Publications

SSRN

Research Summary

Incentives and Education

(with Bob Slonim and Eric Bettinger)
No Child Left Behind has created an incentive system for schools to increase test scores as well as attendance figures.... View Details

Research Summary

Works in Progress

"Hunkering Down and Venturing Out: Network Activation in Response to the Uncertainty of Organizational Restructuring." Under Review. Awarded Best Paper in Organizational Behavior: 2011 Trans-Atlantic... View Details

January 2019
Article

Making Moves Matter: Experimental Evidence on Incentivizing Bureaucrats Through Performance-Based Postings

By: Adnan Q. Khan, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Benjamin A. Olken

Bureaucracies often post staff to better or worse locations, ostensibly to provide incentives. Yet we know little about whether this works, with heterogeneity in preferences over postings impacting effectiveness. We propose a performance-ranked serial dictatorship... View Details

Keywords: Serial Dictatorship Mechanism; Employment; Geographic Location; Motivation and Incentives; Performance

2025
Working Paper

Evaluations Amid Measurement Error: Determining the Optimal Timing for Workplace Interventions

By: Matthew DosSantos DiSorbo, Iavor I. Bojinov and Fiammetta Menchetti

Researchers have embraced factorial experiments to simultaneously evaluate multiple treatments, each with different levels. Typically, in large-scale factorial experiments, the primary objective is identifying the treatment with the largest causal effect, especially... View Details

Keywords: Factorial Designs; Fisher Randomizations; Rank Estimators; Employer Interventions; Causal Inference; Mathematical Methods; Performance Improvement

SSRN

April 2018
Article

Consumers Avoid Buying from Firms with Higher CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

By: Bhavya Mohan, Tobias Schlager, Rohit Deshpandé and Michael I. Norton

We document a novel driver of consumer behavior: pay ratio disclosure. Swiss corporation performance data gathered during a legally mandated pay ratio referendum reveals that salient high pay ratios are associated with decreased firm sales (Pilot Study). An... View Details

Keywords: Pay Ratio; Wage Fairness; Purchase Intention; Customers; Wages; Fairness; Consumer Behavior

27 Sep 2019
HBS Seminar

Kevin Boudreau (D'Amore-McKim Sch of Business, Northeastern U), raemarie.copan@harvardbusiness.org

Article

The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Katherine L. Milkman

Using a field experiment in a 401(k) plan, we measure the effect of disseminating information about peer behavior on savings. Low-saving employees received simplified plan enrollment or contribution increase forms. A randomized subset of forms stated the fraction of... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retirement

2013 Winner of Academy of Management Awards for Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior and Best Published Paper in Organization and Management Theory

Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second... View Details

Joshua D. Margolis

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

January 2013
Article

Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India

By: Shawn A. Cole, Xavier Gine, Jeremy Tobacman, Petia Topalova, Robert M. Townsend and James Vickery

Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of non-systematic income risk? We use a series of randomized field experiments in rural India to test the importance of price and non-price factors in the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Household; India

2018
The Significance of Race Research in the 21st Century

Harvard Business School AASU50 Research Findings

December 2020
Article

Why Connect? Moral Consequences of Networking with a Promotion or Prevention Focus

By: F. Gino, T. Casciaro and M. Kouchaki

Networks are a key source of social capital for achieving goals in professional and personal settings. Yet, despite the clear benefits of having an extensive network, individuals often shy away from the opportunity to create new connections because engaging in... View Details

Keywords: Networking; Impurity; Morality; Motivation; Regulatory Focus; Networks; Attitudes; Moral Sensibility

August 2021
Article

The Undervalued Power of Self-relevant Research: The Case of Researching Retirement While Retiring

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Douglas T. (Tim) Hall

For decades, training in management research has emphasized objectivity, typically viewed as an arm’s length distance between the topic of the research and the interests of the researcher. This emphasis has led most scholars to avoid research topics of deep personal... View Details

Keywords: Qualitative Research Methods; Case Research Methods; Organizational Behavior; Careers; Career Changes And Transitions; Self-relevant Research; Research; Personal Development and Career; Transition; Identity; Retirement

January 2019
Article

The ABCs of Financial Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, Behavior, and Cognitive Biases

By: Fenella Carpena, Shawn A. Cole, Jeremy Shapiro and Bilal Zia

This paper uses a large-scale field experiment in India to study attitudinal, behavioral, and cognitive constraints that can stymie the link between financial education and financial outcomes. The study complements financial education with (1) financial incentives on a... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Education; Attitudes; Behavior; Outcome or Result

Purchase

15 Feb 2024
Blog Post

How I Spent My 2+2 Deferral: Carol Wright

The HBS 2+2 program is a deferred admission process for current students in their final year of study, either in college or a full-time master’s degree program. If you are admitted through 2+2, you work for two to four years in a field of... View Details

2017
Working Paper

The Effectiveness of White-Collar Crime Enforcement: Evidence from the War on Terror

By: Trung Nguyen

This paper studies the deterrent effect of criminal enforcement on white-collar criminal activities. Using the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a shock to the FBI’s allocation of investigative resources and priorities, and variations in the Muslim population in the United... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Fraud; White-collar Crime; Enforcement; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; System Shocks

SSRN

07 Oct 2019
HBS Seminar

Tristan Botelho, Yale University

July 2020
Article

Tell It Like It Is: When Politically Incorrect Language Promotes Authenticity

By: J. Schroeder, M. Rosenblum and F. Gino

When a person’s language appears political—such as being politically correct or incorrect—it can influence fundamental impressions of him or her. Political correctness is “using language or behavior to seem sensitive to others’ feelings, especially those others who... View Details

Keywords: Language; Interpersonal Communication; Perception