John Garcia, DBA, CPA, CAP

About

Dr. John Garcia joined the School of Management in the fall of 2021 as an Assistant Professor. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in finance and analytics. Prior to his current position, he taught data science at the University of North Texas for 1.5 years. Before transitioning to academia in 2020, he held multiple executive-level finance and analytics roles for a total of 21 years, 6 of which were with Ernst & Young and 15 with Toyota.

Dr. Garcia, a first-generation college graduate, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Analytics Professional (CAP). His educational credentials span a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Cal Poly, SLO, a Master's in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame, a Master's in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Creighton University, concentrating on finance and analytics.

As a researcher, Dr. Garcia delves into behavioral and corporate finance, and machine learning. His research has been featured in distinguished journals, including the Investment Analyst Journal, Managerial Finance, Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Multinational Finance Journal, Applied Finance Letters, Journal of Forensic Accounting Research, and Machine Learning with Applications.

Additional Appointments

• Faculty Learning Circle Chair, Project VITAL  (Vocational Identity and Talent in Academic Learning), California Lutheran University (2023-current)
• Faculty Learning Circle Chair, Project CHESS (Collaborative for Hispanics in Higher Education & Student Success), California Lutheran University (2023-2024)
• Faculty Senator (2022 - 2024)

Education

DBA, Finance & Analytics, Creighton University

MS Predictive Analytics, Northwestern University

MS Accountancy, University of Notre Dame

B.S. Business Administration, Cal Poly SLO

Expertise

• Corporate Finance
• Behavioral Finance
• Stock Liquidity
• Financial Distress
• Data Science
• Data Mining / Machine Learning
• Business Analytics
• FinTech

Publications

Peer Reviewed Publications

1. Garcia, J. (2025) “Sentiment Divergence and its Impact on Share Liquidity.” Multinational Finance Journal. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14957129
   
2. Garcia, J. (2024) “Herding the Crowds: Effect of Sentiment on Crowdsourced Earnings Forecasts.” Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11408-024-00447-4 
3. Dunham, L, Garcia, J., Grandstaff J, Wei, S. (2023) “Do Employees Waive Financial Red Flags Through the Glassdoor?“ Journal of Forensic Accounting Research, https://doi.org/10.2308/JFAR-2022-008
   
4. Garcia, J. (2023), “Measuring Valuation Uncertainty: A PCA Approach. Applied Finance Letters, https://doi.org/10.24135/afl.v12i1.605
5. Garcia, J. (2022), “Analyst rating changes and the predictive value of news and Twitter sentiment.”  Investment Analysts Journal, https://doi.org/10.1080/10293523.2022.2108651
6. Garcia, J. (2022), “An evaluation of bankruptcy prediction algorithms using synthetic samples.” Machine Learning with Applications,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mlwa.2022.100343
7. Dunham, L.M. and Garcia, J. (2021), "Measuring the effect of investor sentiment on financial distress", Managerial Finance, https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-02-2021-0056
8. Garcia, J. (2021), “Analyst herding and investor sentiment.” Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, 35(4), 461-494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11408-021-00382-8
9. Dunham, L., Garcia, J. (2021), “Measuring the effect of investor sentiment on liquidity,” Managerial Finance, 47(1), 59-85.  https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-06-2019-0265

Working Papers

• Garcia, J. “The Power of Attention: Examining The Roles of Institutional Investor and Macroeconomic News Attention In Shaping Share Liquidity.” Global Finance Journal
• Garcia, J. “Divergent Investor Sentiment and Excessive Attention: A Catalyst for Financial Distress?”
• Garcia, J.  & Lu-Andrews, R., “The Impact of Investor Sentiment on Share Liquidity: Examining the Roles of Religiosity and the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
• Garcia, J. “The Role of Sentiment in Driving Robinhood Stock Popularity.”
  
  

Conference Presentations and Proceedings

• Garcia, J. (2025). “Attention Matters: The Impact of Institutional Investor and Macroeconomic News Attention On Liquidity.” Southwestern Finance Association, Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX
• Garcia, J. (2025). “Market Buzz: The Impact of Social Media Sentiment and Attention On Robinhood Traders.” Southwestern Finance Association, Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX
• Garcia, J. (2024). “The Power of Attention: Examining The Roles of Institutional Investor and Macroeconomic News Attention In Shaping Share Liquidity.” Annual Meeting of the Financial Management Association, Dallas, TX.
  
• Garcia, J. (2024). “The Power of Attention: Examining The Roles of Institutional Investor and Macroeconomic News Attention In Shaping Share Liquidity.” Annual Meeting of the Academy of Behavioral Finance & Economics, LA, CA.
  
• Garcia, J. (2024). “The Power of Attention Examining The Roles of Institutional Investor and Macroeconomic News Attention In Shaping Share Liquidity.” Tenure Project Conference, Marshall School of Business, Los Angeles, CA
• Garcia, J. (2024). “Catalyzing Financial Distress - The Impact of Divergent Sentiment and Excessive Attention”?” Southwestern Finance Association, Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Garcia, J. (2024). “The Impact of Investor Sentiment on Share Liquidity: Examining the Roles of Religiosity and the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Southwestern Finance Association, Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Divergent Investor Sentiment and Excessive Attention: A Catalyst for Financial Distress.” Financial Management Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Financial Distress - Unraveling the Impact of Divergent Investor Sentiment and Excess Attention.” Annual Meeting of the Academy of Behavioral Finance & Economics, Woodland Hills, CA.
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Liquidity in Flux: The Role of Sentiment Disagreement in Share Liquidity.” Research Symposium on Finance & Economics Conference, Sri City, India (Virtual).
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Sentiment Divergence and its Impact on Share Liquidity.” Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference, Virtual.
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Herding the Crowds: How Sentiment Affects Amateur Analysts’ Earnings Estimates” at the Southwestern Finance Association, Annual Conference, Houston, TX
• Garcia, J. (2023). “Measuring Valuation Uncertainty: A PCA Approach.” Southwest Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference, Houston, TX
• Garcia, J. (2022). "Do Employees Waive Financial Red Flags Through the Glassdoor?" Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, Key West, FL.
• Garcia, J. (2022). “Herding the Crowds.” Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference, Virtual.
• Garcia, J. (2022). “Bankruptcy Prediction Using Synthetic Sampling.” Southwestern Finance Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
• Garcia, J. (2021). “Analyst Rating Changes and the Predictive Value of News and Twitter Sentiment.” Southwestern Finance Association Annual Meeting, Virtual.
• Garcia, J. (2020). “Analyst herding and firm-level investor sentiment.” Decision Sciences Institute, Virtual.
•  Garcia, J. (2020). “An evaluation of bankruptcy prediction algorithms using synthetic samples.” Decision Sciences Institute, Virtual. DSI National Conference Regional Best Paper Award Finalist.
• Garcia, J. (2020). “Measuring the effect of investor sentiment on financial distress.” INFORMS Annual Meeting, Virtual.
•  Garcia, J (2020). “Comparative analysis of bankruptcy prediction models with synthetic sampling.” Southwest Decision Sciences Institute, San Antonio, TX. Awarded the SW DSI Best Paper award.
• Garcia, J. (2019). “Measuring the effect of investor sentiment on liquidity.” Decision Sciences Institute, New Orleans, LA.
  

Grant Funding

September 2023 - Diversity Equity and Inclusion CLU Mini Grant (DEIJ in the Workplace Alumni Panel Discussion - Overcoming Barriers & Navigating Success)