【Seminar】Shaking Things Up: Unintended Consequences of Firm Acquisitions on Racial and Gender Inequality

Date: 19^th December, 2019

Time: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Venue: Room 502, Administration Building, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University.

【Speaker Introduction】：Letian (LT) Zhang is an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit. Professor Zhang earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University and a B.S. in mathematics from Stanford University, where he researched number theory. He teaches the Leadership course in the MBA required curriculum. His research is centered on social inequalities within firms and industries. He has published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Organizational Science, and in peer-reviewed mathematics.  

【Seminar Abstract】：This paper develops a theory of how disruptive events shape organizational inequality. Despite various organizational efforts, racial and gender inequality in the workplace remains high. I theorize that the persistence of such inequality is often reinforced by existing organizational structures and practices. Disruptive events, by shaking up old hierarchies and altering existing routines, should give racial minority and women workers more opportunities to advance in an organization. To examine this theory, I explore a critical but seldom analyzed organizational event - mergers and acquisitions. First, using a variety of qualitative evidence, I propose that acquisition events should benefit racial minority and women workers in acquired workplaces through post-acquisition restructuring. I then test it using a nationally representative sample covering 37,343 acquisition events from 1971 to 2015. Employing a difference-in-differences design, I find that although acquisition events lead to occupational reconfiguration that favors the more skilled workers, they help reduce racial and gender inequality.