Bayes research highlights 2025
Academics at Bayes Business School have produced a number of white papers and studies published in leading journals throughout the last 12 months. Here are just some of the highlights from another busy year.
On top of this research, 19 researchers from Bayes were named in Stanford University’s prestigious World’s Top 2% Scientists list for 2025 in their respective fields.
The annual index identifies the leading two per cent of academics – or top 100,000 – in the world based on their ‘c-score’, an indicator of research impact and citation strength across scientific fields. See the full list.
Risky business
Chief Risk Officers (CROs) are no longer the ‘no team’ for compliance enforcement they were once seen as, according to a report by Dr Cormac Bryce, Reader in Risk Management. Dr Bryce’s work drew on 31 interviews with practitioners to dig into the changing face of the role, with recommendations for strategy and the rise of the ‘polymath CRO’ – fulfilling a number of diverse responsibilities. Read the full story.
Wielding global shareholder influence is a chain reaction
Research led by Jean-Pascal Gond, Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility, devised a model by which investors can overcome challenges to exert shareholder engagement on environmental, societal and governance (ESG) issues. With differences in power dynamics between asset owners and managers across the world, the report illustrates how investors can utilise two reciprocating ‘chains of influence’ to successfully pressurise individuals and groups running a company to engage in ESG activity.
Read more about the Chains of influence: Global differences in ESG shareholder engagement and how active owners can leverage them report.
How to bring pharmaceuticals to EU faster
A study of practitioners across the world by Professor Stefan Haefliger, along with biopharmaceuticals company Merck KGaA, examined why Europe is struggling to attract major pharmaceutical companies – with many favouring the United States’ ecosystem to develop and launch new drugs. Findings from the qualitative research suggested European Union member states should work more closely together, provide better incentives for the development of new medicines and approve access to medicines quicker than other international regulators.
Hey big lender!
Two Bayes Commercial Real Estate Lending Reports revealed loan volume recovery in the second half of 2024 and first half of 2025 respectively.
The bi-annual datasets, compiled by Dr Nicole Lux, Reader in Finance, found firstly that new loans had increased by 11 per cent year-on-year in the 12 months to 31 December 2024, reaching £36.3 billion. A second, mid-year report then found a surge of new lending to £22.3 billion - up 33 per cent from 12 months previous.
Explaining the undercooked nest egg
Research by Dr Iqbal Owadally, Reader in Actuarial Science, Steve Haberman, Professor of Actuarial Science and Dr Douglas Wright, Senior Lecturer, found that young people under-save for their retirement due to pessimism about their longevity. The study found those who subjectively predict how long they will live save around one per cent less before retirement and four per cent more after retiring than people who take a more evidence-based approach to saving.
Add this to your list
Newly listed firms enjoy speedy profitability boosts compared to those that do not go ahead with planned Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), according to research by Franciso Urzúa, Professor of Finance.
The analysis of nearly 3,500 companies in the UK and 15 other European countries showed the main beneficiaries were most pronounced in countries that had the highest levels of protection for investors.
Bon appétit! (unless you receive your meal first)
Research by Irene Scopelliti, Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science, and Janina Steinmetz, Professor of Marketing, suggested that restaurants and dinner hosts could reduce social awkwardness by serving guests at the same time. The study showed we are more concerned about violating the norm of waiting before everybody has been served than we are about others doing so – yet we expect others to start eating when roles are reversed.
Asking participants to imagine their actions across different scenarios and inducements to begin eating, the professors discovered a ‘self-other’ difference in understanding our own internal feelings versus that of others.
Rewiring the M&A playbook
A study led by Dr Valeriya Vitkova revealed how times of geopolitical turbulence can create excellent value in the mergers & acquisitions market. Researchers analysed 3,079 acquisitions in the United States between 2002 and 2019 to reveal acquirers and dealmakers can maximise returns in times of global difficulty when they use stock rather than cash, reallocate risk in transactions, and create slack for policy shocks.
The Revolution will be televised, if all actors engage at the right time
How are nascent industries born? A framework co-authored by Dr Mara Guerra, Senior Lecturer in Strategy, set out the necessary conditions, knowledge, actors and engagements that must happen for ideas and concepts to become profitable, lucrative and sustainable ventures.
The literature review characterises stakeholders as actors with comparative and competing needs, assets and inducements – financial or otherwise – to join the growth process of a new venture.
The gender pay gap is larger than we think
Research led by John Forth, Professor of Human Resource Management reviewed the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and found that the gender gap has been under-estimated for the last 20 years.
The miscalculation has occurred because the original weighting did not correctly represented smaller private sector firms, and over-represented for larger and public sector employers who generally pay more with smaller differences between men and women. This was most likely due to smaller private firms being less likely to respond to the ONS’s survey.
Building stronger bonds with the charity sector
A white paper authored by Sonia Falconieri and Aneel Keswani, Professors of Finance, and commissioned by RCB-Bonds plc, suggested ESG or "social” bonds could be a good source of funding for more charities, yet many trustees and financial advisors remain wary.
The report recommend steps to address the demand and supply-side impediments that have deterred both charities and potential investors.
How did we do?
Reading customer reviews help us decide what to buy, where to go and who to trust. But how does writing reviews affect our own brand loyalty?
Research from Dr Wanqing Zhang, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, found leaving emotional reviews that reflect on our feelings of using a product or service makes us more likely to repeat a purchase or recommend to others, than one that is written factually. Across three sets of data, Dr Zhang and her co-authors also found that longer reviews impact negatively on loyalty when the product or service is simple, costly, or when a customer is highly experienced.
Leading by example: could better managers save the NHS?
Research co-authored by Amanda Goodall, Professor of Leadership, of annual NHS Survey data revealed that a one-point increase in perceived line manager quality on a 1-5 scale is enough to reduce employee intention to quit by 17 percentage points.
The study analysed results of five surveys between 2018 and 2022 and totalled a sample of nearly 400,000 NHS staff in more than 120 hospital trusts. It suggests quality of line management and leadership of the National Health Service is more pivotal for maintaining staff than pay or job quality.
