Publications

Article

When Hiring CEOs, Focus on Character

By: Aiyesha Dey

The author, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied the ways in which the lifestyle behaviors of CEOs—in particular, materialism and a propensity for rule breaking—may spell trouble for a company. Her research, which includes looking at... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Lifestyle; Risk Management; Recruitment; Ethics

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January 2015
Article

Costly Third-party Punishment in Young Children

By: Katherine McAuliffe, Jillian J. Jordan and Felix Warneken

Human adults engage in costly third-party punishment of unfair behavior, but the developmental origins of this behavior are unknown. Here we investigate costly third-partypunishment in 5- and 6-year-old children. Participants were asked to accept (enact) or reject... View Details

Keywords: Third-party Punishment; Inequity Aversion; Social Cognition; Cooperation; Fairness; Behavior

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2014
Working Paper

Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

By: George Serafeim

Using survey data from firms around the world I analyze how detection of bribery has impacted a firm's competitiveness over the past year. Managers report that the most significant impact was on employee morale, followed by business relations, and then reputation and... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Corruption; Bribery; Employee Engagement; Reputation; Regulation; Competition; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Performance

SSRN

February 2007
Module Note

The Prince Summary: Exercising Authority

By: Sandra J. Sucher

A summary of the major themes discussed in the ninth class of The Moral Leader (EC curriculum). View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Moral Sensibility; Business Education

September 1993
Case

Daka International, Inc. (A)

Deals with an employee who contracts AIDS. The employer, a food-service proprietor, is threatened by an old and valued client with the loss of the account if they do not fire him. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions

Educators

11 Feb 2022
News

Consumers Want to Use Their Purchasing Power to Address Ecological and Social Challenges, Says Geoffrey G. Jones

2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Alberto Mora and the Costs and Consequences of Torture

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Benjamin Summers

Alberto Mora's time as General Counsel of the Navy from 2001–2006 greatly influenced his mission to illuminate the policy consequences of torture. Mora's drive to restore the nation's awareness and conscience against torture was gaining traction. Prominent... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Skills; Torture; Costs And Consequences; Humane; Restraint; Human Dignity; Treatment Of Prisoners; Prison; Repression; Opposition; Revolution; Democracy; Communism; International Affairs; Public Service; September 11; War On Terror; Operation Enduring Freedom; Guantanamo; Cuba; Coalition; Working Group; Cruelty; Interrogation; Memorandum; American Law; Authority; Authoritative; Quadrennial Defense Review; National Defense Authorization Act; Public Engagement; Advocacy; Law; Accountability; Center For The Victims Of Torture; Human Rights; Public Policy; Legality; Morality; Legal System; Tactical Military Operations; West Point; NGO; Human Rights First; American Civil Liberties Union; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Constitution Project; Center For Constitutional Rights; Strategic Military Effect; National Security; Weapon; Terrorism; Prisoners Of War; Abu Ghraib; Pentagon; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Rights; Policy; Public Opinion; United States

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

Seemingly Irrelevant Factors Influence Judgment of (Un)ethical Behavior Authors:Francesca Gino, Lisa L. Shu, Max H. Bazerman Abstract People often make judgments about the ethicality of others' behaviors and then decide how harshly to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 May 2016
First Look

First Look, May 3, 2016

Past By: Kouchaki, M., and F. Gino Abstract—Despite our optimistic belief that we would behave honestly when facing the temptation to act unethically, we often cross ethical boundaries. This paper explores one possibility for why people... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 20

Resource Allocations across Social Categories Authors:Stephen M. Garcia, Max Bazerman, Shirli Kopelman, Avishalom Tor, and Dale T. Miller Publication:Special Issue on Behavioral Ethics: A New Empirical Perspective on Business Ethics... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2019
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for December 2019

students. Business, Ethics and Institutions: The Evolution of Turkish Capitalism in Global Perspectives edited by Asli M. Colpan and Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History Routledge Business, View Details

21 Feb 2014
Blog Post

Cautious Optimism: A Recap of the Harvard India Conference

ethics and leadership. The speakers were as diverse as the nation itself with the former Chief of Indian Army talking about his leadership lessons while a social entrepreneur spoke about his experiences creating a low cost sanitary pad... View Details

Profile

Fred Smith

do we draw the line between our personal ethics and our business interests? Our cases force us to examine the trade-offs. There are no easy answers, but HBS exposes us to the rules of the game." Fred is applying classroom lessons to... View Details

25 May 2010
News

Commencement and the Winds of Change

Association — in Jerusalem. Is that the winds of change I hear blowing? Like Sir Ronald, Forsan too has a vision: “to establish the Y as an international center for reconciliation and ethical leadership.” I myself won’t be speaking at any... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Finance

January 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

United Housing—Otis Gates

By: Steven Rogers and Mercer Cook

Otis Gates, the only African-American in his HBS graduating class, is an entrepreneur from greater Boston area and has built a successful affordable housing firm. Along the way, he and his partners have contributed countless hours of community service to the... View Details

Keywords: Affordable Housing; Real Estate; Community Engagement; Social-good; Request For Proposal; Diversity; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Moral Sensibility; Fairness; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Housing; Business and Community Relations; Real Estate Industry

Educators

August 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Supplement

Plug Power (B)

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

The case is set in spring 2021, immediately after Plug Power made financial restatements dating back to 2018. The case describes the restatements, which revealed that Plug was reclassifying expense items to boost gross profits. View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Ethics; Profit; Management; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Europe

September 30, 2019
Article

Climate Change and Our Emerging Cultural Shift

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Today, we have made climate change trivial by making its solutions easy, looking for simple answers that are palatable, generally framing it in the language of commerce. In the long run, it won’t work. There is no technological or political silver bullet to solving our... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Climate Change; Values and Beliefs; Transition

2022
Working Paper

Beliefs about Gender Differences in Social Preferences

By: Christine L Exley, Oliver P. Hauser, Molly Moore and John-Henry Pezzuto

While there is a vast (and mixed) literature on gender differences in social preferences, little is known about believed gender differences in social preferences. This paper documents robust evidence for believed gender differences in social preferences. Across a wide... View Details

Keywords: Social Preferences; Gender; Behavior; Attitudes; Values and Beliefs