Publications

May 2017
Article

Behavioral Processes in Long-Lag Interventions

By: Dale T. Miller, Jennifer E. Dannals and Julian Zlatev

We argue that psychologists who conduct experiments with long lags between the manipulation and the outcome measure should pay more attention to behavioral processes that intervene between the manipulation and the outcome measure. Neglect of such processes, we contend,... View Details

Keywords: Field Experiments; Interventions; Behavioral Mediation; Theories Of Change; Longitudinal Studies; Behavior; Research; Change; Theory

Article

Joy and Rigor in Behavioral Science

By: Hanne K. Collins, Ashley V. Whillans and Leslie K. John

In the past decade, behavioral science has seen the introduction of beneficial reforms to reduce false positive results. Serving as the motivational backdrop for the present research, we wondered whether these reforms might have unintended negative consequences on... View Details

Keywords: Open Science; Pre-registration; Exploration; Confirmation; False Positives; Career Satisfaction; Science; Research; Personal Development and Career; Satisfaction; Diversity

March 2021
Supplement

Applied: Using Behavioral Science to Debias Hiring (B)

By: Ashley Whillans and Jeff Polzer

At the end of 2018, Applied faced questions of stakeholder management and scale. Glazebrook wanted clients to get rid of CVs altogether. To do this, they would have to help hiring managers and recruiters easily build task-based assessments of the skills that their... View Details

Keywords: Hiring; Bias; Behavioral Science; Selection and Staffing; Prejudice and Bias; Information Technology; Competency and Skills

Web

Positions - Faculty & Research

Organizations and Markets The deadline for applications for July 2025 openings has passed. Interested applicants for positions starting July 2026 should check back again at a later date. Organizational View Details

April 2008
Case

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

By: Michael Beer and Sunru Yong

TerraCog, a successful privately held high-tech firm that develops GPS (global positioning system) and similar products for consumer markets, has recently been caught off-guard by a competitor's new product that makes novel use of satellite imagery. When TerraCog... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Meetings; Decision Making; Group Dynamics; Human Resource Management; Conflict; Information Technology; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Technology Industry

Educators

20 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Creating a Positive Professional Image

As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are. "People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment,... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

2009
Chapter

Position and Emotion: The Significance of Georg Simmel's Structural Theories for Leadership and Organizational Behavior

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Rakesh Khurana

Keywords: Leadership; Rank and Position; Status and Position; Organizational Culture

March 2006
Background Note

Influencing Customer Behavior in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei and Amy C. Edmondson

Explores ways in which service firms can influence the behavior of their customers. Drawing from research on employee motivation and applying it to customer motivation, the note describes two levels of managerial control: instrumental control, which shapes behavior... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Governance Controls; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Service Industry

Educators

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

specializing in the burgeoning field of behavioral economics. "Standard economic theory suggests that as long as people understand the full consequences of their actions, they tend to act in their self interest," says John. "If they want... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Health

19 Sep 2019
News

Predicting Human Behaviors

Above: Sid Misra (MBA 2013) cofounder, Perceptive Automata (Len Rubenstein; courtesy of Perceptive Automata) Amid the hubbub of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest technology tradeshow, Sid Misra (MBA 2013) guided an onlooker to a leather... View Details

Keywords: April White

April 2008
Teaching Note

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial (Brief Case)

By: Michael Beer and Sunru Yong

Teaching note to case #2184 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Meetings; Group Dynamics; Human Resource Management; Conflict; Leadership; Communication; Groups and Teams; Organizations; Decision Making; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution

03 Jan 2014
News

Overcome the 8 Barriers to Confidence

Keywords: psychology; positive behavior

27 Apr 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Putting Integrity into Finance: A Purely Positive Approach

Keywords: by Werner Erhard & Michael C. Jensen

October 2013
Article

The Cheater's High: The Unexpected Affective Benefits of Unethical Behavior

By: N. E. Ruedy, C. Moore, F. Gino and M. Schweitzer

Many theories of moral behavior assume that unethical behavior triggers negative affect. In this paper, we challenge this assumption and demonstrate that unethical behavior can trigger positive affect, which we term a "cheater's high." Across six studies, we find that... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Satisfaction; Decision Making

06 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

Skills and Behaviors that Make Entrepreneurs Successful

financed them—declared such brick-and-mortar businesses were dinosaurs on their way to extinction. The success of Bluemercury proved the critics wrong. “We’ve always had a hard time being able to identify the skills and behaviors of... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Working Knowledge

January 2012
Article

Paying to Be Nice: Consistency and Costly Prosocial Behavior

By: Ayelet Gneezy, Alex Imas, Amber Brown, Leif D. Nelson and Michael I. Norton

Building on previous research in economics and psychology, we propose that the costliness of initial prosocial behavior positively influences whether that behavior leads to consistent future behaviors. We suggest that costly prosocial behaviors serve as a signal of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Perception; Performance Consistency; Identity

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

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics; Policy

2014
Working Paper

Non-Adherence in Health Care: A Positive and Normative Analysis

By: Mark Egan and Tomas J. Philipson

Non-adherence in health care results when a patient does not initiate or continue care that a provider has recommended. Previous research identifies non-adherence as a major source of waste in US health care, totaling approximately 2.3% of GDP, and have proposed a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Behavior; Economics; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

February 2013
Article

Exceptional Boards: Environmental Experience and Positive Deviance from Institutional Norms

By: Judith Walls and Andrew J. Hoffman

This paper explores the phenomenon of positive organizational deviance from institutional norms by establishing practices that protect or enhance the natural environment. Seeking to explain why some organizations practice positive environmental deviance while others do... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Networks; Organizational Culture; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Management