Publications

Read Now

June 2019
Article

Learning to Become a Taste Expert

By: Kathryn A. Latour and John A. Deighton

Evidence suggests that consumers seek to become more expert about hedonic products to enhance their enjoyment of future consumption occasions. Current approaches to becoming expert center on cultivating an analytic mindset. In the present research the authors explore... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Experience and Expertise; Analysis; Perception

July 1994 (Revised August 1998)
Case

The King-Size Company

By: David E. Bell and Dinny Starr Gordon

King-Size is a mail-order company specializing in apparel for big and tall men. The case describes their operations in some detail. Issues include appropriate marketing decisions and expansion strategy. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Marketing Strategy; Operations; Perception; Expansion; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Web Services Industry

Educators

August 1995 (Revised May 2008)
Teaching Note

Jensen Shoes (TN)

By: James I. Cash Jr. and Mary C. Gentile

Teaching Note for (9-395-120) and (9-395-121). View Details

Keywords: Perception; Race; Groups and Teams; Employees; Apparel and Accessories Industry

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Bright Ideas: The Creative Power of Groups

Business School Press), a new book by HBS professor Dorothy Leonard and Professor Walter Swap of Tufts University. The authors not only disprove the stereotypical perception of group creativity as an oxymoron but show how the group... View Details

Keywords: by Laurie Joan Aron

21 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Leadership Program for Women Targets Subtle Promotion Biases

behaviors can be seen as abrasive instead of assertive, arrogant instead of self-confident, and self-promoting instead of entrepreneurial. These perceptions can hold women back. "We cannot just tell women that if they want to take... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Peeling Back the Global Brand

perception for different consumer groups. These elements must be agreed upon, however tacitly, between company and consumer. "There are ways to make the dovetails join," concluded Schroiff. "In any case, it is the consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

19 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 19, 2007

countries between 1985 and 2000, we find that the growth effects of FDI increase when we account for the quality of FDI. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-072.pdf How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2019
Article

Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting

By: Tami Kim, Leslie John, Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

Firms are increasingly giving consumers the vote. Eight studies demonstrate that when firms empower consumers to vote, consumers infer a series of implicit promises—even in the absence of explicit promises. We identify three implicit promises to which consumers react... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Empowerment; Procedural Justice; Promises; Customer Relationship Management; Voting; Perception; Fairness; Risk Management

Read Now

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders

negotiation? That's a big motivation for us. When we think about what might make women walk into a negotiation with, say, lower expectations than men, one of the explanations for that comes from social psychology. It's called the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 2022
Article

Opportunity Neglect: An Aversion to Low-probability Gains

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

Seven preregistered studies (N = 2,890) conducted in the field, lab, and online document opportunity neglect: a tendency to reject opportunities with low probability of success, even when they come with little or no objective cost (e.g., time, money,... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Behavior; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Perception

March 2000
Background Note

Fall Before Rising, A: The Story of Jai Jaikumar (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Richard Compton Squire, Sarah Patricia Vickers-Willis and Harry James Wilson

What is the relationship between good fortune, professional success, and a moral obligation to other people? Jai Jaikumar, who as a youth was saved by a shepherd woman after a tragic mountaineering accident in the Himalayas, and who later rose to the top of his... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; History; Personal Development and Career; Relationships; Familiarity; Perception; Welfare

Educators

11 Dec 2019
Working Paper Summaries

When to Apply?

Keywords: by Katherine Coffman, Manuela Collis, and Leena Kulkarni

Article

Naturals and Strivers: Preferences and Beliefs about Sources of Achievement

By: Chia-Jung Tsay and Mahzarin R. Banaji

To understand how talent and achievement are perceived, three experiments compared the assessments of "naturals" and "strivers." Professional musicians learned about two pianists, equal in achievement but who varied in the source of achievement: the "natural" with... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Perception; Judgments; Success; Competency and Skills

March 2008
Article

Functional Imaging of Decision Conflict

By: J. B. Pochon, Jason Riis, A. Sanfey, L. Nystrom and J. D. Cohen

Decision conflict occurs when people feel uncertain as to which option to choose from a set of similarly attractive (or unattractive) options, with many studies demonstrating that this conflict can lead to suboptimal decision making. In this article, we investigate the... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Judgments; Risk and Uncertainty; Science; Conflict and Resolution; Perception

July 2019
Article

The Gravitational Pull of Expressing Passion: When and How Expressing Passion Elicits Status Conferral and Support from Others

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Christopher To, Shira Agasi, Stéphane Côté and Adam D. Galinsky

Prior research attributes the positive effects of passion on professional success to intrapersonal characteristics. We propose that interpersonal processes are also critical because observers confer status on and support those who express passion. These interpersonal... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Admiration; Support; Emotions; Communication; Perception; Status and Position; Success; Situation or Environment; Competition

Register to Read

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

show that increased competition is associated with greater inspection leniency, a form of illicit quality that customers value but is illegal and socially costly. Firms with greater numbers of local competitors pass customers at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2023
Article

Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire

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

From “Chick Beer” to “Dryer Sheets for Men,” identity-based labeling is frequently deployed by marketers to appeal to specific target markets. Yet such identity appeals can backfire, alienating the very consumers they aim to attract. We theorize and empirically... View Details

Keywords: Categorization Threat; Stereotypes; Identity; Labels; Gender; Perception; Consumer Behavior