An accomplished researcher who explores how institutions influence supply chain operations in agriculture, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare, Jessica Darby has won the 2024 Auburn Emerging Faculty Creative Research and Scholarship award.

This new award recognizes two early-career faculty members among Auburn’s nearly 400 assistant professors who have demonstrated excellence in research, scholarly work, and creative contributions.

“Auburn University has many high achievers among its junior faculty, so I’m delighted to win this award,” said Darby, an assistant professor of supply chain management in the Harbert College of Business. “Supply chains are front and center among the pressing challenges facing the world today, and I am fortunate that I have the opportunity to help companies and society through my research.”

Impactful research

In a 2023 study published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Darby examined the role that CEO stock ownership had in recalls of faulty medical devices. She and Harbert faculty colleague Dave Ketchen, along with Indiana University Professor George Ball and University of Illinois Professor Ujjal Mukherjee, analyzed data on more than 2,000 medical device recalls and found that a CEO's stock ownership stake in the company may contribute to recall delays.

“Just a two percent increase in stock ownership is associated with a 26-day delay in recall initiation,” said Darby about the study’s main finding. “This recall-slowing effect was strongest for medical devices with severe defects that can cause temporary illness, serious injury, or even death.”

“We can’t know for sure, but it may be that CEOs are buying time to further analyze the problem or to protect the stock price,” she said. She added that recalls put CEOs in a very precarious position, as they try to balance the firm’s interests, consumer interests, and their own interests.

Darby and colleagues also found that the longer a company delayed initiating a recall, the more its stock price dipped.

“For medical devices with severe defects, waiting an extra three weeks nearly doubles the stock market penalty on average,” she said. “So, ironically, recall delays lead to consequences that are detrimental to the CEO’s own interests—and, of course, consumer health and safety. Or, as we like to say, bad things come to those who wait.”

Their findings were featured in the Wall Street Journal, and according to Darby, high-ranking officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contacted the author team to discuss the implications of the findings for the agency’s work. 

In a 2020 study, Darby explored how companies use inventory to buffer against uncertainty surrounding government policy. She conducted this work with Ketchen and Professors Brent Williams from the University of Arkansas and Travis Tokar from TCU.

“The paper was seemingly published at exactly the right time in light of the policy uncertainty that has ensued over the last four years, such as the ongoing trade war, a global pandemic, and record inflation,” Darby said.

Early career

Darby discovered her passion for research while working on an undergraduate honors thesis in the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in business economics in 2015. Her thesis, advised by Professor Andrew McKenzie, examined the role of government information in rice markets—an important topic in the largest rice-producing state in the country.

She also worked at an Arkansas-based trading and sourcing company, as well as a global grain shipping firm. In both roles, she analyzed data to adapt purchasing and logistics strategies to changing market conditions and political environments.

“As a commodity analyst, I witnessed firsthand the often-overlooked influence of economic and political institutions – including governments, regulatory agencies, and financial markets – on supply chain management,” she said. “This experience, as well as my continued interactions with industry, provided the foundations for my career as an academic.”

She went on to earn an MBA and a PhD at the University of Arkansas, where she was named a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow.

“That passion [for research] has persisted—I just can’t stand not knowing or understanding things,” she said. “It is not enough to know that X leads to Y; I need to know how, why, and under what conditions.”

In the classroom

Darby is as dedicated to preparing students for their careers as she is to research. She currently teaches Supply Chain Strategy: A Global Perspective, which is the capstone course for seniors majoring in supply chain management.

“I leverage my research and my experiences in the commodities industry to broaden students’ understanding and adaptability by exposing them to different companies and approaches to supply chain activities, such as forecasting, risk management, and transportation,” she said.

Recognition

At this early stage in her career, Darby has published 10 research articles in top journals in the supply chain management field.

“Jessica is a rising star in the supply chain management discipline,” said Beth Davis-Sramek, Gayle Parks Forehand professor and chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management. “Her research offers important insights for both companies and policy makers. I appreciate both Harbert College and the university’s efforts in recognizing young scholars who are making significant contributions to their disciplines.”

Darby’s research has also been recognized within the Harbert College of Business. In May, she earned the 2024 Harbert College Outstanding Rising Scholar Research award and the Department of Supply Chain Management Outstanding Research award.

“I am lucky to work alongside renowned scholars like Beth Davis-Sramek, Dave Ketchen, and Brian Connelly in Harbert College,” she said, while also acknowledging numerous scholars from other universities who have positively impacted her career. “I am even luckier that they are mentors and friends.”

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Learn more about Auburn’s 2024 faculty awards.