Publications

March 2024
Article

The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?

By: Alberto Alesina and Marco Tabellini

We review the growing literature on the political economy of immigration. First, we discuss the effects of immigration on a wide range of political and social outcomes. The existing evidence suggests that immigrants often, but not always, trigger backlash, increasing... View Details

Keywords: Political Backlash; Cultural Beliefs; Immigration; Political Elections; Outcome or Result; Social Issues; Perception

September–October 2017
Article

Blurring the Boundaries: The Interplay of Gender and Local Communities in the Commercialization of Social Ventures

By: Stefan Dimitriadis, Matthew Lee, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Julie Battilana

This paper examines the critical role of gender in the commercialization of social ventures. We argue that cultural beliefs about what is perceived to be appropriate work for each gender influence how founders of social ventures incorporate commercial activity into... View Details

Keywords: Community; Cultural Beliefs; Social Enterprise; Gender; Local Range; Commercialization; Culture

Article

Origins of the Belief in Good True Selves

By: Julian De Freitas, Mina Cikara, Igor Grossman and Rebecca Schlegel

Despite differences in beliefs about the self across cultures and relevant individual differences, recent evidence suggests that people universally believe in a ‘true self’ that is morally good. We propose that this belief arises from a general tendency: psychological... View Details

Keywords: Self; True Self; Psychological Essentialism; Values and Beliefs; Moral Sensibility

Article

On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This article shows how corporate culture, in the sense of shared beliefs and values, originates (often unintentionally) through screening, self-sorting, and manager-directed joint learning. It shows that such culture will be stronger among more important employees and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Learning; Values and Beliefs; Employees; Decisions; Power and Influence; Performance; Perspective

2022
Chapter

Decarbonizing Academia's Flyout Culture

By: Nicholas Poggioli and Andrew J. Hoffman

Flight is technologically and culturally central to academic life. Academia's flyout culture is built on a set of shared beliefs and values about the importance of flying to being an academic. But flight also generates a large proportion of academia’s carbon emissions,... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Air Transportation; Values and Beliefs; Environmental Sustainability; Higher Education; Education Industry

2010
Working Paper

Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes

By: Amy J.C. Cuddy, Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong and Michael I. Norton

Three studies demonstrate how culture shapes the contents of gender stereotypes, such that men are perceived as possessing more of whatever traits are culturally valued. In Study 1, Americans rated men as less interdependent than women; Koreans, however, showed the... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Perception; Values and Beliefs; Gender; Culture; Power and Influence

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

a "snake." The story illustrates a common challenge to Hollywood filmmakers as they attempt to break into China's more than $2 billion-a-year film market—and to businesspeople in all industries as foreign markets become increasingly important to their business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2006
Working Paper

On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper shows why members of an organization often share similar beliefs. I argue that there are two mechanisms. First, when performance depends on making correct decisions, people prefer to work with others who share their beliefs and assumptions, since such... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Values and Beliefs; Mathematical Methods

SSRN

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

By: Dennis Campbell, Ruidi Shang and Zhifang Zhang

We examine how corporate cultures characterized by high degrees of homogeneity in the underlying values and beliefs of organizational members are related to the design of CEO incentive compensation contracts. We argue that culture homogeneity within firms lowers... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Compensation Design; Accounting; Management Control; Incentive Systems; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Governance; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives

March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Culture at Google

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Amy Klopfenstein and Sarah Mehta

Beginning in 2017, technology (tech) company Google faced a series of employee-relations issues that threatened its unique culture of innovation and open communication. Issues included protests surrounding Google’s contracts with the U.S. government, restrictions of... View Details

Educators

01 Aug 2022
What Do You Think?

Does Religious Belief Affect Organizational Performance?

(iStockphoto/35007) Anyone who has tried to pick up a Chick-fil-A sandwich on Sunday knows how religious belief affects organizational policy in that company. Chick-fil-A honors Christian beliefs and closes... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

09 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity

In today's global work environment, it's a given that companies need culturally diverse teams to succeed. Both scientific studies and common sense tell us that having people with different viewpoints onboard increases the creativity that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Article

Men as Cultural Ideals: Cultural Values Moderate Gender Stereotype Content.

By: Amy Cuddy, Elizabeth Baily Wolf, Peter Glick, Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong and Michael I. Norton

Four studies tested whether cultural values moderate the content of gender stereotypes, such that male stereotypes more closely align with core cultural values (specifically, individualism vs. collectivism) than do female stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, using... View Details

Keywords: Gender Stereotypes; Stereotype Content; Individualism; Collectivism; Prejudice and Bias; Values and Beliefs; Culture; Gender

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

after that. How should entrepreneurs starting a company approach creating a culture? “Cultures develop with or without conscious effort” A: Cultures develop with or without conscious effort. They generally reflect the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

April 1998 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Guidant Corporation: Shaping Culture Through Systems

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Guidant is a successful IPO start-up selling pacemakers and defibrillators. The case describes how managers install systems to balance innovation and control. Three parts of a shareholder value strategy are described. Controls include incentive systems, beliefs... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Planning; Risk Management; Management Systems; Business Strategy; Value Creation; System; Service Industry; Financial Services Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Educators

February 2012
Case

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Performance Appraisals; Human Resource Management; Values; Organizational Transformations; Pay For Performance; Strategy Execution; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits

Educators

01 Oct 1999
News

Culture Clash: Exploring Cross Cultural Conflicts in Business

has begun searching for answers in a broader, overseas setting. With a research agenda organized around eight major world cultures and belief systems - African, Confucian, Hindu/Buddhist, Islamic, Japanese,... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

October 2010
Article

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture-in the sense of shared beliefs and values in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Organizational Culture; Economics; Information Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Framework; Satisfaction; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Communication