Research on stigma says to just ‘shake it off’
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Aug-2025 13:11 ET (31-Aug-2025 17:11 GMT/UTC)
Scott Dust, PhD, professor in the management department at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business, worked with doctoral candidates Sodiq Babatunde and Ben Fagan to analyze the impact of stress and stigma on well-being in careers that society often considers 'dirty.' Their study, “Shake it off: The role of self-consciousness in dictating whether dirty work reduces satisfaction through emotional exhaustion,” looks at the impact of both personal and managerial support.
Metin Sengul, professor of management at Texas McCombs, wondered why some companies structure themselves with a gap or “wedge” between their control rights and rights to the subsidiary’s earnings.
In new research, he finds two internal factors that influence those decisions:
Relatedness: how closely the subsidiary’s operations relate to the other businesses the parent operates, such as all being in segments of the auto industry.
Multimarket contact: the degree to which the parent and subsidiary face the same competitors in multiple geographic or product markets.