Seminars topic: Inventive human capital is vital to firm innovation and long-term value creation. While prior research has extensively examined the capital market consequences of corporate misconduct, little is known about its impact on human capital—the foundation of organizational knowledge and innovation. This study investigates whether misconduct events affect the retention of corporate inventors, drawing on a novel dataset that links firm-level ESG misconduct to inventor employment histories. The results show that the likelihood of inventor departure rises significantly within two years following misconduct, indicating that such events undermine organizational trust and weaken firms’ attractiveness as employers. The effect is more pronounced among female inventors, highly mobile inventors, and firms operating in more competitive industries. Additionally, inventor departures are followed by declines in innovation performance, measured by patent value and citations. By identifying inventor attrition as an overlooked consequence of corporate misconduct, this study highlights a critical channel through which reputational shocks erode firm value—by weakening the human capital base that sustains innovation and competitive advantage.

Scholars Background: Dr. Ruiting Dai is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University. His research interests include financial reporting and disclosure, regulation, and labor economics in the capital markets. Dr. Dai holds a Ph.D. in Accounting from Yale University, a Master of Accounting degree from The Ohio State University, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Before entering academia, he worked as an auditor for KPMG from 2012 to 2013.

Time and Location: December 5, 2025, 10:00–11:30, Room A523, School of Management

Language: EN

Host: Associate Prof. Shao Shuai