Rosemary Batt

People/Emeriti faculty
Alice H. Cook Professor of Women and Work Emerita
Institute for Compensation Studies
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Contact

133 Statler Dr - 169 Ives Hall Faculty Wing
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

Tel
+1 (607) 254-4437
CV
batt-vita-10-26.doc
Overview

Rosemary Batt is the Alice Hanson Cook Professor of Women and Work Emerita at the ILR School, Cornell University. Recent research focuses on the processes and outcomes of financialization in healthcare. Her work examines new forms of ownership -- including private equity, franchising, outsourcing, and subcontracting of work. She specializes in management and employment relations in service industries, especially healthcare and other essential services. Batt received her BA from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from the Sloan School of Management, MIT. She has published over 100 books, book chapters, and articles on management and employment relations issues. She is co-author with Eileen Appelbaum of Private Equity at Work (2014) and The New American Workplace; and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on Work and Organization.

Honors and Awards

  • Thomas A. Mahoney Mentoring Award, Academy of Management HR Division, 2026
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Labor and Employment Relations Association, 2026
  • Milton Derber Lecture. 2025. School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. “Financialization in U.S. Healthcare.” March 28
  • Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowship in Residency, September 2024.
  • Keynote Address. 2023. “Regulating Finance for Decent Work: Bringing Capital Back In.”  8th Annual ILO Conference on Regulating Decent Work.  July 10, Geneva.
  • General Mills Award for Best Graduate Teaching, ILR School, Cornell U. 2021 
  • Hallsworth Visiting Professor. 2018. Manchester Business School, U. of Manchester, UK. May-June.
  • Public Address. 2017. “Wall Street and Main Street: Management Dilemmas, Sustainability, Inequality.” Sir John Cass’s Foundation Lecture.  British Academy. London. March 2. 
  • George R. Terry Book Award for Best Contribution to Management Knowledge, Academy of Management 2016 – Runner-up: Private Equity at Work: When Wall Street Manages Main Street (with Eileen Appelbaum) 
  • Keynote Address. 2016 “Implications of Private Equity Activity in the Health Care Sector.” Conference on ”Fairer Futures: Reshaping Care for Older People,” University of Manchester, September 12.
  • Keynote Address. 2015. “Financial Innovation and Inequality: Challenges for Labor Research and Practice.” Annual International Conference of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT), HEC Montreal, May 21-23. (20 minutes) 
  • Academic Fellow Scholarly Achievement Award, Labor and Employment Relations Association, 2012
  • HR Scholarly Achievement Award, Academy of Management, Best Paper in HR Studies 2012 - Runner-up for: “An Employment Systems Approach to Turnover: HR Practices, Quits, Dismissals, and Customer Satisfaction.” Academy of Management Journal, 54(4): 695-717 (with Alex Colvin)
  • Keynote Address. 2012. “The Impact of Financialization on Management and Labor.” British Sociological Association. April 12.
  • John Lovett Memorial Address. 2012. “The Impact of Financialization on Management and Employment Outcomes.” 20th Annual Conference, University of Limerick, Ireland. April 10.
  • HR Scholarly Achievement Award, Academy of Management, Best Paper in HR Studies 2011 - Finalist for: “How Supervisors Influence Performance: A Multi-level Study of Coaching and Group Management in Technology-mediated Services.” Personnel Psychology, 63, 265–98 (with Helen Liu) 
  • Keynote Address. 2010. 40th Anniversary Conference. Laboratoire Economique et Social du Travail, Centre de Recherche National de Science (LEST, CNRS), Aix-en-Provence, U. of Marseille, France. May 27-28.

Publications

Books

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2027. Healthcare in the Age of Finance Capital: Public Funds for Private Gain. Princeton, Princeton University Press. January. 

Batt, Rosemary, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Ann Frost, John Paul MacDuffie, eds. 2027. Collective Voice in the 21st Century: Advancing Social Justice at Work. Essays in Honor of Thomas A. Kochan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Forthcoming.

