Leading international researchers from Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles focus on behavioral management
I.H. Asper School of Business researchers shared the stage with leading academics from across North America at the second Asper Behavioural Management Research Conference.
From artificial intelligence and workplace ethics to team dynamics and healthcare, the conference showcased innovative research being conducted at Asper.
Hosted by the David Dreman Behavioural Management Research Centre at the Asper School of Business, the conference explored the theme, Innovative Ideas, Methods, and Perspectives in Behavioural Research, with a focus on The Human Factor: Ethics, Wellbeing, and Technology.
Asper School Assistant Professor Wei Wang, The Associates Fellow in Leadership and Ethics and Co-Director, David Dreman Behavioral Management Research Centre, commented on how the conference reflects Asper's commitment to advancing research excellence. “By bringing international academics we create an environment that fosters collaboration and showcases new perspectives to Manitoba's research community.”
“The conference creates an opportunity for Manitoba's academic community to engage directly with established scholars and emerging researchers from leading North American universities,” he added.
Across five sessions, Asper researchers presented work examining some of the most pressing challenges facing businesses, organizations and society today.
In the opening session on workplace ethics, Asper researchers Jae Yun Kim and Wei Wang explored the relationship between political ideology and workplace exploitation, examining why individuals may engage in behaviours that exploit both themselves and others.
Asper researcher Ratchel Zeng joined examined strategic decision-making in cross-border acquisitions. Their work explores how organizations manage the timing of international business transactions in the context of corporate social irresponsibility.
Artificial intelligence will be another major focus of the conference, highlighting Asper's contributions to understanding the relationship between emerging technologies and human decision-making.
Mahdi Abouei and Kimia Ansari of the Asper School presented research examining procedural fairness in AI-supported clinical decision-making. Their work explores how perceptions of fairness influence healthcare professionals' use of AI systems.
Bringing research closer to everyday organizational challenges, Asper professor Lukas Neville discussed emerging approaches to anticipating and managing team conflict, demonstrating how behavioural research can inform workplace practices.
The conference also highlighted Asper's interdisciplinary research collaborations in healthcare.
Sijie Sun and Namita Bhatnagar presented research conducted with Lam An of the University of Winnipeg and Jieying Chen of the University of Manitoba. Their study examines how self-perception, trust and marginalization influence the quality of interactions between patients and healthcare providers using telehealth services.
Together, these presentations demonstrate the breadth of behavioural research taking place at Asper, spanning organizational behaviour, international business, artificial intelligence, healthcare and consumer interactions.
Beyond showcasing homegrown research, the conference brought together scholars from institutions including the University of British Columbia, University of Southern California, University of Minnesota and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Luca Cascio Rizzo, from the University of Southern California, explored the science of persuasion, examining why gestures and hand movements can make someone more persuasive.
His team discovered that gestures illustrating what a speaker is saying can make complex ideas easier to understand, increasing the speaker's perceived competence and persuasiveness.
From entrepreneurs pitching investors to business leaders addressing employees, the findings offer practical insights into how nonverbal communication shapes influence.
Led by Namita Bhatnagar and Wei Wang, co-directors of the Asper Behavioural Management Research Centre, the conference is designed to encourage intellectual exchange across different areas of behavioural research.
For Asper, the event is more than an opportunity to share research findings. It is a platform to strengthen academic partnerships, engage graduate students with researchers from other institutions and demonstrate how research conducted in Manitoba contributes to broader conversations about organizations and society.
The Asper School of Business aims to expand the creation of global knowledge and engage in intellectual exploration to advance management research and practice. Our researchers’ scholarly work is regularly published in world’s most renowned outlets in the field.
Be part of this flourishing research culture and learn more about research programs in management (MSc and PhD) at the Stu Clark Graduate School.
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