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- All HBS Web (118)
- Faculty Publications (79)
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- All HBS Web (118)
- Faculty Publications (79)
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- Article
Common Variants of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene Do Not Predict the Positive Mood Benefits of Prosocial Spending
By: Ashley V. Whillans, Lara B. Aknin, Colin Ross, Lihan Chen and Frances S. Chen
Who benefits most from helping others? Previous research suggests that common polymorphisms of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) predict whether people behave generously and experience increases in positive mood in response to socially-focused experiences in daily... View Details
Keywords: Prosocial Behavior; Positivity; Behavior Genetics; Individual Differences; Behavior; Emotions; Genetics; Spending
Whillans, Ashley V., Lara B. Aknin, Colin Ross, Lihan Chen, and Frances S. Chen. "Common Variants of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene Do Not Predict the Positive Mood Benefits of Prosocial Spending." Emotion 20, no. 5 (August 2020): 734–749.
- May–June 2017
- Article
Multiple Identity Configurations: The Benefits of Focused Enhancement for Prosocial Behavior
By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Ida Berger and Itay Greenspan
Ramarajan, Lakshmi, Ida Berger, and Itay Greenspan. "Multiple Identity Configurations: The Benefits of Focused Enhancement for Prosocial Behavior." Organization Science 28, no. 3 (May–June 2017): 495–513.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Beliefs About Giving Across Contexts
By: Christine L. Exley, John-Henry Pezzuto and Marta Serra-Garcia
A rich literature investigates prosocial behavior by exploiting a variety of methods, the validity of which has been debated. While this literature has compared behavior inside and outside of the laboratory, an open question is how participants view prosocial behavior... View Details
Exley, Christine L., John-Henry Pezzuto, and Marta Serra-Garcia. "Beliefs About Giving Across Contexts." Working Paper, September 2022.
- 2018
- Working Paper
Ethical Hedonism? How Consumers' Prosocial Behavior Varies Along the Utilitarian-Hedonic Product Spectrum: Evidence from a Survey Experiment
By: Kristin Sippl
The marketing literature classifies products along a spectrum from utilitarian (e.g. rice) to hedonic (e.g. cannabis), and additionally using terms such as “luxury” and “illicit.” Research in business ethics has proposed a counter-intuitive mismatch between ethics and... View Details
Sippl, Kristin. "Ethical Hedonism? How Consumers' Prosocial Behavior Varies Along the Utilitarian-Hedonic Product Spectrum: Evidence from a Survey Experiment." Working Paper, September 2018. (Work in Progress.)
- 2021
- Working Paper
The Situational Samaritan: How and Why Marketplace Conditions Shape Prosocial Consumer Behaviors
By: Julia von Schuckmann, Lucia S.G. Barrios, Grant E. Donnelly and Marco Bertini
- June 2010
- Article
A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior
By: A. Grant and F. Gino
Grant, A., and F. Gino. "A Little Thanks Goes a Long Way: Explaining Why Gratitude Expressions Motivate Prosocial Behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98, no. 6 (June 2010): 946–955.
- December 2023
- Article
Discerning Saints: Moralization of Intrinsic Motivation and Selective Prosociality at Work
By: Mijeong Kwon, Julia Lee Cunningham and Jon M. Jachimowicz
Intrinsic motivation has received widespread attention as a predictor of positive work outcomes, including employees’ prosocial behavior. In the current research, we offer a more nuanced view by proposing that intrinsic motivation does not uniformly increase prosocial... View Details
Kwon, Mijeong, Julia Lee Cunningham, and Jon M. Jachimowicz. "Discerning Saints: Moralization of Intrinsic Motivation and Selective Prosociality at Work." Academy of Management Journal 66, no. 6 (December 2023): 1625–1650.
- 2023
- Working Paper
The Link Between Integrative Bargaining and Leadership Evaluations
By: Julian J. Zlatev and Francis J. Flynn
We draw from implicit leadership theory and the dual concern theory of conflict resolution to posit a link
between negotiation style and leadership evaluations. Specifically, we propose that individuals who are
more skilled at integrative, but not distributive,... View Details
Keywords: Prosocial Behavior; Leadership; Negotiation; Conflict and Resolution; Performance Evaluation
Zlatev, Julian J., and Francis J. Flynn. "The Link Between Integrative Bargaining and Leadership Evaluations." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-044, January 2023.
- February 2018
- Article
The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask
By: Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie
Individuals frequently exploit "flexibility" built into decision environments to give less. They use uncertainty to justify options benefiting themselves over others, they avoid information that may encourage them to give, and they avoid the ask itself. In this paper,... View Details
Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Self-serving Biases; Excuses; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior
Exley, Christine L., and Ragan Petrie. "The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask." Journal of Public Economics 158 (February 2018): 152–167.
- July 2015
- Article
Prosocial Norms in the Classroom: The Role of Self-regulation in Following Norms of Giving
By: P. R. Blake, M. Piovesan, N. Montinari, F. Werneken and F. Gino
Children who are prosocial in elementary school tend to have higher academic achievement and experience greater acceptance by their peers in adolescence. Despite this positive influence on educational outcomes, it is still unclear why some children are more prosocial... View Details
Blake, P. R., M. Piovesan, N. Montinari, F. Werneken, and F. Gino. "Prosocial Norms in the Classroom: The Role of Self-regulation in Following Norms of Giving." Special Issue on Behavioral Economics of Education. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 115 (July 2015): 18–29.
- May 2013
- Article
Here's a Tip: Prosocial Gratuities Are Linked to Corruption
By: Magnus Thor Torfason, Francis J. Flynn and Daniella Kupor
We investigated the link between tipping, an altruistic act, and bribery, an immoral act. We found a positive relationship between these two seemingly unrelated behaviors, using archival cross-national data for 32 countries, and controlling for per capita GDP, income... View Details
Torfason, Magnus Thor, Francis J. Flynn, and Daniella Kupor. "Here's a Tip: Prosocial Gratuities Are Linked to Corruption." Social Psychological & Personality Science 4, no. 3 (May 2013): 348–354.
- 2013
- Article
Does Social Connection Turn Good Deeds into Good Feelings? On the Value of Putting the 'Social' in Prosocial Spending
By: Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Gillian M. Sandstrom and Michael I. Norton
When are the emotional benefits of generous behavior most likely to emerge? In three studies, we demonstrate that the hedonic benefits of generous spending are most likely when spending promotes positive social connection. Study 1 shows that people feel happier after... View Details
Keywords: Money; Prosocial Spending; Social Connection; Well-being; Donations; Charitable Giving; Warm Glow; Social Relationships; Gift Giving; Happiness; Relationships; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Society
Aknin, Lara B., Elizabeth W. Dunn, Gillian M. Sandstrom, and Michael I. Norton. "Does Social Connection Turn Good Deeds into Good Feelings? On the Value of Putting the 'Social' in Prosocial Spending." International Journal of Happiness and Development 1, no. 2 (2013): 155–171.
- 2021
- Working Paper
'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback
By: Nicole Abi-Esber, Jennifer Abel, Juliana Schroeder and Francesca Gino
People often avoid giving feedback to others even when it would help fix a problem immediately. Indeed, in a pilot field study (N=155), only 2.6% of individuals provided feedback to survey administrators that the administrators had food or marker on their faces.... View Details
Keywords: Feedback; Helping; Prosocial Behavior; Relationships; Social Psychology; Theory; Perception
Abi-Esber, Nicole, Jennifer Abel, Juliana Schroeder, and Francesca Gino. "'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-009, August 2021.
