Publications

SSRN

2017
Working Paper

Tort Reform and Innovation

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Current academic and policy debates focus on the impact of tort reforms on physicians’ behavior and medical costs. This paper examines whether these reforms also affect incentives to develop new technologies. We develop a theoretical model which predicts that the... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

2024
Working Paper

Private Regulation, Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change: A Business History Perspective

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones

Private regulatory systems, including voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior are the primary form of global climate change governance. However, when environmental challenges first rose up on the scientific and political agendas during the 1970s, the... View Details

Keywords: Certification; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Business History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy

15 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Policy Bundling to Overcome Loss Aversion: A Method for Improving Legislative Outcomes

Keywords: by Katherine L. Milkman, Mary Carol Mazza, Lisa L. Shu, Chia-Jung Tsay & Max H. Bazerman

13 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

The Consumer Appeal of Underdog Branding

Biography," details her joint research about the trend and its implications for brand management. Keinan, an assistant professor in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School whose research on consumer behavior has been published... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2019
Article

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

By: Nir Halevy, Eliran Halali and Julian Zlatev

Brokerage and brokering are pervasive and consequential organizational phenomena. Prevailing models underscore social structure and focus on the consequences that come from brokerage—occupying a bridging position between disconnected others in a network. By contrast,... View Details

Keywords: Brokerage; Brokering; Social Interactions; Organizations; Relationships; Power and Influence; Framework

May 23, 2011
Article

Leading and Lagging Countries in Contributing to a Sustainable Society

By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim

To determine the extent to which corporate and investor behavior is changing to contribute to a more sustainable society, researchers Robert Eccles and George Serafeim analyzed data involving over 2,000 companies in 23 countries. One result: a ranking of countries... View Details

Keywords: Change; Society; Corporate Disclosure; Natural Environment; Rank and Position; Social Issues; Financial Statements; Behavior

May 2011
Article

The Power of Small Wins

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer

What is the best way to motivate employees to do creative work? Help them take a step forward every day. In an analysis of knowledge workers' diaries, the authors found that nothing contributed more to a positive inner work life (the mix of emotions, motivations, and... View Details

Purchase

24 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 24

definition of profit by changing accounting rules. On one level, this corporate behavior embodies the capitalist spirit articulated by Milton Friedman: "The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." But the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1995 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Cybersmith

Cybersmith is a new company that has created a new retailing concept. This particular store has been reported in over 250 newspapers, and by every major American television network. Some would classify it as an on-line cafe, but management has positioned the store as... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Joint Ventures; Consumer Behavior; Product Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Retail Industry; Cambridge

Article

Physical and Situational Inequality on Airplanes Predict Air Rage

By: K. A. DeCelles and Michael I. Norton

We posit that the modern airplane is a social microcosm of class-based society, and that the increasing incidence of “air rage” can be understood through the lens of inequality. Research on inequality typically examines the effects of relatively fixed, macrostructural... View Details

Keywords: Physical Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Behavior; Air Transportation; Situation or Environment

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Teaching Note

Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

By: Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-046. Nike’s selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the thirtieth anniversary of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Sports Industry; United States; North America

Purchase

January 26, 2016
Article

Hiding Personal Information Reveals the Worst

By: Leslie K. John, Kate Barasz and Michael I. Norton

Seven experiments explore people's decisions to share or withhold personal information and the wisdom of such decisions. When people choose not to reveal information—to be "hiders"—they are judged negatively by others (experiment 1). These negative judgments emerge... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Transparency; Policy-making; Privacy; Information; Corporate Disclosure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Trust

2009
Working Paper

Performance Pressure as a Double-Edged Sword: Enhancing Team Motivation While Undermining the Use of Team Knowledge

By: Heidi K. Gardner

In this paper, I develop and empirically test the proposition that performance pressure acts as a double-edged sword for teams, providing positive effects by enhancing team motivation to achieve good results while simultaneously triggering process losses. I conducted a... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Expectations; Groups and Teams

December 2011
Article

Economics Education and Greed

By: Long Wang, Deepak Malhotra and J. Keith Murnighan

The recent financial crisis, and repeated corporate scandals, raise serious questions about whether a business school education contributes to what some have described as a culture of greed. The dominance of economic-related courses in MBA curricula led us to assess... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics; Attitudes; Business Education; Economics; Education

March 2025
Article

Differentiating on Diversity: How Disclosing Workforce Diversity Influences Consumer Choice

By: Maya Balakrishnan, Jimin Nam and Ryan W. Buell

Companies are facing increased pressure to “walk the talk” on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their operations. One specific call-to-action from stakeholders is the public disclosure of EEO-1s. Companies with 100+ employees are federally mandated to annually... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Corporate Disclosure; Diversity; Employees; Perception

Purchase

29 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Keywords: by Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin; Financial Services

July 2021
Article

Information Transparency, Multihoming, and Platform Competition: A Natural Experiment in the Daily Deals Market

By: Hui Li and Feng Zhu

Platform competition is shaped by the likelihood of multi-homing (i.e., complementors or consumers adopt more than one platform). To take advantage of multi-homing, platform firms often attempt to motivate their rivals’ high-performing complementors to adopt their own... View Details

Keywords: Platform Competition; Multi-homing; Information Transparency; Daily Deals; Groupon; LivingSocial; Digital Platforms; Information; Competition