Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ commerce grad discovers passion for teaching, science - and helping others

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:59:13 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ commerce grad discovers passion for teaching, science - and helping others

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 10/29/2024 - 11:59

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Roshawn Jamasi, a member of Innis College, is graduating with an honours bachelor of commerce with a specialization in management (supplied image)

Sean McNeely

Topic

Our Community

Convocation 2024

Faculty of Arts & Science

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

Roshawn Jamasi, who is now contemplating a career in medicine, volunteered in hospitals during his undergraduate studies and helped international students stay connected during COVID-19

Applying to medical school might not seem like a natural next step for a commerce grad, but Roshawn Jamasi says it’s all part his rich University of Toronto journey – one that also included discovering passions for teaching, science and volunteer work.

As a member of Innis College, Jamasi is graduating with an honours bachelor of commerce with a specialization in management through a joint program between the Rotman School of Management and the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“Something I loved broadly about the program was the quality of professors,” Jamasi says. “It was clear how knowledgeable they were in the depth and breadth of their experiences. The wisdom they shared was incredible.”

In particular, he credits Cindy Blois, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of mathematics, for giving him the opportunity to teach in his second year.

“She took a chance on me to help teach a calculus course,” says Jamasi, who earned the department’s Daniel B. DeLury Teaching Assistant Award in 2023. “I fell in love with teaching tutorials, working with first-years and helping with lectures.

“That was one of the more standout experiences I had as an undergrad.”

He says his program’s flexibility allowed him to take courses in psychology, immunity and infection, human physiology, environmental human health, chemistry, human biology, and brain pharmacology.

“I was able to really develop my skills outside of commerce which helped me find my true passion for science, while teaching me key transferable skills through my program courses.”

Jamasi, who has had heart disease since he was 13, says he also learned the importance of putting health and well-being first – after pushing himself a little too hard in his first year.

“I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. and study for eight hours straight. I'd be getting four or five hours of sleep every night. My grades were excellent but by the exam period of second semester, my body finally quit on me as I incurred a new stomach condition."

This pain paired with managing his heart disease forced Jamasi to step back and better manage his course load and his busy schedule for his remaining years. He says he’s grateful to Innis College for being supportive and giving him the accommodations he needed to continue his studies.

“At the end of the day, a student can’t perform at their best if they're not in their best health,” he says.

Helping others flourish was a consistent theme throughout Jamasi’s academic journey.

An Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team he helped establish within his program enabled international students to better connect digitally with the rest of the program during the COVID pandemic when much of life was lived online. The team soon realized students in China were at a disadvantage because many of the program’s clubs and associations primarily used Instagram and Facebook to promote their events and activities.

“At the time Instagram was blocked in China, so was Facebook,” Jamasi says, adding that the team helped the groups share their information on the social media platform WeChat.

“This way, they had another way of getting all of the information, resources and potential job opportunities. That was something we were proud of.”

Wanting to connect students further, Jamasi and his team also created a way to show the human side of his classmates.

“We find our program is very competitive,” he says. “Our surveys were showing a lack of connectedness between students, and a lack of appreciation of each other and the diversity we bring.”

To offset this, he and his team created an Instagram page called peopleofRC that features students sharing interesting facts and experiences outside of academics.

“There’s nothing about personal achievements, nothing about accolades, it’s just sharing something unique about yourself that we can all celebrate,” says Jamasi.

Jamasi’s desire to support others also saw him volunteering at nearby Toronto hospitals.

“I began volunteering at Toronto Western Hospital when I was 16,” he says. “That's always been a nice way for me to take my mind off school and focus on other people. I would visit patients who were staying overnight and keep them company and help them feel like they're not alone. That was always really satisfying for me. I learned a lot about so many different types of people.

“Some days I'd have class in the morning. After that, I'd run to the hospital because it's so close and do some volunteering and come back to classes in the evening. Those were some of the best days.”

Jamasi has applied to medical school though he hasn’t decided which field of medicine interests him most.

“But I'm happy that I did this Rotman degree because it teaches you so many soft skills, like how to communicate, how to present yourself, how to present in a group of people, how to work in a team and lead a team,” he says.

“All those skills transfer to every aspect of business, whether you're in medicine, health care, or administration. I'm just so happy that I got to go to �鶹��Ƶ and experience everything I did.”

'Narrative reversal' is key to telling a great story in books, films and TV shows: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:59:38 +0000

'Narrative reversal' is key to telling a great story in books, films and TV shows: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 09/17/2024 - 10:59

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(photo by Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

Researchers found that works featuring changes of fortune, or turning points, were more popular and received better audience reviews

Writers and scholars have long debated what makes for a great story, but Samsun Knight wanted to see whether there was a way to empirically determine which stories will be snore fests and which will leave audiences hungry for more.

