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29 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Is the Digital Age Making Us Petty?

attentiveness to trivial details,” as defined in a recent research study, can drag down relationships, result in recriminating behavior, and ruin the good intentions behind very generous donations. On the flip side, leaving room for error... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

03 Nov 2022
Op-Ed

Feeling Separation Anxiety at Your Startup? 5 Tips to Soothe These Growing Pains

You’re the founder of a growing startup and it seems like just yesterday that you were a team of five, sharing a co-working space with one table and five chairs. There was an open flow of communication in the room and unless someone’s headphones were on to signal they... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

January 2024
Case

BWX Technologies

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Yuan Zou and Aldo Sesia

Rex Geveden and Robb LeMasters, CEO and CFO of BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), were concerned that investors and analysts did not fully appreciate the company's transformation from a nuclear reactor provider to the US Navy and Canadian utilities to a multi-product line... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Communication Intention and Meaning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Diversification; United States; Canada

2014
Article

Children Develop a Veil of Fairness

By: Alex Shaw, Natalia Montinari, Marco Piovesan, Kristina Olson, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

Previous research suggests that children develop an increasing concern with fairness over the course of development. Research with adults suggests that the concern with fairness has at least two distinct components: a desire to be fair and a desire to signal to others... View Details

Keywords: Inequity Aversion; Social Signaling; Social Cognitive Development; Communication Intention and Meaning; Fairness; Age; Reputation; Growth and Development; Cognition and Thinking

September 2003
Case

Nelson Mandela, Turnaround Leader

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Euvin Naidoo

Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He had to shift the culture of a country after the end of the apartheid regime, which enforced separation of the races and stifled freedom of the press. He established more open dialogue,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Government and Politics; Governance; Policy; Political Elections; Culture; Communication Intention and Meaning; Relationships; Leadership Style; Welfare; South Africa

07 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 8, 2018

Intent By: Schroeder, Juliana, Jane L. Risen, Francesca Gino, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—We examine how a simple handshake—a gesture that often occurs at the outset of social interactions—can influence deal-making. Because handshakes... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2025
Article

Does Communicating Measurable Diversity Goals Attract or Repel Historically Marginalized Job Applicants? Evidence from the Lab and Field

By: Erika L. Kirgios, Ike Silver and Edward H. Chang

Many organizations struggle to attract a demographically diverse workforce. How does adding a measurable goal to a public diversity commitment—for example, “We care about diversity” versus “We care about diversity and plan to hire at least one woman or racial minority... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Diversity; Goals and Objectives; Communication Intention and Meaning; Behavior

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Excerpt: ‘A Social Strategy’

sale. Second, a third of those who participated in a group gift sign up for a PayPal account. Finally, an- other third returned to visit eBay within a month with the intent to purchase other items. Importantly, eBay obtained all of these... View Details

Editorial

Elon Musk's Unusual Compensation Plan Isn't Really About Compensation at All

By: George Serafeim

Earlier this year, Tesla shareholders approved likely the largest compensation package ever awarded to a CEO—for a CEO who clearly doesn’t need the money. Elon Musk is already incredibly rich and also doesn’t seem particularly motivated by further wealth. So why do it?... View Details

Keywords: Tesla; Elon Musk; Innovation; Investor Communication; Investor Relations; Short-termism; Long-termism; Disruption; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Communication Intention and Meaning; Mission and Purpose

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Article

When Dreaming Is Believing: The (Motivated) Interpretation of Dreams

By: Carey K. Morewedge and Michael I. Norton

This research investigated laypeople's interpretation of their dreams. Participants from both Eastern and Western cultures believed that dreams contain hidden truths (Study 1) and considered dreams to provide more meaningful information about the world than similar... View Details

Keywords: Anchoring; Attribution; Dreams; Motivated Reasoning; Unconscious Thought; Communication Intention and Meaning; Judgments; Values and Beliefs; Information; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Motivation and Incentives

Article

When Seeking Help, Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities Benefit from Explicitly Stating Their Identity

By: Erika L. Kirgios, Aneesh Rai, Edward H. Chang and Katherine L. Milkman

Receiving help can make or break a career, but women and racial/ethnic minorities do not always receive the support they seek. Across two audit experiments—one with politicians and another with students—as well as an online experiment (total n = 5,145), we test whether... View Details

Keywords: Support; Marginalized Communities; Personal Development and Career; Equality and Inequality; Identity; Race; Gender; Communication Intention and Meaning

19 Feb 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Amazoned: Is Any Industry Safe?

announced earlier this month intention to join megapartners Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase on some still mysterious project in the fastest-growing market of them all, health care. These stories from our archive suggest the great impact... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

17 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

The Reputation Risks of Sharing Fake News

As partisan vitriol flies in the final month before the US presidential election, a new study offers insight into the question of why people share political misinformation. Even when a news article would flatter their political party, people tend to expect that sharing... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

October 1987 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Boston Fights Drugs (A): Designing Communications Research

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Communication Intention and Meaning; Brands and Branding; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston

September 2007
Article

(Noisy) Communication

By: Bharat Anand and Ron Shachar

Communication is central to many settings in marketing and economics. A focal attribute of communication is miscommunication. We model this key characteristic as a noise in the messages communicated, so that the sender of a message is uncertain about its perception by... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Interpersonal Communication; Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Communications; Performance Improvement; Mathematical Methods

August 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited

By: Anthony J. Mayo and Joshua D. Margolis

Ramesh Patel, a high potential employee, was excited to be named to the company's New Horizons Board, a select team responsible for producing recommendations for new products or line extensions for Aragon Entertainment. Patel's co-worker and friend, Jeremy Gibson was... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Conflict Management; Interpersonal Communication; Spoken Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Jobs and Positions; Performance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

05 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

additional millions of poor people to buy in. As prices have fallen, Asian brands such as Asus and Acer of Taiwan have gained share while IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo. “Critics of marketing tend to overestimate the level of View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Three Steps for Crisis Prevention

It's all too easy, of course, to play Monday-morning quarterback when things go terribly wrong. That's not our intent here. We readily admit that many surprises are unpredictable—that some bolts out of the blue really do come out of the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael D. Watkins & Max H. Bazerman

September 1999 (Revised February 2004)
Case

WebSpective Software, Inc. (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville and Sun Ming Wong

Describes the situation at WebSpective, a software company that develops products to help companies manage the network of servers that support their Websites. Describes the use of "concept engineering" tools to interview customers, determine their needs and the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Communication Intention and Meaning; Product Development; Product Marketing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry