Topic: Hiring and then Firing? Corporate Hiring Under Capital Market Pressure

Date: December 22, 2025 (Monday)

Time: 14:00-15:00

Venue: T1-302-R1

Language: English

Abstract:

This seminar introduces my research on the interaction among accounting. finance and management, particularly on how capital market pressures affect firms hiring decisions. Using analysts’ queries during conference calls as a proxy for the market’s expectations regarding future hiring, we find that firms increase the number of job postings following such calls. However, they also shorten job posting durations and relax hiring requirements related to skills, experience, and education—changes that are most pronounced shortly after the call. These shifts in hiring criteria affect the quality of new hires, who tend to possess fewer self-disclosed skills, lower educational attainment, and less experience. Collectively, our findings suggest that hiring under capital market pressure compromises new hire quality which could harm firm performance.

About the Speaker:

Prof. Chen Chen is a professor in the Department of Accounting, Monash University, Australia. His research interests are in the areas of financial reporting, auditing and corporate finance. He previously worked at the University of Auckland Business School after he obtained his PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research has been published in numerous academic journals including Journal of Accounting Research, Management Science, Review of Accounting Studies, The Accounting Review, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Accounting and Finance. Prof. Chen’s research has also been profiled in publications such as ABC Money, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, London School of Economics Business Review, Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, Strategy+, among many others.