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2014. Private Equity at Work: When Wall Street Manages Main Street. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Finalist for the prestigious Academy of Management George R. Terry Award, 2016. 

Ackroyd, Stephen, Rosemary Batt, Paul Thompson, and Pam Tolbert, eds. 2004. Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization. London: Oxford.

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 1994. The New American Workplace: Transforming Work Systems in the U.S. Ithaca, New York: Cornell ILR Press. Third printing. Princeton University List of Top Books in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics, 1994. Korean translation, 1996. Japanese translation, 2003.

Selected Refereed Articles

Han, Sang Hoon, and Rosemary Batt. 2027. “Regulations on Private Equity Buyouts and Portfolio Companies’ Employment Outcomes in Korea,” Journal of Financial Regulation and Supervision.

Lakhani, Tashlin, Can Ouyang, Hyesook Chung, and Rosemary Batt. 2026. "Line Managers as Conduits of Corporate Standards: Evidence from Human Resource Practices in Fast Food Franchise Chains" Human Resource Management. June 19.

Ouyang, Can, and Rosemary Batt.  2026. “Which Firms Offer Better Jobs for Low-Wage Service Workers? Evidence from Fast Food Franchising.” ILR Review, 79 (2), 247–279.

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum.  2023. “The New Hospital-at-Home Movement: Opportunity or Threat for Patient Care?”  Public Policy and Aging Report, 33, 63-69. 

Bruch, Joseph Dov, Tamar Katz, Tarun Ramesh, Eileen Appelbaum, Rosemary Batt, and Thomas C. Tsai. 2022. “Trends in Real Estate Investment Trust Ownership of U.S. Health Care Properties.” JAMA Health Forum.

LaFrance, Aimee, Rosemary Batt, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2021. “Hospital Ownership and Financial Stability: A Matched Case Comparison of a Nonprofit Health System and a Private Equity-Owned Health System. Adv Health Care Manag. Dec 6; 20 

Batt, Rosemary, John Kallas, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2020. “Path Dependency versus Social Unionism in Healthcare: Bringing Employers Back In.” Special issue of.” Work and Occupations, “Consequences of Change in Healthcare for Organizations, Workers, and Patients,” 47(3): 406–436. 

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2021. “The Agency Costs of Private Equity: Why do Limited Partners Still Invest?” Academy of Management Perspectives, 35(1): 45–68. 

Lee, Jae Eun, Rosemary Batt, and Lisa Moynihan. 2019. “Strategic Dilemmas: How Managers use HR Practices to Meet Multiple Goals.” British Journal of Industrial Relations. 57(3): 513–539. 

Batt, Rosemary. 2018. “When Wall Street Manages Main Street: Managerial Dilemmas, Sustainability, and Inequality.” Journal of the British Academy. 6: 65-96. Sir John Cass’s Foundation Lecture, The British Academy, read March 2, 2017. 

Chicu, Dorina, Mireia Valverde, Gerard Ryan, and Rosemary Batt. 2016. "The Service-Profit Chain in Call Centre Services," Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 26(5):616-641.

Review Symposium. 2015. Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt, Private Equity at Work: When Wall Street Manages Main Street, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2014. Socio-Economic Review, 13(4): 813–820.

Liu, Xiangmin, Danielle van Jaarsveld, Rosemary Batt, and Ann Frost. 2014. “The Influence of Capital Structure on Strategic Human Capital: Evidence from US and Canadian Firms.” Journal of Management, 40(2):422-448. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, Rosemary Batt, and Ian Clark. 2013. “Implications of Financial Capitalism for Employment Relations Research: Evidence from Breach of Trust and Implicit Contracts in Private Equity Buyouts.” British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(3):498-518.  

Batt, Rosemary, and Michel Hermans. 2012. “Global Human Resource Management: Bridging Strategic and Institutional Perspectives,” in Joshi Aparna, Joseph Martaccio, and Liao Hui, eds., Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management (RPHRM), Vol. 31:1-52.

