The Best Student Paper Award is given to the best paper presented as part of the OSCM conference program with a student as the leading author.
Papers for this award are assessed on the following criteria:
- Significance of the paper to the field of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM);
- The extent to which the paper is interesting and managerially relevant;
- Theoretical contribution to OSCM;
- Use of appropriate methodological rigor;
- Clarity of writing and/or presentation.
Finalists for the award are selected by the OSCM Division Program Chair based on the ratings and comments received from AOM conference reviewers. The award winner is then chosen from these finalist papers by an independent committee following a blind review process.
2024 Best Student Paper
Winner: Health Insurance and Labor Productivity in US Manufacturing: Evidence from Medicaid Expansion
Yasaman Asayesh (University of Minnesota), Anant Mishra (University of Minnesota), Arzi Adbi (National University of Singapore)
Finalists:
Are Chief Sustainability Officers Guardians of Environmental Justice? An Empirical Evaluation
Finn Petersen, Vibhuti Dhingra, Rachna Shah
Governance Trajectories Addressing Multiple ParadoxicalTensions in Public-Private Collaboration
Liumiao Qin, Qinghua HE, Ge Wang
The Impact of Reshoring on Firm Risk and Operational Efficiency in Global Disruption
Shukai Zhang, Minhao Zhang, Xiaojun Wang, Yusen Xia
2024 Best Student Paper Winner Feature
Congratulations on winning this award, Yasaman and team! What motivated you to conduct this award-winning research?
I began working on this paper during the third semester of my PhD program, while taking PhD seminars and diving into the fundamentals of supply chain and operations management. Although the supply chain and operations literature offers insightful research on improving day-to-day operations across industries, such as healthcare and manufacturing, these sectors are often examined in isolation. With the guidance of my advisor, Prof. Anant Mishra, I became interested in exploring public health policies and their spillover effects beyond the health sector, particularly in terms of economic and social well-being. We focused on the Affordable Care Act, specifically Medicaid expansion, one of the most significant (and controversial) health policies in the US, with questions continuing to be raised even today about its economic viability.
My primary motivation for this research stems from my belief that equitable access to healthcare is a moral imperative. However, I also wanted to explore whether improving access to healthcare could be a catalyst for economic growth. In other words, could workers’ ability to obtain affordable, quality healthcare directly impact their well-being, productivity, and, by extension, the economic strength of sectors like US manufacturing? The notion that something as fundamental as health insurance could drive economic outcomes intrigued me, and motivated me to investigate further. In this paper, I seek to understand how public health policies intersect with business’s economic performance, particularly within the manufacturing sector.
What is the most interesting outcome of your awarded AOM paper?
The findings of this study, which demonstrate a clear link between Medicaid expansion and a significant boost in labor productivity in the US manufacturing sector, provide compelling evidence that healthcare access is not solely a social issue, but an economic one as well. This research contributes also to a broader conversation by revealing the complexities of how health system capacity shapes the labor market. Specifically, my research shows that the positive effect of Medicaid expansion on labor productivity is not unconditional; it depends on the health system’s ability to absorb the increased demand for services following the expansion.
These insights into the importance of health system capacity highlight the need for healthcare policies that are not only focused on affordability, but also on ensuring the system can deliver adequate care. Ultimately, this research illustrates that investing in equitable healthcare access does more than improve health outcomes—it could lay the groundwork for increased productivity. By providing policymakers with these insights, my intention is to support the development of health policies that benefit workers, businesses, and society.
What are your future plans? Will you continue this work?
I am now in the fourth year of my PhD program and currently working on two additional papers: one lies on the intersection of operations and social impact, while the other is a methodological review of empirical operations management studies. Through my research journey, I aim to continue my focus on the economic implications of public policies and technology-driven interventions, examining how they affect labor dynamics. As I approach the job market next year, I am keeping my options open to both academic and industry positions, seeking research opportunities that will allow me to build on my ongoing work and continue exploring these critical intersections.
Past Best Student Paper Awards
2023 Sukrit Vinayavekhin, Aneesh Banerjee, Feng Li: "Impact of Blockchain-driven Sustainable Supply Chain Transparency on Buyer's Supplier Selection
2022 Emily C. Dickey, Prisca Brosi, Jan C. Fransoo: "Developing and Implementing Business Ecosystem Strategies - A Performance Measurement Perspective"
2021 Gurpreet Muctor: "Developing and Implementing Business Ecosystem Strategies - A Performance Measurement Perspective"
2020 Antoaneta Momcheva: "Subcontracted Labor Mix in Projects Teams: The Benefits and Costs on Financial Performance"
2019 Park Sinchaisri: "The Impact of Behavioral and Economic Drivers on Gig Economy Workers"
2018 Stefan Kurpjuweit: "Partnering with New Venture Suppliers: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach"
2017 James Knuckles, ManMohan Sodhi: “A Multiple Case Study of Development Supply Chains for Household Solar Products Sold in Haiti”
2016 Sina Golara, Kevin Dooley: “The Influence of Manufacturing Services on Innovation”
2015 Desirée van Dun, Celeste Wilderom: “Governing Highly Performing Lean Team Behaviors: A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Study”
2014 Luv Sharma, Aravind Chandrasakeran, Ken Boyer: “The Impact of Hospital Information Technology Bundles on Performance: an Econometric Study”
2013 Marcus Bellamy, Soumen Ghosh, Manpreet Hora: “Supply network structure and firm innovation”
2012 Brett Massimino, John Gray: “The Effect of Culture and Cultural Distance on Plant-Level Process Compliance”
2011 Claire Senot, Aravind Chandrasekaran, Ken Boyer
2010 Heng Liu, Yi Liu, Yuan Li
2009 Pekka Helkio, Antti Tenhiala: “Beyond the Product-Process Matrix: Fit between Production Process Specificity and Task Environment”
2008 Bart van Hezewijk (RSM Erasmus U.)
2007 Anant Ravindra Deshpande (UT Pan American)
2006 None
2005 Andrea McGee Prud’homme (MSU), Ken Boyer (MSU), Roger Calantone (MSU)
2004 Gopesh Anand (OSU)
2003 Murat Kristal (UNC), Aleda Roth (UNC) and Jayashankar Swaminathan