Using a scientist’s tools, the novelist and economist found that “narrative reversals,” or peripeteias, were the key factor – lots of them and the bigger the better.

Samsun Knight (supplied image)

Commonly known as changes of fortune or turning points, where characters’ fortunes swing from good to bad and vice versa, Knight and his colleagues found that stories rich in these mechanisms boosted popularity and engagement with audiences through a range of media, from television to crowdfunding pitches.

“The best-written stories were always either ‘building up’ a current reversal, or introducing a new plot point,” says Knight, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

“In our analysis, the best writers were those that were able to maintain both many plot points and strong build-up for each plot point across the course of the narrative.”

The research, co-authored with Matthew D. Rocklage and Yakov Bart of Boston’s Northeastern University, was recently published in the journal Science Advances.

For the study, the researchers analyzed nearly 30,000 television shows, movies, novels, and crowdfunding pitches using computational linguistics, a blend of computer science and language analysis. The approach allowed them to quantify not only the number of a reversals in a text but also their degree or intensity by assigning numerical values to words based on how positive or negative they were.

Movies and television shows with more and bigger reversals were better rated on the popular ratings site IMDb. Books with the most and biggest reversals were downloaded more than twice as often as books with the fewest reversals from the free online library Project Gutenberg. And GoFundMe pitches with more and larger reversals were as much as 39 per cent more likely to hit their fundraising goals.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to identify peripeteia as a key feature of a good story, with Oedipus Rex serving as a classic example. Other thinkers have since added their ideas, including American playwright and dramaturg Leon Katz, whose scholarship particularly inspired Knight’s research.

“[Katz] described the reversal as the basic unit of narrative – just as a sentence is the basic unit of a paragraph, or the syllogism is the basic unit of a logical proof,” Knight says.

In addition to helping psychologists understand how narrative works to educate, inform and inspire people, the findings may also benefit storytellers of all kinds.

“Hopefully our research can help build a pedagogy for writers that allows them to rely on the accumulated knowledge of Aristotle et al. without having to reinvent the wheel on their own every time,” says Knight.

That includes himself. With another novel on the way, he was recently working on a chapter with a big reveal.

“I realized that this drop might hit harder if I gave the character more positive moments before pulling the rug out from under them.”

Food for thought: First-year student campaigned for more nutritious, affordable meals in Niagara schools

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:29:41 +0000

Food for thought: First-year student campaigned for more nutritious, affordable meals in Niagara schools

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 08/28/2024 - 10:29

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Julianna Marcel, who graduated from Greater Fort Erie Secondary School in Fort Erie, Ont., will be studying at Rotman Commerce this fall (photo courtesy of Julianna Marcel)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Back to School 2024

Faculty of Arts & Science

Rotman Commerce

Rotman School of Management

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

Subheadline

As a high school student and Niagara Region school board trustee, Julianna Marcel led a successful effort to overhaul school cafeteria meals and secure funding for culinary education

Julianna Marcel was in Grade 10 when a teacher pulled her out of science class and asked if she’d be interested in joining the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN)’s student trustee senate.

“I said yes, despite not knowing what it was,” says Marcel of the group that serves as a bridge between the school board and student body.

It would prove to be a fateful decision for both Marcel and the school board.

Later elected to one of three student positions on the DSBN’s board of trustees, Marcel went on to lead a successful campaign to overhaul school cafeteria menus to make them more nutritious and affordable. The effort also helped secure funding for culinary education.

“It ended up being one of the most transformative experiences of my life, connecting me deeply with both the student body and the educational community," Marcel says.

Marcel, who will begin a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Toronto this fall, decided to act when a survey revealed a significant demand for healthier, more affordable meal options.

“Students expressed concerns about the high cost and low quality of their food, which I found unacceptable,” she says. “I recognized the need for change and saw an opportunity to advocate for healthier food in schools while better supporting our students.”

As she attended Greater Fort Erie Secondary School in Fort Erie, Ont., Marcel educated herself on food services policy and finance and carried out research on the impact of nutrition on academic performance and student success.

With her adviser’s encouragement, Marcel shared her findings in a letter to the president of DSBN’s food service provider. A series of meetings followed and, ultimately, a revamp of cafeteria menus.

Next, Marcel turned her attention to campaigning for more resources for culinary education. This led to the DSBN allocating $500,000 in its 2023-24 budget to expand culinary education.

Marcel's contributions were recognized with an Ontario Public Student Trustee Leadership Scholarship, jointly awarded by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Public Board Council of OSTA-AECO. The award citation noted that her work benefited some 37,500 students.

She's keen to highlight that the positive outcomes were the result of collective effort.

“I wouldn’t say that these changes are my accomplishments. They are a testament to what we can achieve when we listen to and involve students in decision-making processes,” she says.

