SMITH BRAIN TRUST — High-priced luxury handbags are sometimes referred to as “statement pieces,” and for at least some women, the statement they’re making is: “Don’t even try to take my man.” For such women, luxury accessories, such as high-priced designer shoes and handbags, function as “a signaling system directed to other women who pose threats to their romantic relationships,” according to research from Yajin Wang, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Let’s say your company has had a very profitable year, and has decided to reward you, one of its top contributors, with a handsome, 8 percent pay increase. Well done. Now, let’s say it’s just before the holidays. Should your friends and relatives expect an 8 percent raise in your gift-giving budget?

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Sharing creative ideas at work can be risky. What if a suggestion appears foolish? What if it upsets a comfortable routine? What if it fails? When in doubt, many employees keep their mouths shut. One way to counteract these instincts and foster creativity is to develop a seemingly unrelated skill: Networking. Professor Vijaya Venkataramani at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Words of wisdom for new managers: First win over your team, then roll out your changes. But do it all with a keen understanding of the leader who came before you. You’ll be a lot more successful. These are the conclusions of new research from M. Susan Taylor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Why do job seekers, scrolling through employment postings, favor some employers over others? It may be less about what they actually know and more about what they think they know, says Cynthia Kay Stevens, associate dean of undergraduate studies, and an associate professor of management and organization at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Organizations need strong leaders who can build high-quality relationships with their subordinates. But the same leaders create a liability when they exit because loyal employees will often follow them out the door. The result can be “turnover contagion.”

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — It might be the biggest but least-talked-about drag on the U.S. economy and, paradoxically, it might be why your equity portfolio looks so good, with perky stock prices, cushy buybacks and better-looking dividends. It’s called short-termism, or quarterly capitalism. It’s what happens when companies focus on returning money to shareholders each quarter, rather than spending money on productivity improvements or on research and development that could result in the next big innovation.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — If you want to meet new people, leave your “wingman” at home and go out alone. People will think you are more open-minded, curious and interested in the world and be more likely to strike up a conversation with you. That’s the finding of new research from Rebecca Ratner at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and Smith marketing PhD student Yuechen Wu. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Information systems professor Louiqa Raschid learned valuable lessons from her involvement in developing the Sahana Open Source system for natural disaster recovery management that was used effectively for such events as Superstorm Sandy. Currently, she’s leading an effort to monitor and avert a different disaster type — a financial crisis.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Those annual employee performance reviews can be pretty stressful. But what if instead of being a once-a-year thing with just your boss, they were every day, with everyone you work with? JPMorgan Chase & Co. is revamping the way it evaluates its 240,000 employees, deploying a mobile app that will let colleagues across the organization send and receive instant feedback about each other any time.