Publications

13 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

The Consumer Appeal of Underdog Branding

Biography," details her joint research about the trend and its implications for brand management. Keinan, an assistant professor in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School whose research on consumer behavior has been published in leading marketing and View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Article

The Effect of Background Music in Shark Documentaries on Viewers' Perceptions of Sharks

By: Andy Nosal, Elizabeth A. Keenan, Philip A. Hastings and Ayelet Gneezy

Despite the ongoing need for shark conservation and management, prevailing negative sentiments marginalize these animals and legitimize permissive exploitation. These negative attitudes arise from an instinctive yet exaggerated fear, which is validated and reinforced... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Prejudice and Bias; Marketing; Attitudes; Music Entertainment

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February 2025
Case

Managing Complexity at mymuesli

By: Thomas Graeber and Stacy Straaberg

In April 2009, direct-to-consumer e-commerce muesli brand mymuesli faced a flood of customer questions. The breakfast cereal startup enabled users to order personalized muesli on its website by choosing from 75 organic ingredients for a total of 566 quadrillion... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Food; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Customization and Personalization; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Germany

21 Sep 2021
Office Hours

Readers Ask: How Can I Gain Power and Influence?

power is always relative. You may have great influence in one relationship and be completely dependent in another. Second, people confuse power with authority, but authority is no guarantee of power, and you do not need to be high in the... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

July 2021
Article

Consumers—Especially Women—Avoid Buying from Firms with Higher Gender Pay Gaps

By: Tobias Schlager, Bhavya Mohan, Katherine DeCelles and Michael I. Norton

We document a unique driver of consumer behavior: the public disclosure of a firm’s gender pay gap. Four experiments provide causal evidence that when firms are revealed to have gender pay gaps, consumers are less willing to pay for their goods, a reaction driven by... View Details

Keywords: Pay Gap; Perceived Wage Fairness; Purchase Intention; Gender; Wages; Fairness; Perception; Consumer Behavior

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01 Sep 2021
What Do You Think?

Can We Train for Trust?

experience. A new book by Sandra Sucher and Shalene Gupta examines trust at the institutional level. That is, it looks at relationships between a business organization and its stakeholders, including employees. As they put it, “to establish trust with your customers,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire?

deny him the satisfaction of lording his knowledge over us. Everybody wants to work with the lovable star, and nobody wants to work with the incompetent jerk. But there are justifiable reasons to avoid the jerk. Sometimes it can be difficult to pry the View Details

Keywords: by Tiziana Casciaro & Miguel Sousa Lobo

05 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 5

Motivation Authors:F. Gino and S. Wiltermuth Publication:Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (forthcoming) Abstract We propose that separating rewards into categories can increase motivation, even when those categories are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Four Keys of Enduring Success: How High Achievers Win

be in the past or the present. Most people don't find much satisfaction in their past achievements, and most of the satisfaction from achievement "is in the achieving, not in the accomplishment," he said. Achievement is propelled by the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

08 Feb 2023
Op-Ed

Building an Inclusive Workplace? Prepare to Shield It from Economic Fears

Spending time in reflection is vital. Most leaders need more time to reflect on the last meeting, never mind the last month or quarter. But the benefits of introspection can’t be overstated. Block out time on your calendar for quiet,... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

August 2019
Case

Bark Gift Shop Ltd.

By: Susanna Gallani, Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos

This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Employees; Behavior; Performance; Management; Goals and Objectives; Motivation and Incentives; Analysis

March 2012
Article

Performance Pressure as a Double-edged Sword: Enhancing Team Motivation but Undermining the Use of Team Knowledge

By: Heidi K. Gardner

In this paper, I develop and empirically test the proposition that performance pressure acts as a double-edged sword for teams, providing positive effects by enhancing the team's motivation to achieve good results while simultaneously triggering process losses. I... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Performance

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25 Jan 2017
HBS Case

How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?

think of the role of advertising as providing primes that are psychological in nature as a means of persuasion, you can take something that exists in society—a consumer preference for fair skin—and leverage it for good or for bad.”... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Beauty & Cosmetics

01 Jun 2007
What Do You Think?

How Should Pay Be Linked to Performance?

practice in need of further examination. Taken to an extreme, it leads to a conclusion such as that of Renat Nadyukov: "Sometimes we forget why we pay people." Sivaram Parameswaran concurs, saying, "in the compulsion to... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Habitat for Humanity-Egypt

By: Jane Wei-Skillern and Kerry Herman

Habitat for Humanity--Egypt (HFHE), has grown in just seven years to become one of the most successful Habitat programs worldwide. The organization is at a crossroads as it attempts to reach the ambitious goal of serving 10% of the 20 million Egyptians living in... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Construction; Social Issues; Social and Collaborative Networks; Non-Governmental Organizations; Construction Industry; Egypt

20 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Having No Life is the New Aspirational Lifestyle

Americans are working longer hours than ever before, with the office increasingly stealing our leisure time. But according to new research by Anat Keinan, this hectic way of life is, for many of us, far from an unmitigated negative. In fact, some boast the lack of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

PublicationsFeeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-interested Charitable Behavior Authors:L. Anik, L. B. Aknin, M. I. Norton, and E. W. Dunn Publication:In The Science of Giving: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Charity Abstract While lay... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2025
Article

Disclosure, Humanizing, and Contextual Vulnerability of Generative AI Chatbots

By: Julian De Freitas and I. Glenn Cohen

In the wake of recent advancements in generative AI, regulatory bodies are trying to keep pace. One key decision is whether to require app makers to disclose the use of generative AI-powered chatbots in their products. We suggest that some generative AI-based chatbots... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Applications and Software; Well-being

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June 2020
Supplement

Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO (B)

By: Tsedal Neeley and Briana Richardson

With the economy in a freefall, MetricStream is losing customers, hemorrhaging cash and struggling to make payroll. Several board members are threatening to quit. Others are pressing to sell the company even at dismally low valuations. It’s 2008 and lightning has... View Details

Keywords: Race; Gender; Leadership Style; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; California