The advocacy work led by Marcel benefited more than 37,000 students (photo courtesy of Julianna Marcel)

In addition to her trustee responsibilities and keeping up her grades, Marcel also made sure to carefully consider her post-secondary options. She participated in the �鶹��Ƶ Faculty of Law’s youth summer programs in 2022 and 2023 – experiences that she says inspired her long-term ambition to attend law school at �鶹��Ƶ and become a technology and corporate lawyer.

She says she is drawn to �鶹��Ƶ’s vast array of resources and supports – and the diversity of its community.

“When I was picking between schools, I really did a deep delve into my top few choices and the University of Toronto has the most academic, extracurricular and career supports of any school that I researched,” says Marcel, who will pursue a specialist in finance and economics at Rotman Commerce as member of Victoria College.

“Coming to Toronto, I’m so excited to get to know everyone, learn more about the people and communities around me and meet so many international students.”

She intends to use her undergraduate years to enrich her understanding of how economics can be used to address societal problems.

“I’m drawn to economics because it offers a powerful framework for analyzing the challenges we face in society,” Marcel says. “Whether it’s understanding the causes of economic inequality or exploring the impacts of globalization or designing policies for sustainable growth, I believe economics provides the tools to critically access and influence the world around us.”

Marcel also plans to make time for her many hobbies while at university: she plays five musical instruments, enjoys soccer and basketball, and loves writing.

She hopes to start a tutoring business that engages �鶹��Ƶ students in assisting high school and elementary learners, and wants to get involved in student groups at Rotman Commerce – particularly the Law Association, FinTech Association and Women in Business group.

"My ultimate goal is to support my community in every way that I can – not just in my first year but throughout my life," she says.

Milt Harris Library, Rotman School of Management

laurie.bulchak — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 17:22:26 +0000

Milt Harris Library, Rotman School of Management laurie.bulchak Sat, 07/27/2024 - 13:22

URL

https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/faculty-and-research/milt-harris-library/

Foreign-born CEOs more likely to acquire assets across borders - particularly in their home countries: Study

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:53:05 +0000

Foreign-born CEOs more likely to acquire assets across borders - particularly in their home countries: Study

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 07/22/2024 - 12:53

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(photo by ER Productions Limited/Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

Researchers suggest the phenomenon is likely driven by local knowledge and connections, as well as a desire to “give back”

CEOs who have moved away from their country of origin are more likely to make international acquisitions, with a preference for targets in their birth country, a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto shows.

Using a sample of nearly 1,300 corporate acquisitions over a 14-year period, Ron Shalev, an associate professor of accounting at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough who is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management, and his co-authors compared acquisitions, financial and other corporate data with biographical information on the companies’ CEOs at the time of the purchases.

“Foreign-born CEOs are taking an increasing leadership role in the corporate world,” says Shalev of the research. “In our sample, 24 per cent of the acquiring companies have foreign-born CEOs.”

The study, published in the Journal of Accounting Research, was co-authored by Milan-based researchers Antonio Marra of the Università Bocconi and Angela Pettinicchio of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and SDA Bocconi School of Management.

After examining the data, Shalev and his colleagues found that foreign-born CEOs were 43 per cent more likely than domestic-born ones to acquire across borders – and that the phenomenon may be explained by a preference for acquiring in the countries of their birth. When considering all potential international targets that might be on the CEO’s radar, the researchers found that foreign-born CEOs were 17 times more likely to go after a buy in their country of origin versus another cross-border acquisition.

That difference was explained by the CEO having a leg up by knowing more about the country and having local connections. They are also driven by a desire to “give back” to the place where they came from, the researchers say.

The researchers also found that foreign-born CEOs were more than twice as likely to make an acquisition in a former colonizer of their birth country as they were to choose any other potential international target. “The idea is that if a CEO wants to bring pride to the birth country, she would acquire targets in the country that colonized it in the past,” says Shalev.

How are companies involved affected by CEOs tendency to acquire targets in their birth country? The acquiring company’s shareholders see a 1.3 per cent difference in excess returns on acquisitions in the CEO’s birth country, while shareholders of the target company enjoy a 2.9 per cent excess premium due to the purchase.

“This is not something that should prevent the hiring of a CEO,” Shalev says of the findings.

Instead, he says it’s simply an aspect a company’s board should be aware of and, if the CEO has a target in mind in their birth country, to take a harder look at the proposal. “In many cases these acquisitions will be good for the acquirer firm – but not always.”

�鶹��Ƶ Chancellor Rose Patten celebrated for her exceptional leadership

bresgead — Fri, 31 May 2024 19:23:23 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Chancellor Rose Patten celebrated for her exceptional leadership

bresgead Fri, 05/31/2024 - 15:23

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�鶹��Ƶ Chancellor Rose Patten and her husband Tom Di Giacomo attend a recent farewell reception at Hart House to celebrate her tenure as the university’s 34th chancellor (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

President Meric Gertler

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

“Rose and leadership go hand in hand. She wrote the book on the subject – literally"

Rose Patten’s name was a byword for leadership at a celebration marking the culmination of her distinguished tenure as the University of Toronto’s 34th chancellor, with one speaker after the next taking to the stage to express their gratitude for her transformative influence on the university and its community of future leaders.

After more than 25 years of service to the �鶹��Ƶ community, Patten is set to complete her second term as chancellor (the maximum length permitted) on June 30, leaving a legacy characterized by visionary leadership and her commitment to championing those who would follow her.

At a farewell reception at Hart House, President Meric Gertler praised Patten’s unparalleled ability to bring out the leader in each and every member of the �鶹��Ƶ community.

“Rose and leadership go hand in hand. She wrote the book on the subject – literally,” said President Gertler, referring to Patten’s vade mecum, Intentional Leadership. “Leadership has been the central theme of her time as chancellor. It is the hallmark of her life and career, in business and in volunteer service.”

�鶹��Ƶ President Meric Gertler said leadership has been a hallmark of Chancellor Rose Patten’s career (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

A major figure in Canada’s financial services sector, Patten’s long history with �鶹��Ƶ has been defined by her prolific engagement in, and enhancement of, almost every aspect of university life, President Gertler said.

Her involvement began as a member of Governing Council, where she served for the full extent of her nine allowable years, culminating in three years’ service as chair.

From 2007 to 2010, Patten chaired the task force whose recommendations led to �鶹��Ƶ’s current tri-campus governing structure.

Toronto-based portrait artist Brenda Bury, left, and Nobel Prize-winning �鶹��Ƶ University Professor Emeritus John Polanyi, middle, pose for a photo with Chancellor Rose Patten (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

First elected as chancellor in 2018, Patten will have presided over 133 convocation ceremonies by the end of her six years in the position.

In addition to her ceremonial duties, Patten has been a constant presence on campus as chancellor, attending scores of university events each year.

Beyond her administrative roles, she has imparted her insights on leadership with the next generation as an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management, where she serves as co-director of the Executive Leadership Program.

Myriad senior leaders at �鶹��Ƶ have drawn on Patten’s expertise, President Gertler said – including himself.

Chancellor Rose Patten shakes hands with Governing Council Chair Anna Kennedy as former Interim President Frank Iacobucci and Trinity College Provost and Vice-Chancellor Mayo Moran look on (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Anna Kennedy, chair of Governing Council, also counted herself among the beneficiaries of Patten’s knowledge and counsel.

“Rose has led with grace, wisdom and incredible generosity, providing insights and guidance to everyone she interacts with,” Kennedy said. “We’re very thankful and grateful to have had the opportunity to be able to work alongside and learn from such an accomplished leader.”

A former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Frank Iacobucci said his 10-month tenure as �鶹��Ƶ’s interim president was as memorable as any other part of his career largely because of Patten’s remarkable leadership.

From breaking the glass ceiling in business to steering �鶹��Ƶ through uncertain times, Patten has converted challenges into opportunities throughout her distinguished career, Iacobucci said, but what sets Patten apart as a leader is her profound understanding that every organization is at its heart a human enterprise.

“A special talent Rose possesses is a respect for and fondness of people,” said Iacobucci. “Humanity is a companion for all that she says and does.”

Mayo Moran, provost and vice-chancellor of Trinity College, echoed this sentiment as she thanked Patten on behalf of the countless �鶹��Ƶ community members who have benefited from her human-centred approach to leadership.

This is exemplified by Patten’s steadfast commitment to mentorship, particularly for women leaders, that has not only made her a role model, but also the namesake of the Rose Patten Mentorship Program, said Moran.

“The University of Toronto is so much better for having had you at helm,” she said. “I also feel heartened … by the fact that you’ll continue, through your writing and your teaching, to shape generations who are going to go on and really exemplify the human side of leadership.”

�鶹��Ƶ Vice-President and Provost Trevor Young, left, poses for a picture with Chancellor Rose Patten (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Following a video tribute, President Gertler announced that Patten recently made a new gift to the university, which, among other things, will enable the renewal of Convocation Hall’s grand, circular entrance hallway. That key space will now be called the Rose Patten Rotunda.

Additionally, a new scholarship at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine has been named the Rose M. Patten Graduate Student Scholarship.

