Publications

2010
Article

I May Not Agree With You, but I Trust You: Caring About Social Issues Signals Integrity

By: Julian Zlatev

What characteristics of an individual signal trustworthiness to other people? I propose that individuals who care about contentious social issues signal to observers that they have integrity and thus can be trusted. Critically, this signal conveys trustworthiness... View Details

Keywords: Personal Characteristics; Moral Sensibility; Perception; Trust

March 2018
Article

Polluted Morality: Air Pollution Predicts Criminal Activity and Unethical Behavior

By: Jackson G. Lu, Julia J. Lee, F. Gino and Adam D. Galinsky

Air pollution is a serious problem that influences billions of people globally. Although the health and environmental costs of air pollution are well known, the present research investigates its ethical costs. We propose that air pollution can increase criminal and... View Details

Keywords: Pollutants; Behavior; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption

January 2018
Case

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Quits President Trump's Advisory Council

By: Andy Zelleke and Brian Tilley

In the first six months of Donald Trump’s presidency, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier appeared alongside Trump at least three times at press events, one of which commemorated the first and only meeting of the president’s Manufacturing Job Initiative (better known at the... View Details

Keywords: CEO Role; Politics; Corporate Governance; Moral Sensibility; Managerial Roles; United States

April 2014
Article

Evil Genius? How Dishonesty Can Lead to Greater Creativity

By: F. Gino and S. Wiltermuth

We propose that dishonest and creative behavior have something in common: they both involve breaking rules. Because of this shared feature, creativity may lead to dishonesty (as shown in prior work), and dishonesty may lead to creativity (the hypothesis we tested in... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Creativity; Attitudes

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February 2002
Background Note

Mediating in the Wake of Disaster: The MIT Settlement

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

In 1997, MIT freshman Scott Kruger died from alcohol poisoning after a ritual fraternity ceremony. His death sparked national controversy over the responsibility of universities for their students. For his parents, though, the pain was personal and almost solely... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Negotiation Deal; Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Situation or Environment; Framework; Legal Services Industry; Education Industry

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

related to improved project performance in some cases. Our results highlight a need for more nuanced approaches to leveraging experience in team management. Deed, Clear Conscience: When Cheating Leads to Moral Disengagement and Motivated... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Kidneys for Sale: Who Disapproves, and Why?

By: Stephen Leider and Alvin E. Roth

The shortage of transplant kidneys has spurred debate about legalizing monetary payments to donors to increase the number of available kidneys. However, buying and selling organs faces widespread disapproval. We survey a representative sample of Americans to assess... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Policy; Health; Market Transactions; Attitudes; Trust

September 1996
Case

Craig Parks (B)

By: David A. Thomas and Lisa J. Chadderdon

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Moral Sensibility

April 2014
Teaching Note

iMatari

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble

Keywords: Ethical Behavior; Ethical Judgment; Entrepreneurship; Imitation; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Europe; Middle East

August 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Supplement

Albert 'Jack' Stanley in Nigeria (B)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad M. Carr

The case describes Albert "Jack" Stanley's response to actions initiated against him by the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Law; Value; Nigeria; United States

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

foreign officials, and the packaging and sale of toxic securities to naïve investors-require ethically problematic judgments and behaviors. However, dominant models of workplace unethical behavior fail to account for what we have learned from View Details

January 1998
Case

Sideco Americana S.A. (C)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Ethics; Culture; Argentina

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business of Babies

commercial business," Spar said. "I think this is wrong. The demands of the parent will outweigh political and moral opposition." However, those who want to succeed in the market need to fight to shape property, privacy,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

January 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

United Housing—Otis Gates

By: Steven Rogers and Mercer Cook

Otis Gates, the only African-American in his HBS graduating class, is an entrepreneur from greater Boston area and has built a successful affordable housing firm. Along the way, he and his partners have contributed countless hours of community service to the... View Details

Keywords: Affordable Housing; Real Estate; Community Engagement; Social-good; Request For Proposal; Diversity; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Moral Sensibility; Fairness; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Housing; Business and Community Relations; Real Estate Industry

April 2017
Article

The Responsibilities and Role of Business in Relation to Society: Back to Basics?

By: Nien-he Hsieh

In this address, I outline a back-to-basics approach to specifying the responsibilities and role of business in relation to society. Three “basics” comprise the approach. The first is arguing that basic principles of ordinary morality, such as a duty not to harm,... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Corporate Responsibility; Harm; Human Rights; Institutions; Pareto Efficiency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Society; Rights

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25 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 25

what does the term "big data" actually entail, and how will the insights it yields differ from what managers might generate from traditional analytics? Does Power Corrupt or Enable: Moral Identity, Power and Self-Serving... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2011
Working Paper

Free to Punish? The American Dream and the Harsh Treatment of Criminals

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

We describe the evolution of selective aspects of punishment in the U.S. over the period 1980-2004. We note that imprisonment increased around 1980, a period that coincides with the "Reagan revolution" in economic matters. We build an economic model where beliefs about... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economy; Moral Sensibility; Mathematical Methods; Opportunities; Behavior; United States