Publications

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2010
Book

Unilever'i Yenilemek: Dönüşüm ve Gelenek [Renewing Unilever: Transformation and Tradition]

By: Geoffrey Jones

Unilever's brands can now be found in one out of every two households in the world. This arresting and impressive fact shows the scope and scale of this unique global corporation. Geoffrey Jones, a leading business historian from the Harvard Business School, takes us... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business Growth and Maturation; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Globalization; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry

December 2022
Article

The Task Bind: Explaining Gender Differences in Managerial Tasks and Performance

By: Alexandra C. Feldberg

This multi-method study of managers in a grocery chain identifies a novel mechanism by which threats of gender stereotypes undermine women’s ability to be effective managers. I find that women managers face a task bind, a dilemma that managers experience as they try to... View Details

Keywords: Gender Stereotypes; Gender; Managerial Roles; Performance Expectations

February 2022
Article

OMG! My Boss Just Friended Me: How Evaluations of Colleagues' Disclosure, Gender, and Rank Shape Personal/Professional Boundary Blurring Online

By: Nancy Rothbard, Lakshmi Ramarajan, Ariane Ollier-Malaterre and Serenity Lee

We propose and test a relational boundary-blurring framework, examining how employees’ evaluations of colleagues’ characteristics drive their decisions to connect with colleagues as friends online. We use a multi-method approach across four studies to investigate how... View Details

Keywords: Self-disclosure; Relationships; Employees; Internet and the Web; Boundaries

25 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

Working Knowledge Archives Women at Work What do you think of this research? How much intuition goes into your own decision making? Share your insights below. View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

25 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

organizations and institutions to empower everyone.” [Image: iStockphoto/mihtiander] Related reading from the Working Knowledge Archives Selling Out The American Dream View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2008
Thesis

Being B-Boys: Style, Identity, and Respect Among New England and Miami Street Dancers

By: Curtis K. Chan

This study examines the phenomenon of a street dance known as "b-boying" to explore how dancers locate, negotiate, and perform identities, as well as the tensions that occur concomitantly. Drawing on data from participant-observation, interviews, and diverse archival... View Details

Keywords: Social Psychology; Identity; Negotiation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Boundaries; Conflict and Resolution; Arts; Northeastern United States; Miami

Research Summary

Overview

I am a field researcher studying the relational nature of work. Organizations are inherently social institutions and provide myriad opportunities for relationship formation. My work begins with the simple insight that all relationships are not equal: interpersonal... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Motivation; Feedback; Personal Development; Needs; Organizational Design; Performance Productivity; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Groups and Teams; Family and Family Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Consulting Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Forthcoming
Article

You've Got Mail! The Late 19th-Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance

By: Astrid Marinoni and Maria P. Roche

This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the US Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California,... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Innovation; Knowledge Exchange; US Postal Service; Firm Performance; Infrastructure; Expansion; Government Administration; Communication; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Public Administration Industry; California

September 2022
Article

The Power and Limits of Expertise: Swiss–Swedish Linking of Vehicle Emission Standards in the 1970s and 1980s

By: Mattias Näsman and Sabine Pitteloud

Recent decades have witnessed increased public concern about vehicle emissions and growing frustration with political inaction and business preferences for the status quo. This article provides historical perspective on such regulatory dynamics by analyzing the Swiss... View Details

Keywords: Business And The Environment; Business And Society; Emission Reduction; Automobiles; Standard Setting; Norm-enforcement; Regulation; Expertise; Experts; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Regulation; Standards; Auto Industry; Switzerland; Sweden

July 2021
Article

Structuring Local Environments to Avoid Diversity: Anxiety Drives Whites' Geographical and Institutional Self-Segregation Preferences

By: Eric Anicich, Jon M. Jachimowicz, Merrick Osborne and L. Taylor Phillips

The current research explores how local racial diversity affects Whites’ efforts to structure their local communities to avoid incidental intergroup contact. In two experimental studies (N=509; Studies 1a-b), we consider Whites’ choices to structure a fictional,... View Details

Keywords: Segregration; Structural/institutional Racism; Organizational Exclusion; Diversity; Race; Organizations; Local Range; Prejudice and Bias

Article

Turnkey or Tailored? Relational Pluralism, Institutional Complexity, and the Organizational Adoption of More or Less Customized Practices

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

We examine how the organizational adoption of new practices is influenced by relational pluralism, i.e., an organization's multiple ties to actors inside and outside its industry. We theorize that institutional mechanisms of practice diffusion underlying relational... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Processes; Adoption; Customization and Personalization

2010
Working Paper

Performance Tradeoffs in Team Knowledge Sourcing

By: Bradley R. Staats, Melissa Valentine and Amy C. Edmondson

This research examines how teams organize knowledge sourcing (obtaining access to others' knowledge or expertise) and investigates the performance trade-offs involved in two approaches to knowledge sourcing in teams. One approach a team can take is to specialize, such... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Efficiency; Performance Productivity; Quality; Groups and Teams; Information Technology Industry; India

11 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 11, 2018

paper highlights the benefits that rigorous use of oral history can offer to research on the contemporary business history of emerging markets. Oral history can help fill some of the major information voids arising from the absence of a strong tradition of corporate... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2008
Book

Moral Gray Zones: Side Productions, Identity, and Regulation in an Aeronautic Plant

By: Michel Anteby

Anyone who has been employed by an organization knows not every official workplace regulation must be followed. When management consistently overlooks such breaches, spaces emerge in which both workers and supervisors engage in officially prohibited, yet tolerated... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Governance Controls; Production; Organizational Culture; Practice; France

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

from, Riedel says. “Ed Stack struck the right balance, and he can always say, ‘I did the right thing for the right reasons,’’’ says Riedel. [iStockphoto/Miosotis Jade] Related reading from the Working Knowledge Archives The Hard Numbers... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

Article

State Activism and the Hidden Incentives Behind Bank Acquisitions

By: Christopher Marquis, Doug Guthrie and Juan Almandoz

A number of studies have shown that, as a result of the ambiguity of U.S. legal mandates, organizations have considerable latitude in how they comply with regulations. In this paper, we address how the different agendas of the federal and state governments increase... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Opportunities; Government Legislation; Acquisition; Forecasting and Prediction; Banks and Banking; Motivation and Incentives; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management Practices and Processes; Research; United States