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UCA Marketing Professor Publishes Business Research & Releases Nature Conservation Documentary

Dr. Benjamin Garner, Associate Professor in the UCA Department of Marketing & Management, has been busy this year as a professor, researcher, and a feature filmmaker. Find out more about his advice for students, his research published last fall, and his nature conservation documentary to be released in April 2024.

Why did you choose the subject you teach?
I enjoy marketing and sharing my passion for this area with students. I love doing research and film projects that allow me to meet people in the community and help solve real-world challenges.

What tips or advice would you give to new, current, or prospective business students?
One of the best pieces of advice I can give students is to be curious and learn as much as possible about different career fields to find the best fit for you. This includes job shadowing, interviewing potential employers, and doing internships.

Share about your research.
Recently I published a paper in the Journal of Business Research with Dr. Candice Hollenbeck at UGA on how the concepts of authenticity and scarcity work at a local farmers’ market. Our goal was to develop a theoretical understanding of how factors like natural scarcity influences consumers’ behavioral shopping patterns and attitudes. I have done research on farmers’ markets and consumer behavior for many years, and I also find the concept of authenticity very interesting.

What have you learned from doing this research?
We found that when people go shopping in a place like a farmers’ market, consumers tend to trust vendors when they talk about products being scarce. This is because fruits, vegetables, and agricultural products are influenced by the weather and growing conditions. In other words, the products may be limited that year because of a drought. This is different from, say, Gucci handbags or limited edition Pokemon cards that are artificially limited because the company wants to increase the value of each product.

What do you hope others will learn or gain from your research?
We hope through this project, businesses can understand the relationship between authenticity and scarcity, and then amplify scarcity messages that are true and trustworthy.

Related Article: Garner Leads Marketing Students to Learn & Serve Community During Project for Arkansas PBS

Last fall, Dr. Garner’s class got some hands-on experience with sales cold-calling, a project that also served the community. This spring, Dr. Garner is teaching two web classes on Principles of Marketing and an in-person class on Content Marketing. During the summer he will teach Basic Marketing online and Content Marketing in person. Next fall, he will teach two in-person Principles of Marketing courses and an in-person Advanced Selling course.

In his personal life, Dr. Garner also recently released his documentary “Arkansas Wild: The Story of Trout Tourism on the Little Red,” which will air on Arkansas PBS on April 11. Based on his childhood experiences and using his professional skills, he created a piece that he hopes will inspire others to conserve natural resources like the Little Red River.

Posted in: COB News, Featured News, Marketing & Management, _Research on March 27, 2024 Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Accounting Professor Dr. Ryan Cating Impacts Through Teaching and Research

In this interview, Dr. Ryan Cating, the UCA Assistant Professor of Accounting known for his love of bow ties, shares why he chose to teach accounting for his life’s work and his research on the effects of local newspapers on firms’ information environments.

Why did you choose the subject you teach?
I grew up in a family of CPAs as my father and two uncles all worked as accountants at one time or another. Being surrounded by conversation that centered on different types of businesses intrigued me and led me to the college of business. Initially not wanting to follow in my family’s footsteps, I began my academic career studying finance. However, I realized that I wanted a deeper understanding of the source material that I was employing to evaluate the performance and valuation of companies. I switched my major to accounting and have never looked back.

After earning his BS and MPAcc in Louisiana, Dr. Cating likes to celebrate LA traditions such as Mardi Gras with the UCA Accounting department.

What about your job brings you the most joy?
I get the most joy interacting with students in the classroom to get them excited about accounting and succeeding on the CPA exam as a direct result of my course as they begin their careers.

What tips or advice do you have for students?
Always seek to have an open dialogue with professors outside of class, regardless of your major (but especially in your major). The more interaction and knowledge that professors have with and about you, the more they can help you connect with potential employers both before and after graduation.

Share about your recent research and its importance.
I collaborated with Kristian D. Allee and Caleb Rawson, both from the University of Arkansas, on an article published in Review of Accounting Studies in October 2023. In our article, “No news is bad news: local news intensity and firms’ information environments,” we examine the effects of local newspapers on firms’ information environments. With newspaper employment dropping precipitously in the last few decades, we posit that these changes will harm local firms’ information environments. In this study, we ask whether the intensity of local newspapers relative to the local economy (i.e., local news intensity) influences the information available about local publicly traded firms in the capital markets.