Both Patten and her husband, Tom Di Giacomo are long-time donors to the university, President Gertler said, supporting a range of initiatives to bolster student financial aid and academic programs. As a result of Patten’s most recent gift, she and Di Giacomo are now members of the Chancellors’ Circle of Benefactors, the community of �鶹��Ƶ’s most generous philanthropic supporters.

Chancellor Rose Patten and her husband Tom Di Giacomo are among �鶹��Ƶ’s most generous donors (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

In her remarks, Patten said she was touched by the tributes and turnout to the reception, reflecting on how her relationship with �鶹��Ƶ has deepened over the past quarter-century.

“I often speak about mentoring and volunteering, and I always say that we receive more than we give, or at least as much,” Patten said. “At �鶹��Ƶ, it was especially true for me. And let me say, it was more.”

She highlighted her role in conferring degrees as a special privilege of her office, expressing what a joy it’s been to celebrate the milestone with graduating students and their families.

Patten said every commitment she’s made to �鶹��Ƶ has enriched her, noting that everyone has a role to play in leading the university toward a brighter future.

“In this institution, there’s always more to know, more to learn, more to appreciate, more to think about,” she said. “It can make life not just a journey, but an adventure. I can’t imagine mine without my relationship with everyone here.”

Race-based police violence impacts wealth of Black families, study finds

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:20:17 +0000

Race-based police violence impacts wealth of Black families, study finds

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 05/21/2024 - 10:20

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(photo by Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)

Diana Mehta

Topic

Breaking Research

Crime

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Mississauga

Subheadline

Researchers say race-based police violence changes the way members of affected communities make financial decisions, with negative effects on their capacity to build long-term wealth

Financial decision-making for Black individuals can be dealt a major blow by race-based police violence, new research suggests, offering insight into the far-reaching effects of police brutality.

The study, titled “Race, Police Violence, and Financial Decision-Making,” examined detailed American data on home ownership and contributions to a pension plan – using statistics broken down by zip code – as well as information on fatal police encounters.

Lisa Kramer (supplied image)

The analysis suggests police violence negatively influence financial decision-making for Black individuals, even when they are not directly involved in the incidents.

“We find that when a member of the Black community is killed in a police incident, the members of that racialized group in that local area experience changes in their financial decision-making that are not just statistically significant, but economically large,” says co-author Lisa Kramer, a professor of finance in the department of management at University of Toronto Mississauga and the Rotman School of Management.

“I think what was most surprising was the magnitude of the effects.”

The study, which will appear in the May issue of AEA Papers and Proceedings, was carried out by �鶹��Ƶ’s Kramer, Duke University’s Vicki Bogan, University of Manitoba’s Chi Liao and University of Mannheim’s Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi. It explored whether two key pieces of the “wealth pie” for most individuals – home ownership and retirement savings – might be affected by race-based police violence. While many studies have already looked at the grief and community trauma associated with race-based police violence, Kramer says the ripple effects on economic decision-making have been analyzed to a far lesser extent.

The research showed Black individuals were 47.5 per cent less likely to own a home than their non-Black counterparts. After exposure to police-based violence, that gap increases to 62.2 per cent, the study suggests. It also found that Black individuals’ participation in defined contribution pension plans was reduced after exposure to police violence.

“We find already just to start with, just at the baseline, Black households are less likely to even own a home than others. And once they've observed one of these events in their local community, they become much less likely to own a home,” Kramer says.

Since researchers analyzed demographic, socio-economic and geographic data from U.S. households from 1999 to 2019, some recent key events – including the 2020 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd that prompted anti-racism protests all over the world – were not captured.

“I think in this more recent era, where social media allows these events to get on the collective consciousness more quickly and more fully, we might find that any sort of traumatic implications that arise might even be more pervasive,” Kramer says.

And while the study is based on American data, Kramer says its findings likely apply in Canada as well.

“Certainly in Canada we have also had incidents of racialized violence with police involvement. We're not immune to that in Canada,” she says. “There's every reason to believe that the effects that we document aren't unique to the United States.”

The study doesn’t delve into why police-based violence could have such an effect on financial decision-making for Black individuals, but it does hint at possible explanations, including disengagement from financial decision-making after police violence in a local area and decisions to relocate following an incident.

Kramer, who notes that the study does not seek to deliberately cast police forces in a negative light, says she and her colleagues want to explore possible causes for their findings in future research.

“Right now, we’re identifying a striking set of results,” she says. “We find differences in financial outcomes at the local community level after these police-involved fatalities. Next, we need to identify the mechanisms that drive the results by testing different hypotheses.”

The hope is that the research will add to broader findings on racial inequalities and spark ideas about potential remedies to underlying problems.

“We're looking to explore those events through a financial lens because it's so important to make sure that households have the financial resources that they need,” Kramer says. “And if there is a connection there – as it appears there may be – we want to start the conversation, in a data-driven way.”