Batt, Rosemary, and Mallika Banerjee. 2012. “The Scope and Trajectory of Strategic HR Research: Evidence from American and British Journals.” International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(9-10):1739-62. 

Batt, Rosemary, and Alexander Colvin. 2011. “An Employment Systems Approach to Turnover: HR Practices, Quits, Dismissals, and Customer Satisfaction.” Academy of Management Journal, 54(4): 695-717.

Batt, Rosemary, Hiro Nohara, and Hyunji Kwon. 2010. “Employer Strategies and Wages in New Service Activities: A Comparison of Coordinated and Liberal Market Economies.” British Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(2):400-35.

Liu, Xiangmin, and Rosemary Batt. 2010. “How Supervisors Influence Performance: A Multi-level Study of Coaching and Group Management in Technology-mediated Services.” Personnel Psychology, 63, 265–98. Finalist: 2011 HR Scholarly Achievement Award, Academy of Management.

Batt, Rosemary, David Holman, and Ursula Holtgrewe. 2009. “The Globalization of Service Work: Comparative Institutional Perspectives on Call Centers.” Introduction to a Special Issue of Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 62(4):453-88.

Batt, Rosemary, and Hiro Nohara. 2009. “How Institutions and Business Strategies Affect Wages: A Cross-National Study of Call Centers.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 62(4):533-52.

Doellgast, Virginia, Rosemary Batt, and Ole Sorensen. 2009. “National Differences, Institutional Change, and New Forms of Labour Market Segmentation: Evidence from European Call Centres.” Introduction to a special issue of European Journal of Industrial Relations, 15(4):1-23. 

Selected Book Chapters 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2020. “The Potential for Good Jobs in Hospitals and Outpatient Care,” In Paul Osterman, ed., Creating Good Jobs: An Industry-Based Strategy. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 145-186.

Batt, Rosemary, Tashlin Lakhani, JaeEun Lee, and Can Ouyang. 2020. “The Changing Nature of the Restaurant Industry: Implications for the Quality of Jobs, Wages, and Inequality,” In Paul Osterman, ed., Creating Good Jobs: An Industry-Based Strategy. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 187-235.

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2019. “Are Lower Private Equity Returns the New Normal?” in M. Wright, K. Amess, N. Bacon, and D. Siegel, eds., The Routledge Companion to Management Buyouts. London: Routledge, pp. 248-277.

Batt, Rosemary. 2018. “The Financial Model of the Firm, the ‘Future of Work’, and Employment Relations,” in A. Wilkinson, T. Dundon, J. Donaghey and A. Colvin, eds., The Routledge Companion to Employment Relations. London: Routledge, pp. 465-479.

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2017. “The Networked Organization: Implications for Jobs and Inequality,” in D. Grimshaw, C. Fagan, G. Hebson and I. Tavora, eds., Making Work More Equal: Understanding the International, Societal, and Systemic Effects on The Organisation Of Employment. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp 70-89.

Batt, Rosemary and Eileen Appelbaum. 2015. “Investors as Managers: How Private Equity Firms Manage Labor and Employment Relations,” in Christian Weller, ed., Inequality, Uncertainty, and Opportunity: The Varied and Growing Role of Finance in Labor Relations. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois: LERA.

Other Articles, Technical Reports

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2026. “Labor in the Age of Healthcare Financialization,” LERA Perspectives on Work, October: 22-27. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2026. “Do Capitated Payments Deliver Value in U.S. Healthcare?” Washington, DC.: Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Appelbaum, Eileen, Rosemary Batt, and Brandon Novick. 2026. “End Profiteering in Healthcare,” Backgrounder Paper, Game Changers: Economic Policies for a Working America. July. https://peri.umass.edu/publication/end-profiteering-in-healthcare/

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2025. “Healthcare Financialization through Health IT, Part I: Lessons from Electronic Health Systems,” February 11. CEPR Working Paper. https://cepr.net/publications/financialization-through-health-it-part-1/

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2024. “The Agency Costs of Private Equity,” in Benjamin Hammer and Douglas Cummings, The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity. Springer Nature.

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2025. “Healthcare Financialization through Health IT, Part II: From Electronic Health Systems to AI.” February 11. CEPR Working Paper. https://cepr.net/publications/healthcare-financialization-through-information-technology-part-2/

Appelbaum, Eileen, Emma Curchin, and Rosemary Batt. 2024. July 25. “Structural Determinants of Health: Unequal Capital Investments Drive Health Inequities.” https://cepr.net/report/structural-determinants-of-health-hospitals-unequal-capital-investments-drive-health-inequities/

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2023. “Public Funds for Private Gain: Taxpayer Financed Capitalism in U.S. HealthCare.” Report to Arnold Ventures. December 31.

Appelbaum, Eileen, Rosemary Batt, with Emma Curchin. 2023. Profiting at the Expense of Seniors: The Financialization of Home Health Care. Washington, DC.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. Working Paper. September. https://cepr.net/press-release/profiting-at-the-expense-of-seniors-the-financialization-of-home-health-care/

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum, with Quynh Trang Nguyen. 2023. “Pocketing Money Meant for Special Needs Kids: Private Equity in Autism Services.”  Washington, DC.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. Working Paper. June 21. https://cepr.net/report/pocketing-money-meant-for-kids-private-equity-in-autism-services/

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt, with Emma Curchin. 2023. Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care. Washington, DC.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. April.  Working Paper. https://cepr.net/report/preying-on-the-dying-private-equity-gets-rich-in-hospice-care/

Appelbaum, Eileen and Rosemary Batt.  2023. “The New Hospital at Home Movement: Opportunity or Threat for Patient Care?” Washington, DC.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. January https://cepr.net/report/the-new-hospital-at-home-movement-opportunity-or-threat-for-patient-care/

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum, with Tamar Katz. 2022. “The Role of Public REITs in Financialization and Industry Restructuring.” Institute for New Economic Thinking and Center for Economic and Policy Research. July. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2022. “Curbing Inequities in the Distribution of Emergency Relief: Lessons from the CARES Act in Healthcare.” CEPR Working Paper. March 3. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2021. “Financialization in Health Care: The Transformation of US Hospital Systems.” CEPR Working Paper 2022-1. September 9. 

Batt, Rosemary, and Eileen Appelbaum. 2021. “Private equity in health care: Profits before patients and workers.” LERA Perspectives on Work. October.

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2020. “Private Equity Buyouts in Healthcare: Who Wins, Who Loses?” Institute for New Economic Thinking and Center for Economic and Policy Research. Working Paper 118. March 15. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2020. “Why it’s So Hard to End Surprise Medical Bills.” Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. February. 

Batt, Rosemary. 2019. “LERA’s Identity Crisis at 75.” LERA Perspectives on Work. Vol 23. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2019. “Private Equity and Surprise Medical Billing: How Investor-owned Physician Practices Are Driving up Healthcare Costs.” 2019. Institute for New Economic Thinking. September 4. 

Lee, Jae Eun, and Rosemary Batt. 2019. “What's HR Got to do with it? A Look at its Effects on the Bottom Line in Service-Based Organizations.” CAHRS Research Link. March 3. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2017. “How Private Equity Firms are designed to Earn Big While Risking Little of Their Own.” LSE Business Review. January 23. 

Appelbaum, Eileen, and Rosemary Batt. 2017. “Organizational Restructuring in U.S. Healthcare Systems: Implications for Jobs, Wages, and Inequality” (Washington, DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research, September).

Appelbaum, Eileen and Rosemary Batt. 2016. “Are Lower Private Equity Returns the New Normal?” Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. June. 

