Publications

2021
Article

To Thine Own Self Be True? Incentive Problems in Personalized Law

By: Jordan M. Barry, John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

Recent years have seen an explosion of scholarship on “personalized law.” Commentators foresee a world in which regulators armed with big data and machine learning techniques determine the optimal legal rule for every regulated party, then instantaneously disseminate... View Details

Keywords: Personalized Law; Regulation; Regulatory Avoidance; Regulatory Arbitrage; Law And Economics; Law And Technology; Law And Artificial Intelligence; Futurism; Moral Hazard; Elicitation; Signaling; Privacy; Law; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information Technology; AI and Machine Learning

SSRN

2019
Working Paper

Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket

By: Robert Simons

This paper examines contemporary economic theories that focus on the design and management of business organizations. In the first part of the paper, a taxonomy is presented that describes the different types of economists interested in this subject—market economists,... View Details

SSRN

15 Apr 2024
Book

Struggling With a Big Management Decision? Start by Asking What Really Matters

book Your True Moral Compass: Defining Reality, Responsibility, and Practicality in Your Leadership Moments. In the following excerpt from the book, Badaracco, the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics, explains why it’s important for... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

11 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Doing Well by Doing Good? One Industry’s Struggle to Balance Values and Profits

Is it still possible to build a career that is both morally satisfying and materially rewarding? To do well by doing good? Professionals and executives in a range of fields grapple with this question as rapid technological change and... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?

from one of Smith's earlier works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, that caught the attention of Harvard Business School professor Nava Ashraf and coauthors Colin Camerer and George Loewenstein. In "Adam Smith, Behavioral... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

Article

Automatic Ethics: Implicit Assumptions and Ethical Managerial Conduct

By: Scott J. Reynolds, Keith Leavitt and K. A. DeCelles

We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individual’s implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Decision Choices and Conditions

06 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

people; rather, they lose their moral bearings, often yielding to seductions in their paths. Very few people go into leadership roles to cheat or do evil, yet we all have the capacity for actions we deeply regret unless we stay grounded.... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

March 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Background Note

Fall Before Rising, A: The Story of Jai Jaikumar (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Richard Compton Squire, Sarah Patricia Vickers-Willis and Harry James Wilson

What is the relationship between good fortune, professional success, and a moral obligation to other people? Jai Jaikumar, who as a youth was saved by a shepherd woman after a tragic mountaineering accident in the Himalayas, and who later rose to the top of his... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Moral Sensibility; Motivation and Incentives

February 2007
Module Note

American Ground Summary: Assuming Leadership

By: Sandra J. Sucher

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

Keywords: Leadership; Moral Sensibility

April 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Module Note

Delivering Personally on Responsibility

By: Joshua D. Margolis

How can individuals equip themselves to exercise leadership in the face of moral adversity? This six-session module aims to prepare students to meet moral responsibility when it is simultaneously most essential and most difficult. Moral adversity refers to situations... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Leadership; Moral Sensibility; Leadership Development

17 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Good about Quiet Rule-Breaking

the quiet rule-breaking could mean developing code with management's approval for open-source external company projects. For mail carriers, the moral gray zone might mean finishing duties early yet staying "on the clock" until... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

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

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Trust

April 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Novartis: The Challenge of Success (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

When Dr. Daniel Vasella learned of the early Phase 1 trial results, he immediately decided what course of action Novartis would take. Students will be able to examine and assess the concrete steps, and the rationale behind them, that Novartis took in response to this... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Moral Sensibility; Innovation and Invention; Distribution; Product Development; Production; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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

March 1995 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Apple Computer (A)(Abridged): Corporate Strategy and Culture

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Provides an overview of the company's history, industry, competitive position, strategy, and organization. Analyzes the culture and morale at Apple. Written at a time when the company faces a very compelling threat to their business, and when morale within the company... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Computer Industry

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

Keywords: Behavior; Values and Beliefs; Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Reputation; Negotiation; Moral Sensibility

2015
Article

Approach, Ability, Aftermath: A Psychological Framework of Unethical Behavior at Work

By: C. Moore and F. Gino

Many of the scandalous organizational practices that have come to light in the last decade—rigging LIBOR, misselling payment protection insurance, rampant Wall Street insider trading, large-scale bribery of foreign officials, and the packaging and sale of toxic... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Decision Making

September 2016
Background Note

A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement

By: Steven Rogers and Mercer Cook

This historically focused background note highlights the role of African American Labor Leaders in both the Labor Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In doing so, it attempts to both highlight these noteworthy individuals and demonstrate the innate connection... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Working Conditions; Political History; Social History; Economic History; Business History; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Labor And Management Relations; Social Issues; Culture; Equality And Inequality; Rights; Leading Change; Race; Civil Society or Community; Labor Unions

Article

Memory Lane and Morality: How Childhood Memories Promote Prosocial Behavior

By: F. Gino and S. Desai

Four experiments demonstrated that recalling memories from one's own childhood lead people to experience feelings of moral purity and to behave prosocially. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall memories from their childhood were more likely to help the... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Research; Emotions; Relationships; Judgments