Sprott researchers awarded SSHRC grants for projects related to artificial intelligence, internationalization and workplace integration

Four faculty members from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business have been awarded Insight Development Grants (IDG) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in the February 2022 competition. This award supports research in its early stages, enabling the development of new research questions as well as experimentation with new methods, approaches and ideas.   

Leading financial media sources are beginning to rely on robots to write financial news. In some cases, readers are not necessarily aware whether news is written by robots or by humans. This initial study will take place in the context of social media and will utilize a dataset of 350+ million financial tweets about thousands of North American firms. The goal of this project is to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify robo-­generated news and to examine the impact of robo­-news on financial markets. In making investment decisions, Portfolio Managers, Investment Advisors and the broader investing community rely on public news sources. A deeper understanding of the impact of robo-news will help those parties better assess their sources of information and ultimately devise better investment strategies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise with many countries around the world investing greatly in this sector to boost their economies. Many experts caution that this rapid growth in development and application of AI in every aspect of life, without properly mitigating its risks may eventually have devastating consequences for humanity. The for-­profit sector, which is playing a huge role in the development and application of AI is mainly unregulated on AI accountability. The purpose of this study is to understand if and how firms in North America disclose information related to the development and application of AI and whether this information has any substance. The outcome of this proposed research will advance the corporate accountability literature and AI disclosure as a mechanism of AI accountability, in North America which has not been explored before.

International students represent a valuable source of talent and can play a key role in addressing skill shortages and increasing workplace diversity and innovation in Canada. Yet, many international student graduates wishing to stay in Canada report difficulties in finding suitable employment and integrating into the Canadian labour market. Communicating virtually has become the primary way for international students to network, seek information and search for jobs. However, many international students face difficulties in reading social cues, developing social relationships and forming connections with Canadian employers. This research aims to explore and deepen the understanding of the impact and role of different online technologies on international student graduates’ job search as well as determine how to better integrate international students into the Canadian workforce using these online technologies.

While many multinational enterprises (MNEs) have moved from being pressured to actively promoting women onto their corporate boards, there is little research on how a firm’s network of foreign operations may influence women’s representation on its corporate board. This research focuses on the embeddedness of an MNEs’ foreign operations in diverse institutional environments as a potential precursor of board gender diversity. The project aims to link research on board gender diversity with international business literature to investigate whether a firm’s foreign operations in countries characterized by higher levels of gender equality increases women’s representation on its corporate board. Also, how women’s representation on a firm’s board influences the firm’s internationalization process will also be explored. These findings will contribute to the fields of workplace gender equality, international strategy and corporate governance.