Appelbaum, Eileen and Rosemary Batt. 2016. “Fees, Fees, and More Fees: How Private Equity Abuses Its Limited Partners and U.S. Taxpayers.” Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research. May. 

Professional activities

  • How Do Franchise Brand Requirements and Unit Characteristics Affect HRM? Evidence from the Fast Food Industry. Presented to LERA. Virtual. 2021.
  • Hospital Ownership and Financial Stability: A Matched Case Comparison of a Non-Profit and Private Equity Owned Health System. Presented to LERA. Virtual. 2021.
  • How does the growth of franchise chains affect franchisees’ investment in HR management?”. Presented to LERA. Virtual. 2021.
  • “Institutional Legacies and Social Unionism in Healthcare: Bringing Employers Back in.”. Presented to Society for Advancement of Socio-economics. New York, NY. 2019.
  • Institutional Legacies and Social Unionism in Healthcare: Bringing Employers Back in. Presented to LERA. Cleveland, OH . 2019.
  • Institutional Legacies and Social Unionism in Healthcare: Bringing Employers Back in. Presented to Labor Research Action Network . Cleveland, OH. 2019.
  • Institutional Legacies, Union Power, and Organizational Restructuring in Healthcare. Presented to Rutgers University. New Brunswick, NJ. 2019.
  • The Agency Costs of Private Equity: Why do Pension Funds Still Invest?. Presented to Boston University Law School. Boston, MA. 2018.
  • Why Do Pension Funds Continue to Invest in Private Equity?. Presented to Yale Law School. New Haven, CT. 2017.
  • The Networked Organisation: Implications for Jobs and Inequality. Presented to University of Manchester, Manchester, England. Manchester, England. 2017.
  • Franchising, Job Quality, and the Role of Franchisors: Evidence from the U.S. Restaurant Industry. Presented to Academy of Management. Atlanta, GA. 2017.
  • Paying More for Less: Why invest in private equity?. Presented to Labor and Employment Relations Association. Anaheim CA. 2017.
  • Implications of Private Equity Activity in the Health Care Sector. Presented to University of Manchester. Manchester, England. 2016.
  • The U.S. Restaurant Industry: Franchise Ownership and its Effects on Human Resource Practices and Job Quality.. Presented to Labor and Employment Relations Association. Minneapolis, MN. 2016.
  • Author Meets Critics: Private Equity at Work. Presented to LERA. Pittsburgh, PA. 2015.
  • Investors as Managers: How Private Equity Firms Manage Labor and Employment Relations. Presented to Eastern Economics Association. NY, NY. 2015.
  • Managing Multiple Employee Groups and Its Consequences.. Presented to Academy of Management. Philadelphia PA. 2014.
  • The Restaurant Industry: Managing different occupational groups and its consequences.. Presented to LERA. Portland, Oregon. 2014.
  • New Financial Actors & Employment Relations: A Comparison of Private Equity in the US & EU. Presented to LERA. Denver, Colorado. 2010.

Rosemary Batt In the News

Private Equity's Significant Debt Problem Has Been Building For Years

Forbes
Debt burdens created by private equity buyouts erode operational cash flows and increase vulnerability to market shocks, according to research contributed to by Rosemary Batt, ILR professor emeritus.
Private Equity's Significant Debt Problem Has Been Building For Years

Private Equity Is Cashing in on Autism Therapy. Children Are Paying the Price

The 74
“[Private equity firms] have nothing to lose if something goes bankrupt,” says Rosemary Batt, ILR professor emeritus and first author of the report “Pocketing Money Meant for Kids: Private Equity in Autism Services,” commenting on financial issues with private-equity owned healthcare facilities.
Private Equity Is Cashing in on Autism Therapy. Children Are Paying the Price

Private equity faces existential crisis in US as unsold companies pile up

The Guardian
“The best opportunities right now are for local and state level initiatives,” says ILR Professor Rosemary Batt about near-term effective regulation of organizations owned by private equity firms.
Private equity faces existential crisis in US as unsold companies pile up
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