Publications

04 Mar 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Revision Bias

Keywords: by Ximena Garcia-Rada, Leslie John, Ed O’Brien, and Michael I. Norton

August 2009
Article

Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer

By: John Beshears and Katherine L. Milkman

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by comparing the purchases online grocery customers make when redeeming $10-off coupons with the purchases they make without coupons. Controlling for customer fixed effects and other variables, we... View Details

Keywords: Mental Accounting; Windfalls; Marginal Propensity To Consume; Coupons; Marketing Communications; Consumer Behavior; Accounting; Cognition and Thinking; Retail Industry

21 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 21

novel dataset on algorithmic programming contests that contains data on individual effort, risk taking, and cognitive errors that may underlie tournament performance outcomes. We find that competitors on average react negatively to an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 11, 2008

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/in_microfinance_clients_must_come_first/ Thinking About Technology: Applying a Cognitive Lens to Technical Change Authors:Sarah Kaplan and Mary Tripsas Periodical:Research Policy (forthcoming).... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Exercise

Raptor Oil Company: An Exercise

The exercise, which adapts a famous experiment by experimental psychologist Thomas Gilovich, is designed to show both the ubiquity of analogy or associative thinking more generally and its potential perils. Students are presented with a scenario in which an oil company... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Cognition and Thinking; Prejudice and Bias; Strategy

04 May 2007
What Do You Think?

How Do Managers Think?

Summing Up Can managers acquire ways of thinking or ways of learning from doctors? Managers can learn from an understanding of how doctors think. But whether the lessons are profound or even totally applicable was a matter of discussion among respondents to this... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

09 May 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 9

so as to encompass a wider range of emotionally resonate capabilities in the context of innovative change. For incumbent firms, we argue that the way the TMT cognitively thinks about, and emotionally frames, non-incremental innovation and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2024
Article

Stereotypes and Belief Updating

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Manuela Collis and Leena Kulkarni

We explore how feedback shapes, and perpetuates, gender gaps in self-assessments. Participants in our experiment take tests of their ability across different domains. We elicit their beliefs of their performance before and after feedback. We find that, even after the... View Details

Keywords: Beliefs; Stereotypes; Self-assessment; Performance Evaluation; Gender; Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Knowledge Sharing

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Specialty Medical Chemicals

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Lucinda Doran

A new general manager is supposed to rekindle growth. Seven months later, he questions the abilities of his direct reports. An organizational psychologist is brought in to assess his people. The general manager now has to decide who to keep and how to structure his... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Employees; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Cognition and Thinking

Educators

Purchase

2011
Chapter

Cognitive, Affective, and Special-interest Barriers to Policy Making

By: Lisa L. Shu, Chia-Jung Tsay and Max Bazerman

Keywords: Policy; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions; Conflict of Interests

Article

How to Bounce Back from Adversity

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz

The article focuses on how companies can be managed to overcome adversity with resilience. The characteristics of resilient managers who provide leadership for their teams and can build resilience in their employees are discussed. The manager's ability to shift... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Leadership; Crisis Management; Managerial Roles; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

02 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 2, 2019

Frame Flexibility: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Framing in Innovation Adoption by Incumbent Firms By: Raffaelli, Ryan, Mary Ann Glynn, and Michael Tushman Abstract—Why do incumbent firms frequently reject nonincremental... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Article

Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering

By: Colleen Giblin, Carey K. Morewedge and Michael I. Norton

The mind wanders, even when people are attempting to make complex decisions. We suggest that such mind wandering—allowing one's thoughts to wander until the "correct" choice comes to mind—can positively impact people's feelings about their decisions. We compare... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Satisfaction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cognition and Thinking

2007
Working Paper

Coupled Search Processes: Why Is it so Difficult to Find that Organizational Design Matters?

By: Nicolaj Siggelkow and Jan Rivkin

Organizational design affects performance via coupled search processes. At low frequency, managers search for appropriate organizational designs. At higher frequency, managers use designs to search for high-performing operational choices. The two searches are coupled:... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Operations; Organizational Design; Performance; Networks; Research; Cognition and Thinking; Strategy

22 Feb 2022
News

Vision: Learning Curve

poverty,” Gupta says. What they lack are the awareness, the information, and the tools required to take a more active role in supporting their children’s early cognitive development—all of which are gaps that Rocket Learning aims to fill.... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; education; entrepreneurship; startup; India; Educational Services

01 Sep 2017
News

Is Private Equity Blockchain’s Killer App?

invented, they’ve always been private,” he says. “You have to get over the cognitive block of, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be open to all the parties,’ and secondly, ‘I now have to change all my processes.’ ” The technology, Lakhani... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

June 28, 2011
Article

Using Implementation Intentions Prompts to Enhance Influenza Vaccination Rates

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

We evaluate the results of a field experiment designed to measure the effect of prompts to form implementation intentions on realized behavioral outcomes. The outcome of interest is influenza vaccination receipt at free on-site clinics offered by a large firm to its... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Nudge; Libertarian Paternalism; Public Health; Flu Shot; Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Cognition and Thinking