�鶹��Ƶ study challenges stereotypes about lazy, unmotivated cannabis users

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:51:28 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ study challenges stereotypes about lazy, unmotivated cannabis users

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 04/29/2024 - 13:51

Cutline

(Bloomberg Creative Photos via Getty Images)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

"Our data suggests that you can be hard-working, motivated and a chronic cannabis user at the same time."

Cannabis users might not be as lazy and unmotivated as popular stereotypes suggest, according to new research from the University of Toronto.

In a study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found that regular cannabis use had minimal effects on motivation and willpower, and that getting high was associated with more positive emotions and fewer negative ones.

The research aimed to take an objective look at the effects of recreational cannabis on the daily lives of chronic users, says Michael Inzlicht, a professor in the department of psychology at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough who led the study.

“There is a stereotype that chronic cannabis users are somehow lazy or unproductive,” says Inzlicht, who is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management. “We found that’s not the case – their behaviours might change a bit in the moment while they’re high, but our evidence shows they are not lazy or lacking motivation at all.”

Professor Michael Inzlicht runs the Work and Play Lab at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough (photo by Lorne Bridgeman)

For the study, scientists surveyed 260 chronic cannabis users – defined as those who used cannabis at least three times a week – five times per day over the course of a week. Participants received notifications through an app asking if they were high, and were then prompted to answer questionnaires that assessed their emotional state, motivation levels, willpower and self-regulation.

Inzlicht says the most interesting finding relates to motivation, with participants found to be just as willing and motivated to exert effort in completing a task when high compared to when sober.

Past research has shown mixed results when it comes to chronic cannabis use and motivation, with Inzlicht noting much of it relied on limited experimental designs that didn't account for differences between cannabis users and non-users, including variations in personality, mental health or use of other psychoactive substances.

He says this study accounted for those pre-existing differences and also looked at chronic cannabis use while participants were actively high.

The researchers did find that being high was associated with lower levels of self-regulation, an important trait for being able to accomplish tasks. Specifically, chronic users reported being more impulsive, less thoughtful and less orderly.

“These things can detract someone from getting stuff done, but we didn’t find it made them less hard-working, responsible or able to focus,” says Inzlicht, who runs the Work and Play Lab, which does research on self-control, motivation and empathy as well as social media, digital devices and recreational cannabis use.

Chronic cannabis users were also found to experience a boost in positive emotions such as awe and gratitude when they were high, and a reduction in some negative emotions such as fear and anxiety. However, more chronic users were found to experience more negative emotions while high as well as while sober.

The study also found no evidence of a “weed hangover” the day after cannabis use.

Inzlicht notes that studying the effects of daily cannabis use was difficult in the past due to its legal status, and that most scholarship on the topic focused on negative impacts in an effort to curb use.

Now that cannabis is legal in Canada, however, Inzlicht says he expects there will be more research focusing on both positive effects and risks.

“The cannabis literature, historically, tended to focus a lot on the negative medical consequences of chronic use,” says Inzlicht. “Part of the motivation for this study is to take a neutral, clear-eyed approach to see how cannabis affects chronic users in their everyday lives.”

He adds the study isn’t an endorsement of heavy cannabis use, pointing out there is plenty of research highlighting its risks – especially among adolescents.

Rather, he points to Statistics Canada data showing that nearly one in 10 adult Canadians are regular cannabis users, and they come from all walks of life. Cannabis is also the fourth most used recreational drug after caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. But despite its increased legal and social acceptance, relatively little is known about the everyday experiences of regular users.

“Our data suggests that you can be hard-working, motivated and a chronic cannabis user at the same time.”

The study received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

'Nudging' consumers is a common marketing tactic, but study finds it carries risk

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:31:15 +0000

'Nudging' consumers is a common marketing tactic, but study finds it carries risk

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 04/03/2024 - 12:31

Cutline

Marketers should think twice before leaning on nudging as a tactic “in situations where you care about longevity or you want the customer to use your products for a long time,” says �鶹��Ƶ researcher Sam Maglio (R.J. Johnston Toronto Star/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Jared Lindzon

Topic

Breaking Research

Marketing

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

Researchers discover that subtle prompts designed to encourage consumers to make a particular purchase can have negative consequences in the long term

Marketers have found so-called “nudging” to be an effective way to influence consumer behaviour – but new research suggests those who are prompted, either subtly or directly, to select a particular product or service may be quicker to abandon it.

A recent study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, is among the first to consider the long-term impact of the widely utilized marketing tactic, which capitalizes on psychology and carefully designed prompts to encourage people to make a particular purchase. Examples include limited time offers or presenting people with a “compromise” option between two extremes.

Study co-author Sam Maglio, a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management, says the research findings make it clear that nudging can have negative consequences for brands.

