Publications

11 Jan 2008
Working Paper Summaries

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

Keywords: by Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore & Max H. Bazerman

2016
Article

Buying to Blunt Negative Feelings: Materialistic Escape from the Self

By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Masha Ksendzova, Ryan Howell, Kathleen Vohs and Roy F. Baumeister

We propose that escape theory, which describes how individuals seek to free themselves from aversive states of self-awareness, helps explain key patterns of materialistic people’s behavior. As predicted by escape theory, materialistic individuals may feel dissatisfied... View Details

Keywords: Materialism; Escape; Self; Negative Emotions; Self-awareness; Emotions; Consumer Behavior; Identity; Motivation and Incentives

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November 1993 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Romeo Engine Plant

By: Amy P. Hutton and Robert S. Kaplan

A newly reopened automobile engine plant has been organized along total quality and teamwork principles. Employees now is to solve problems and ensure quality, rather than watch parts being produced. New operating and financial systems have been installed to promote... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

December 2001 (Revised May 2003)
Background Note

Queueing Theory

By: V.G. Narayanan and George Batta

Explains the assumptions behind and the insights from a simple queueing model. View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Theory; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

The New CEO’s Wrong Message

the description? So are CEOs who are new to the role. Just when an executive feels he has reached the pinnacle of his career, capturing the coveted goal for which he has so long been striving, he begins to realize that the CEO's job is different View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch & Nitin Nohria

09 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Got a New Strategy? Now Make it Happen

Despite widespread rhetoric about the need for organizational agility, an astonishing number of businesses stay stuck in neutral when they need to implement a new strategy. Consider the situation that Lynne Camp faced in July 2000. Camp, the vice president View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Russell A. Eisenstat

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

demonstrating how the company can actually benefit from achieving higher-ambition goals. One payoff might come in the form of greater motivation and commitment on the part of employees galvanized by a common... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Article

Inviting Consumers to Downsize Fast-Food Portions Significantly Reduces Calorie Consumption

By: Janet Schwartz, Jason Riis, Brian Elbel and Dan Ariely

Policies that mandate calorie labeling in fast-food and chain restaurants have had little or no observable impact on calorie consumption to date. In three field experiments, we tested an alternative approach: activating consumers' self-control by having servers ask... View Details

Keywords: Food; Labels; Consumer Behavior; Interpersonal Communication; Motivation and Incentives; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

2009
Working Paper

Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?

By: Shawn A. Cole, Thomas Sampson and Bilal Zia

Financial development is critical for growth, but its micro-determinants are not well understood. We test leading theories of low demand for financial services in emerging markets, combining novel survey evidence from Indonesia and India with a field experiment. We... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Saving; Knowledge Acquisition; Emerging Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry; India; Indonesia

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January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Duolingo: On a 'Streak'

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Nicole Luo

In December 2024, Severin Hacker, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Duolingo, reflected on the remarkable evolution of the language-learning app he helped launch in 2011. As the #1 most downloaded education app in the world, Duolingo had over 100 million... View Details

Keywords: Learning; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Diversification; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Technology Industry; Education Industry; United States

March 1987 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Au Bon Pain: The French Bakery Cafe, The Partner/Manager Program

By: W. Earl Sasser

In recent years, Au Bon Pain (ABP), a chain of upscale French bakeries/sandwich cafes based in Boston, confronted a set of human resource problems endemic to the fast food industry (i.e., a labor shortage which made it difficult to attract and maintain quality crew... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Managerial Roles; Retention; Employees; Performance Improvement; Recruitment; Problems and Challenges; Compensation and Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

March 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Supplement

Circon (B)

By: Brian J. Hall, Guhan Subramanian and Christopher A Rose

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Governance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

2014
Article

Models of Caring, or Acting as if One Cared, About the Welfare of Others

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper surveys the theoretical literature in which people are modeled as taking other people's payoffs into account either because this affects their utility directly or because they wish to impress others with their social-mindedness. Key experimental results that... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

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March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

The CHIPS Program Office

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sebastian Negron-Reichard

In February 2023, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo weighed signing off on a Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”) with at least one unconventional provision: a pre-application (“pre-app”) to the actual application for parts of $39 billion in direct semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Government Administration; Government Legislation; Motivation and Incentives; Semiconductor Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

17 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Good about Quiet Rule-Breaking

What do software engineers, flight attendants, factory workers, mail carriers, truck drivers, and hospital nurses have in common? According to HBS professor Michel Anteby, these professions—and many others just as dissimilar, maybe even... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Teaching Note

Rapid Rewards at Southwest Airlines (TN)

By: Frances X. Frei

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Air Transportation Industry

November–December 2024
Article

Why Employees Quit

By: Ethan Bernstein, Michael B. Horn and Bob Moesta

The so-called war for talent is still raging. But in that fight, employers continue to rely on the same hiring and retention strategies they’ve been using for decades. Why? Because they’ve been so focused on challenges such as poaching by industry rivals, competing in... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Recruitment; Talent and Talent Management; Employee Relationship Management; Motivation and Incentives