2026 ISoF Best Student Paper Award for Yu Gao

Yu Gao has received the 2026 International Society of Franchising (ISoF) Best Student Award for her paper on “Organizational Boundaries and Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence from franchising intensity” that she wrote with Professor Abe de Jong and Associate Professor Halit Gonenc.

In their paper, Gao and her supervisors looked at how franchisors divide ownership between company-owned and franchised locations can influence how operational information reaches capital markets—and, as a result, how exposed firms are to extreme downside risks.

In a study of U.S. public franchisors (identified through textual screening and manual verification of SEC Form 10-K filings, see note), researchers found a U-shaped relationship between the intensity of franchising and the future risk of stock price crashes. At low-to-moderate levels of franchising, incentives for franchisees, internal benchmarking, and independent records improve transparency, which reduces crash risk. At high levels of franchising, increasing monitoring costs, unclear reporting, and the aggregation of signals allow bad news to build up, which increases crash risk. This pattern is most pronounced in firms with weaker information environments.

Jury report

The jury commended Yu Gao and her supervisors for bringing finance and franchising together in an original way. The study offers a fresh perspective on how organizational boundaries affect corporate transparency and stock price crash risk. The jury also encouraged Yu Gao to continue developing this research and making further contributions to both fields.

Personal note

Gao is deeply honored to receive the Best Student Paper Award. “This recognition means a lot to me and reflects the commitment and close collaboration of my co-authors, Abe de Jong and Halit Gonenc. The award affirms the value of connecting finance with franchising research and motivates me to continue studying how organizational structures shape corporate information and capital-market outcomes. I hope to make further contributions to both fields through this line of research.”

The International Society of Franchising

The International Society of Franchising is the premier global association of scholars who conduct multidisciplinary, multinational research on franchising. Researchers from different disciplines, such as marketing, law, management, economics, or sociology, contribute their respective perspectives to create a comprehensive understanding of franchising as the world’s most pervasive business model. 

For more information, please contact Yu Gao.

Note: A SEC Form 10-K is an annual report that publicly traded companies in the United States are required to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It provides a comprehensive overview of the company’s financial performance, business operations, risks, and other key information for investors, regulators, and the public.