As part of its initiative to draw attention to culture and conduct in the financial services industry, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hosted a Culture Web Series. Our latest installment, Shifting Norms? The Intersection of Technology and Culture in Financial Services, took place on July 6.
The role that technology and digitization have played in disrupting financial services is well documented and much discussed. We have learned a great deal in recent years about how new entrants are impacting the business models of traditional financial services firms. However, less has been said about how increased digitization is impacting norms and behaviors within traditional financial services firms, and how that influence manifests. Among other topics, panelists considered how technology can affect norms and behaviors, how technology can be used to assess and address culture, how the digitization "gold rush" might influence behaviors in traditional finance, and how the norms of Silicon Valley could have an effect on banks.
For a more in-depth preview of the discussion, read this primer.
July 6, 2022
9:00am – 10:15am EDT
| 9:00am-9:05am | Welcoming Remarks John C. Williams, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
| 9:05am-10:10am | Panel: Shifting Norms? The Intersection of Technology
and Culture in Financial Services
Moderator: Susan Ochs, CEO, Ochs Advisory Group Brandy Aven, Associate Professor of Organizational Theory, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business Nathanael Fast, Associate Professor of Management and Organization, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Sameer B. Srivastava, Ewald T. Grether Chair in Business Administration and Public Policy, University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business |
| 10:10am-10:15am | Closing Remarks John C. Williams, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
This virtual event was open to the public and the media. All remarks were on the record.
For media inquiries, please contact shelley.pitterson@ny.frb.org.
Brandy Aven
Associate Professor of Organizational Theory, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business
- The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at Enron. In this research, Aven explores communication patterns among project teams at Enron and identifies how corruption is coordinated and how it influences communication among project teams at various stages of a project.
- The Valley of Trust: The Effect of Relational Strength on Monitoring Quality. In this paper, Aven and her co-authors consider the effects of relationship strength and trust on the efficacy of monitoring agents (such as regulators) in monitoring firms. It includes studies of commercial banks in the US.
Nathanael Fast
Jorge Paulo and Susanna Lemann Chair in Entrepreneurship, USC Marshall School of Business
- Humans Judge, Algorithms Nudge: The Psychology of Behavior Tracking Acceptance. In this paper, Fast and his co-author explore the variation in employee acceptance of behavior tracking by algorithms vs. tracking by humans.
- When Eliminating Bias Isn't Fair: Algorithmic Reductionism and Procedural Justice in Human Resource Decisions. Fast and his co-authors researched employee perceptions of fairness in using HR algorithms to evaluate staff and determine personnel outcomes.
- Power and Overconfident Decision-Making. In this study, Fast and his co-authors find that the experience of power leads to overconfidence in decision-making.
- Managing to Stay in the Dark: Managerial Self-Efficacy, Ego Defensiveness, and the Aversion to Employee Voice. In this paper, Fast and co-authors consider whether low perceptions of their own abilities lead managers to minimize employee voice in order to compensate for a threatened ego.
- Privacy Matters…Or Does It? Algorithms, Rationalization, and the Erosion of Concern for Privacy. Fast and his co-author explore how increased use of algorithms in organizations and society is eroding people's ability and motivation to defend their privacy.
Sameer Srivastava
E. T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy, University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business
- The New Analytics of Culture. Srivastava and co-authors describe how technology and big-data analytics can be applied to "trace data" to measure and understand organizational culture.
- A Language-Based Method for Assessing Symbolic Boundary Maintenance between Social Groups. In this paper, Srivastava and his co-authors apply computational linguistics and machine learning to communications in a financial services firm pre- and post-merger to measure social boundary maintenance between groups.
Susan Ochs
CEO, Ochs Advisors
- Inside the Banker's Brain: Mental Models in the Financial Services Industry and Implications for Consumers, Practitioners and Regulators. In this paper, Ochs explores how prevalent mindsets in the industry drive behavior in banking culture, including motivations such as complexity and the desire to be seen as intelligent.
Visit the New York Fed's page on Governance and Culture Reform.
Inquiries may be directed to NY.FRB.Culture.Events@ny.frb.org.