[Added note for context: Public companies are required to disclose information to help potential investors and other outside entities analyze the health of the company and understand risks to the company’s financial performance or other issues, such as the impact of the company’s business on communities.]

Consistent with local news improving information environments, we find that volatility, spreads, and illiquidity increase as local newspaper intensity declines and that this is associated with firms’ importance in their local economy. We further find that for firms that are more important in their community, or have busy analysts, less local newspaper intensity is associated with significantly lower analyst accuracy and higher forecast dispersion. This is consistent with local newspapers improving information environments, even for sophisticated and likely remote information intermediaries. We also investigate how stakeholders respond to declines in local news and find that managers increase the amount of forward-looking disclosures while analysts increase coverage.

These results provide insights into the methods by which stakeholders attempt to improve firms’ information environments when local news coverage fades.

In Spring 2024, Dr. Cating can be found teaching undergraduate Auditing in person and online and the graduate Seminar in Case Studies in Accounting.

Dr. Cating welcomes guest speakers such as the Arkansas Legislative Audit (ALA), a group that works to prevent fraud and other crimes, to help students understand the many opportunities available and to help them network with potential employers.

Posted in: Accounting, COB News, Featured News, _Research on December 19, 2023 Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Senior CIS Major Earns Full-time Job After Internship

Senior Computer Information Systems major Aubrie Sinclair is set to earn her BBA in December, but even with all her hard work, she did not expect to secure a full-time job months before graduation.

After her summer Database Tester internship at Acxiom was extended into fall, Aubrie was surprised in mid-September with a full-time offer to join the company. She has accepted a position to be a Delivery Support Analyst after graduation.

Learn more about Aubrie’s success in her path to career development from her own words:

Why did you choose to major in business?

I chose to major in business on a whim, but I think what’s more important is why I stayed. I stayed majoring in business because of the amazing individuals I met when I changed my major; I stayed because my advisor in the COB encourages me and pushes me to be my very best, and right alongside him, my professors do the same. Majoring in business can be tough, but I wouldn’t want to struggle and succeed in any other major. The College of Business has given me endless opportunities to learn and grow in an environment that allows me to be surrounded by fellow peers and professors who have the same drive and passion as I have. Being a business major has made my time at UCA worthwhile.

Why did you choose this internship?

I chose this internship as a Database Tester at Acxiom because I saw it as an opportunity for growth with a company that I could see myself working for one day. The internship aligned with skills I had prior knowledge of, but it also grabbed my attention because it required me to expand my knowledge and pick up new skills along the way.

What did you learn at this internship?

At this internship, I learned a variety of skills. I learned very quickly that problem-solving and communication were going to be key in this career. Being a Database Tester required me to think outside of the box daily and pushed me to practice concise communication with both my co-workers and the client. I worked with SQL Database every day, and I enjoyed that I was exposed to hands-on experience with software that I have been taught at UCA.

How do you think this internship will be beneficial in your career?

Internships can be beneficial to students’ careers in many ways. It can show you what you do or don’t want out of a future job and help you grow in your skills. This internship allowed me to exercise the skills I already have and obtain new ones, and it allowed me to network with people who have experience in my future career field. I know this internship helped me me to grow as a student and a future businesswoman in technology. Ultimately, it helped me earn a full-time position with the company.

How do you plan to use your degree?

I have always planned to use my degree in Computer Information Systems and Analytics to work for a technology company that is focused on innovation and creativity. My eventual goal is to go into Business/Data Analytics, and I plan to pursue my master’s degree in Applied Data Analytics.

What advice do you have for students who may (or may not) be considering an internship?

My advice for anyone who is considering applying for or accepting an internship is – just go for it! I never thought I would land such an amazing internship, but I applied anyway and got an interview. The worst-case scenario might be that you get real-life experience filling out applications and interviewing for a company. Don’t let big companies and competitive interviews scare you off; believe in yourself, what you are capable of, and bring that to your interview because that’s what companies want to see.

Posted in: CISA, COB News, _Internships and Part-time on October 5, 2022 Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,