In particular, he points to subscription offerings, which are becoming more prominent across a broad array of product and service categories.

“If you want someone to continue renewing or using whatever service you provide for a long period of time, it turns out that nudges backfire,” he says.

Maglio conducted two experiments to test three of the most popular nudging strategies to see how they affected long-term utilization.

In the first experiment, he offered students and faculty a free air plant. Among the control group, participants were offered the choice between a plant that was said to be lower maintenance and lower quality, and another that was higher maintenance and higher quality. For the nudged group, he offered a third “middle” option that was average in both maintenance and quality.

In reality, all plants were identical.

“Research has shown that when people look at three options that include one extreme and another extreme, they gravitate towards the middle, compromise option,” Maglio says. This form of nudging is referred to as the ‘compromise effect,’ and proved effective in this experiment.

In exchange for getting a free plant, participants received an email every two weeks asking whether they still had the plant. After the first 10 weeks, Maglio says there was little difference in the likelihood of caring for the plant between the nudged group, who were subtly persuaded with the “compromise” option, and the control group.

“[But] once you get to about three months in, then we start to see the rate of [retention] separate,” he says. “People in the nudged condition who picked the middle option were more likely to start saying, ‘Yep, I let it die,’ or ‘Yep, I threw it out.’

“It ended up being a total of nine months that we kept checking in, and the longer we waited, the bigger the gap between those two groups got.”

At the end of the experiment, the researchers found that those who were nudged into a selection were 16 per cent quicker to discard their plant than those in the control group.

In the second experiment, researchers offered participants a free membership to a website that provided a new “fun fact” each day. In the control group, members were offered the choice between a “Trivia Expert” subscription plan or a “Back to School” membership option.

Another group of participants were automatically opted-in to the “Trivia Expert” plan, but were provided the option to switch, utilizing a nudging strategy known as the “default effect.” In the final group, a third “decoy” option was added, titled “Trivia Expert for Kids,” which was designed to nudge the adult participants towards the “Trivia Expert” option.

As with the previous experiment, all of the options led to an identical product and both nudging strategies proved effective at influencing participants’ behaviour – and both had a negative impact on participant retention.

“In the control condition, where they just chose between ‘Trivia Expert’ and ‘Back to School,’ they [logged in consistently] about 14 days in a row, and then they stopped,” Maglio says. “In both of the nudge conditions – default and decoy – they were only logged on for an average of eight days, so it’s a hefty drop-off after getting nudged as far as losing interest in the subscription.”

Yet, despite the findings, Maglio suggests that nudging shouldn’t be abandoned as a marketing strategy, as its effectiveness in influencing buying decisions is well established. Instead, he suggests marketers think twice before leaning on such tactics “in situations where you care about longevity, or you want the customer to use your products for a long time.”

Maglio adds that there is little data on the long-term consequences of nudging, which could have significant implications for brand loyalty and consumer trust.

“We need to get more specific about which kinds of nudges have a counterproductive effect, which kinds of nudges have no effect – and which tactics work as a win-win for customers and brands,” he said. “We’re coming in with two experiments after decades of nudging, so there’s still a long way to go.”

Read the story at the Rotman Insights Hub

Remembering Brian Mulroney: Munk School's Peter Loewen reflects on the former prime minister's legacy

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 14:34:33 +0000

Remembering Brian Mulroney: Munk School's Peter Loewen reflects on the former prime minister's legacy

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 03/21/2024 - 10:34

Cutline

�鶹��Ƶ will lower its flags to half-mast in memory of former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s state funeral (photo by Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Michael Wilson

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Hart House

International

Politics

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

"He’s one of the world’s great storytellers, but woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges"

As Canadians prepare for former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s state funeral on March 23, the University of Toronto is remembering his legacy and will lower flags on all three campuses for the event.

Mulroney, the Conservative leader who served as the country’s 18th prime minister from 1984 to 1993, visited �鶹��Ƶ on numerous occasions over the years. That includes the G7 summit in 1988, when he met with U.S. president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at Hart House alongside other world leaders.

(courtesy of Hart House)

He also made several public appearances at �鶹��Ƶ after retiring from politics, including taking part in a conference on antisemitism in 2003 and a conference on diplomacy in the digital age in 2011. More recently, in September 2022, Mulroney visited the Rotman School of Management for an event celebrating the legacy of Michael Wilson, �鶹��Ƶ’s 33^rd chancellor, who served as finance minister in Mulroney’s government.

A week after the Rotman event, Mulroney visited the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy for a conversation with Professor Peter Loewen, director of the Munk School, during which he reflected on his prime ministerial tenure and discussed Canada’s role in the world and the future of democratic societies.

�鶹��Ƶ News spoke with Loewen about Mulroney’s achievements and the legacy of his leadership.