- Teaching Interest
Overview
I am passionate about developing leaders through education. I teach organizational behavior and leadership to MBA students. I have taught the core organizational behavior class at the Harvard Extension School for four semesters, where I three times won the “Highest... View Details
- Article
Social Recycling Transforms Unwanted Goods into Happiness
By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Rebecca Walker Reczek and Michael I. Norton
Consumers are often surrounded by resources that once offered meaning or happiness but that have lost this subjective value over time—even as they retain their objective utility. We explore the potential for social recycling—disposing of used goods by allowing other... View Details
Keywords: Disposition; Well-being; Prosocial Behavior; Pro-environmental Behavior; Happiness; Behavior; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Environmental Sustainability
Donnelly, Grant Edward, Cait Lamberton, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Michael I. Norton. "Social Recycling Transforms Unwanted Goods into Happiness." Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 2, no. 1 (January 2017): 48–63.
- November 2012
- Article
An Age Penalty in Racial Preferences
By: Deborah A. Small, Devin G. Pope and Michael I. Norton
We document an age penalty in racial discrimination: charitable behavior toward African American children decreases-and negative stereotypical inferences increase-with the age of those children. Using data from an online charity that solicits donations for school... View Details
Keywords: Stereotyping; Charitable Giving; Prejudice; Prosocial Behavior; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Age; Race; Prejudice and Bias
Small, Deborah A., Devin G. Pope, and Michael I. Norton. "An Age Penalty in Racial Preferences." Social Psychological & Personality Science 3, no. 6 (November 2012): 730–737.
- December 2022
- Article
'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback
By: Nicole Abi-Esber, Jennifer E. Abel, Juliana Schroeder and Francesca Gino
People often avoid giving feedback to others even when it would help fix a problem immediately. Indeed, in a pilot field study (N=155), only 2.6% of individuals provided feedback to survey administrators that the administrators had food or marker on their faces.... View Details
Keywords: Feedback; Helping; Prosocial Behavior; Misprediction; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Perspective
Abi-Esber, Nicole, Jennifer E. Abel, Juliana Schroeder, and Francesca Gino. "'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 123, no. 6 (December 2022): 1362–1385.
- Article
Give What You Get: Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Apella) and 4-Year-Old Children Pay Forward Positive and Negative Outcomes to Conspecifics.
By: Kristin L. Leimgruber, Adrian F. Ward, Jane Widness, Michael I. Norton, Kristina R. Olson, Kurt Gray and Laurie R. Santos
The breadth of human generosity is unparalleled in the natural world, and much research has explored the mechanisms underlying and motivating human prosocial behavior. Recent work has focused on the spread of prosocial behavior within groups through paying-it-forward,... View Details
Leimgruber, Kristin L., Adrian F. Ward, Jane Widness, Michael I. Norton, Kristina R. Olson, Kurt Gray, and Laurie R. Santos. "Give What You Get: Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Apella) and 4-Year-Old Children Pay Forward Positive and Negative Outcomes to Conspecifics." PLoS ONE 9, no. 1 (January 2014).
- 2015
- Working Paper
Understanding Conformity: An Experimental Investigation
By: B. Douglas Bernheim and Christine L Exley
Some theories of conformity hold that social equilibrium either standardizes inferences or promotes a shared understanding of conventions and norms among individuals with fixed heterogeneous preferences (belief mechanisms). Others depict tastes as fluid and hence... View Details
Keywords: Conformity; Norms; Image Motivation; Prosocial Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Standards
Bernheim, B. Douglas, and Christine L Exley. "Understanding Conformity: An Experimental Investigation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-070, December 2015.
- Article
Excusing Selfishness in Charitable Giving: The Role of Risk
By: Christine L. Exley
Decisions involving charitable giving often occur under the shadow of risk. A common finding is that potential donors give less when there is greater risk that their donation will have less impact. While this behavior could be fully rationalized by standard economic... View Details
Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Risk Preferences; Risk and Uncertainty; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior
Exley, Christine L. "Excusing Selfishness in Charitable Giving: The Role of Risk." Review of Economic Studies 83, no. 2 (April 2016): 587–628.