Publications

February 2007
Module Note

Katharine Graham Summary: Taking a Stand

By: Sandra J. Sucher

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

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Curriculum and Courses

Research Summary

Overview

By: Rohit Deshpande

Customer Centricity Rohit Deshpandé's research program focuses on Customer-Centricity. A stream of projects examines the interaction between corporate and national culture as they influence the development and implementation of global marketing strategies in high... View Details

28 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Self-Serving Altruism? When Unethical Actions That Benefit Others Do Not Trigger Guilt

Keywords: by Francesca Gino, Shahar Ayal & Dan Ariely

01 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 1

Publications Behaviorial Ethics: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Moral Judgment and Dishonesty Authors: Max Bazerman and Francesca Gino... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

26 Sep 2024
HBS Case

If a Car Can Drive Itself, Can It Make Life-or-Death Decisions?

John Stuart Mill, philosophers have wrestled with the age-old questions autonomous vehicles are now raising—in new and urgent ways—for businesses and their leaders. “And by genuine View Details

Keywords: by Tom Quinn; Auto; Technology

2016
Working Paper

Controlling Versus Enabling

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Revenue sharing between principals and agents is commonly used to balance double-sided moral hazard. We provide a theory of how, when such revenue-sharing is optimal, a principal allocates control rights over decisions that either party could make. We show that the... View Details

Keywords: Control Rights; Decision Authority; Employment; Independent Contractors; Organizational Theory; Digital Platforms; Governance Controls; Ethics; Vertical Integration

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November 26, 2019
Article

Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good

By: Karen Huang, Joshua D. Greene and Max Bazerman

The “veil of ignorance” is a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options. Veil-of-ignorance reasoning was... View Details

Keywords: Policy Making; Procedural Justice; Ethics; Decision Making; Policy; Fairness

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March 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

CEO Activism (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Aaron K. Chatterji and Julia Kelley

This case introduces CEO activism, a phenomenon in which business leaders engage in political or social issues that do not relate directly to their companies. The case uses several examples to describe why business leaders are engaging in CEO activism and the potential... View Details

June 2020
Article

Waiting to Inhale: Reducing Stigma in the Medical Cannabis Industry

By: Kisha Lashley and Timothy G. Pollock

When a new industry category is predicated on a product or activity subject to ‘‘core’’ stigma—meaning its very nature is stigmatized—the actors trying to establish it may struggle to gain the resources they need to survive and grow. To explain the process of reducing... View Details

Keywords: Stigma; Cannabis Industry; Deviance; Public Opinion; Moral Sensibility; Health Care and Treatment

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2003
Article

The "Moralities" of Poaching: Manufacturing Personal Artifacts on the Factory Floor

By: Michel Anteby

Keywords: Production; Moral Sensibility; Factories, Labs, and Plants

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11 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Group Loyalty a Force for Good or Evil?

Most ethical principles are pretty unambiguously good. Honesty, fairness, compassion—sure they have their downsides (being “honest to a fault”), but that’s more a by-product of something good than it is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 1991 (Revised December 2018)
Compilation

Slavery

By: Thomas K. McCraw

Explores the general history of slavery in the United States. Through detailed exhibits and a text consisting of excerpts from six first-hand observations of slavery, this note is designed to present the ethics, economics (especially the perverse incentive systems),... View Details

Keywords: Slavery; Human Capital; History; Ethics; Social Issues; Motivation and Incentives; United States

June 1990 (Revised October 1991)
Case

Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Presents a classic dilemma in legal ethics--the conflict between an attorney's obligations as an attorney, in this case to protect a client's confidentiality, and his or her own moral obligations as a person. An attorney must decide how to respond to the father of a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Moral Sensibility; Questionnaires; Attorney and Client Relationships; Social Psychology; Conflict Management; Legal Services Industry

January 1982 (Revised June 1983)
Case

International Drilling Corp. (A)

Details the moral conflict experienced by Don Taylor, a new high-level executive in an oil drilling firm, when he discovered that the firm was deceiving its investors. What should he do and how should he go about it? Presents the emergence of Taylor's suspicions about... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mining Industry

21 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 21, 2009

stringency and diligent recollection of moral rules. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-078.pdf The Ethical Mirage: A... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

2009
Chapter

See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People's Unethical Behavior

By: Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore and M. H. Bazerman

It is common for people to be more critical of others' ethical choices than of their own. This chapter explores those remarkable circumstances in which people see no evil in others' unethical behavior. Specifically, we explore 1) the motivated tendency to overlook the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives

2008
Working Paper

See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People's Unethical Behavior

By: Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore and Max H. Bazerman

It is common for people to be more critical of others' ethical choices than of their own. This chapter explores those remarkable circumstances in which people see no evil in others' unethical behavior. Specifically, we explore 1) the motivated tendency to overlook the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives