Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(479)
- Faculty Publications (84)
- Article
Three Principles to REVISE People's Unethical Behavior
By: Shahar Ayal, Francesca Gino, Rachel Barkan and Dan Ariely
Dishonesty and unethical behavior are widespread in the public and private sectors and cause immense annual losses. For instance, estimates of U.S. annual losses indicate $1 trillion paid in bribes, $270 billion lost due to unreported income, as well as $42 billion... View Details
- 2015
- Article
Beliefs About the True Self Explain Asymmetries Based on Moral Judgment
By: George E. Newman, Julian De Freitas and Joshua Knobe
Past research has identified a number of asymmetries based on moral judgments. Beliefs about
(a) what a person values, (b) whether a person is happy, (c) whether a person has shown weakness
of will, and (d) whether a person deserves praise or blame seem to depend... View Details
- September 2015 (Revised January 2023)
- Background Note
Ethical Analysis: Situation versus Character
When we think of human behavior, especially from a moral perspective, we often rely on explanations based on character. We think that good decisions and responsible behavior require people with integrity and strong character and that immoral behavior originates within... View Details
- June 2015
- Article
Understanding Ordinary Unethical Behavior: Why People Who Value Morality Act Immorally
By: F. Gino
Cheating, deception, organizational misconduct, and many other forms of unethical behavior are among the greatest challenges in today's society. As regularly highlighted by the media, extreme cases and costly scams are common. Yet, even more frequent and pervasive are... View Details
- April 2015
- Article
Self-serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral
By: Shaul Shalvi, F. Gino, Rachel Barkan and Shahar Ayal
Unethical behavior by "ordinary" people poses significant societal and personal challenges. We present a novel framework centered on the role of self-serving justification to build upon and advance the rapidly expanding research on intentional unethical behavior of... View Details
- February 2015 (Revised August 2016)
- Case
Nokia's Bridge Program: Redesigning Layoffs (A)
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg
"Not another Bochum." Nokia Board Chairman Jorma Ollila was clear in the goals he set for the 2011 restructuring that Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, had decided was necessary to address the dramatically changed competitive environment the company faced in smartphones... View Details
- 2015
- Working Paper
Thick as Thieves? Dishonest Behavior and Egocentric Social Networks
By: Jooa Julia Lee, Dong-Kyun Im, Bidhan Parmar and Francesca Gino
People experience a threat to their moral self-concept in the face of discrepancies between their moral values and their unethical behavior. We theorize that people's need to restore their view of themselves as moral activates thoughts of a high-density personal social... View Details
- 2015
- Other Unpublished Work
Do Managers Have a Role to Play in Sustaining the Institutions of Capitalism?
By: Rebecca Henderson and Karthik Ramanna
In a capitalist system based on free markets, do managers have responsibilities to the system itself? If they do, should these responsibilities shape their behavior when they engage in the political processes that structure the institutions of capitalism? The... View Details
- October 2014
- Case
Teckentrup: A Door to Managing Difference
By: Clayton Rose, Jerome Lenhardt and Daniela Beyersdorfer
For Kai Teckentrup, the owner and co-CEO of the German "Mittelstand" door manufacturer Teckentrup, balancing competitive pressures, demographic realities and values were at the heart of the diversity program that he had started and championed at the company. Beyond... View Details
Keywords: Diversity Management; Corporate Values; Competitiveness; Demographics; Change Management; Transformation; Diversity; Ethnicity; Gender; Literacy; Nationality; Race; Residency; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Economic Growth; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Immigration; Employee Relationship Management; Civil Society or Community; Manufacturing Industry; Construction Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; Germany; Russia; Turkey
- 2014
- Article
Morality Rebooted: Exploring Simple Fixes to Our Moral Bugs
Ethics research developed partly in response to calls from organizations to understand and solve unethical behavior. Departing from prior work that focused mainly on examining the antecedents and consequences of dishonesty, we examine two approaches to mitigating... View Details
Keywords: Corruption; Dishonesty; Unethical Behavior; Interventions; Structure; Values; Behavior; Ethics; Moral Sensibility
- April 2014
- Teaching Note
iMatari
By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble
- March 2013 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
iMatari
By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble
In late 2012, recent Harvard Business School graduate Hannah Lopez is given the opportunity to lead entry into a new market for Plámo, a company that created startup companies in Europe and emerging markets based upon existing successful business models. She had only... View Details
- Article
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black: Distancing Response to Ethical Dissonance
By: R. Barkan, S. Ayal, F. Gino and D. Ariely
Six studies demonstrate the "pot calling the kettle black" phenomenon whereby people are guilty of the very fault they identify in others. Recalling an undeniable ethical failure, people experience ethical dissonance between their moral values and their behavioral... View Details
- November 2012 (Revised January 2018)
- Teaching Note
Chris and Alison Weston (A), (B), (C)
By: Sandra J. Sucher
Teaching Note for Chris and Alison Weston(A), (B) and (C) cases. View Details
- January 2012
- Article
Three Cheers for Teaching Distributive Bargaining
Back in the 1990s, business school professors at an Academy of Management conference debated the propriety of teaching distributive bargaining to their students. The particulars of that exchange are lost in the mists of time, but at the end of the session, a straw poll... View Details
- October 2011
- Case
Chris and Alison Weston (A)
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore
Chris and Alison Weston describe how they, a well-educated middle class couple, ended up committing mail fraud, for which they each served a year and a half in federal prison. The case highlights for students how otherwise upstanding individuals much like themselves... View Details
- October 2011 (Revised December 2022)
- Background Note
Ethical Analysis: Moral Disengagement
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore
Moral disengagement is a process that enables people to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing that they are causing harm or doing wrong. When Conrad Black, the fallen Canadian mogul convicted of multiple counts of... View Details
- 2011
- Book
Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It
By: Max H. Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability... View Details
- February 2011
- Article
Bounded Ethicality in Negotiations
By: Max Bazerman
Routine and persistent acts of dishonesty prevail in everyday life, yet most people resist shining a critical moral light on their own behavior, thereby maintaining and oftentimes inflating images of themselves as moral individuals. We overview the psychology that... View Details
- Article
How Implicit Beliefs Influence Trust Recovery
By: M. Haselhuhn, M.E. Schweitzer and A. Wood
After a trust violation, some people are quick to forgive, whereas others never trust again. In this report, we identify a key characteristic that moderates trust recovery: implicit beliefs of moral character. Individuals who believe that moral character can change... View Details