Sen. Pamela Wallin and Brian Mulroney at the Rotman School of Management (photo by Johnny Guatto)

You recently wrote an article in The Conversation in which you described Brian Mulroney’s stance against apartheid in South Africa as one of his biggest achievements. Why?

This was, in Mulroney’s telling, and the telling of many others, one of the greatest achievements of his prime ministership. Brian Mulroney, in concert with Canadian mainstream opinion, was deeply opposed to apartheid. He thought it was an unacceptable form of racial separation within South Africa and was unbecoming of a democracy. That opposition, by the way, went all the way back – several governments – to John Diefenbaker’s Conservative government which opposed the imposition of apartheid when he was prime minister.

Mr. Mulroney became prime minister at a time when the issue was really coming to a head. It was deeply dividing South African society. The imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners was, by that point, widely recognized internationally as unacceptable. So for Mulroney, it was an opportunity in foreign policy for Canada to play a role in trying to right one of the great wrongs of the world.

He was opposed in that effort, though, by two of his otherwise closest allies and, indeed, closest political friends: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who opposed opposing apartheid ostensibly for anti-communist reasons. They felt that the ANC [African National Congress] was an ally of communists and they still saw themselves locked deeply in the Cold War. So, this made it difficult for Mulroney – and yet he took up the challenge of opposing it. He was joined in that opposition by most Canadians indeed and by other Commonwealth leaders, including Bob Hawke in Australia.

How did Mulroney enlist global organizations in the fight against apartheid?

South African anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela arrives in Ottawa for an official visit June 17, 1990 (photo by Renaud Giroux/AFP via Getty Images)

Mulroney’s international leadership was key. In 1987-1988, Mulroney had positioned himself to hold the chairmanship of three different organizations: the Commonwealth, the Francophonie (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) and the G7. When you hold the chairmanship of those organizations, you’re in a position to set the agenda for the things to be talked about.

It was at that point that he brought the Commonwealth nations together as well as G7 countries – minus the United Kingdom and the United States – to really bring the full pressure of a sanctions regime on the South African government. And this eventually led to much economic difficulty and really squeezed the South Africans so that they had to release Mandela.

[Then-president of South Africa] F.W. De Klerk announced in February 1990 that he would unilaterally release Mandela without conditions. Mandela was released seven days later and one of the first phone calls he made internationally was to Brian Mulroney; indeed, the first parliament he visited after his freedom outside of South Africa was the Canadian Parliament, where he thanked not only Mulroney but all Canadians.

This was a moment of great international leadership by Mr. Mulroney. It’s one in which he marshaled all the support of Canadian public opinion. He often ran against public opinion – in this case he was on the right side of it and he marshaled all that support to this great international action.

What are some other examples of how Mulroney operated on the world stage?

The North American Free Trade Agreement was initialled in San Antonio on Oct. 7, 1992, with U.S. president George H.W. Bush (centre), Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (left) and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney (right) in attendance. Michael Wilson, Canada's minister of international trade, is seen seated in front of Mr. Mulroney (photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

During the first Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm, the American-led mission to push back Saddam Hussein’s Iraq out of Kuwait – Mulroney was very influential in using multilateral relationships to set the terms of engagement for that war. He made it largely possible for other countries like Canada and Australia to have conditions under which they could join that alliance.

Then there’s the other sets of things which weren’t multilateral initially, but bilateral – that is, his agreements with the United States over free trade in 1987 and 1988 that then led to the multilateral NAFTA, which has set the framework for North American trade across all of the Americas. It’s taken a longer time for that vision to be realized, but that template of bilateral and then trilateral trade agreements has really formed the basis for a lot of the trade agreements that Canada now holds throughout the Americas.

How do you reflect on your conversation with Mulroney at the Munk School in 2022?

It was a thrill to have spent the time with him. He’s one of the world’s great storytellers. But woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges.

I reflected with [TVO journalist] Steve Paikin – we were chatting after Mulroney’s passing – that I think I may have been the only person to have ever asked Mulroney a question in a public interview that stumped him. I asked him essentially whether there were things he wished he had spent more time on. He couldn’t answer the question.

I don’t know if it was an unfair question, but I think the answer was very telling in that Mr. Mulroney didn’t waste a minute when he was in office. And I think he left with no regrets over all the things that he got done. And that’s a lesson to political leaders today: that you have to really grasp that unfailing minute, and if you don’t make use of all 60 seconds of it, that you will have regrets in your career – but I think Brian Mulroney had none.

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'Nudging' consumers is a common marketing tactic, but study finds it carries risk

Read the story at the Rotman Insights Hub

Remembering Brian Mulroney: Munk School's Peter Loewen reflects on the former prime minister's legacy