying ways to do more with less, thereby increasing the economic bottom line. It wasn’t until I started my PhD studies at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business when things started to click.

This is when I began to realize that my previous training could apply to organizations as well as machines. I could take the ‘do more with less’ mindset and improve not only economic but also environmental performance. My subsequent training in business and, specifically, in operations management complemented my engineering background very well. It provided me with a more holistic view of organizations and the broader impact of their value creation activities.

What can you tell us about your ongoing research?

In 2015, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a means of catalyzing actions that can ensure a sustainable future. My ongoing research fits under SDG 11, which is about building sustainable cities and communities.

Recently, I have been focused on the adoption of innovative technologies and business models in the transportation sector. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the transportation sector accounts for the largest share, roughly 28 percent, of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity in the United States. One of my current projects—a joint effort with Mason colleague Hang Ren and Vishal Agrawal of Georgetown University—examines the adoption of electric vehicles.

The conversation regarding the electrification of the automotive industry has primarily only considered auto manufacturers’ willingness to invest in this technology and customers’ willingness to buy it. However, the role of car dealers, the main points of contact between auto manufacturers and customers, is not well understood. We know that many car dealers are hesitant to promote or even sell electric vehicles. Our research identifies the conditions under which car dealerships have an incentive to facilitate electric vehicle adoption. In other research projects, I focus on the economic and environmental aspects of ridesharing business models, and whether these models might result in higher vehicle production and usage.

But you’re doing more than just research, can you describe some of your other activities?

Over the past several years, I have organized mini-conferences, workshops, conference tracks, and student paper competitions under the broader umbrella of Sustainable Operations.

A year ago, right before the onset of the pandemic, I helped plan the 2020 Early Career Workshop on Sustainable Operations—a workshop co-sponsored by B4BW, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, and Georgia Tech’s Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business. Held at Georgetown University, the event brought together more than 60 faculty members, PhD students, and post-doctoral researchers from 35 different business schools. It was really exciting. Each talk presented a fascinating learning opportunity on topics ranging from agricultural supply chains to social responsibility, energy, and other emerging issues in the domain of sustainability and how business can help alleviate them.

It really brought home the point that business schools have important roles to play in educating responsible leaders and continuing to push the envelope by conducting research of consequence. I believe that our School of Business and B4BW is well-positioned to take on that challenge. A significant number of our faculty members, many of whom also attended the workshop, already do research in this domain.

Yannis, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support your and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

Just keep doing what you are already doing!

That is, keep bringing together people with similar interests, no matter what the parent discipline, in the same room and exposing faculty members and the broader Mason community to practitioners and thought leaders from outside our school and university. Doing so allows researchers to keep an ear to the ground for emerging challenges, schools of thought, and state-of-the-art approaches for any issue at the intersection of business, society, and the environment.

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Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

ISOM Faculty Research