Publications

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December 2022
Article

Kindness in Short Supply: Evidence for Inadequate Prosocial Input

By: Jennifer E. Abel, Preeti Vani, Nicole Abi-Esber, Hayley Blunden and Juliana Schroeder

In everyday life, people often have opportunities to improve others’ lives, whether offering well-intentioned advice or complimenting someone on a job well done. These are opportunities to provide “prosocial input” (information intended to benefit others), including... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Input; Gratitude; Feedback; Advice; Behavior; Interpersonal Communication

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05 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Benefit of Giving Back to Open Source Software

productivity from using the software by as much as 100 percent, when compared with free-riding competitors. "Companies that contribute and give back learn how to better use the open source software in... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Computer

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

How Workplace Wellness Programs Can Give Employees the Energy Boost They Need

for actually using well-being services. Managers can empower employees to use the services by acting as role models and talking about using the programs themselves. Listen to employees and focus on what... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

08 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor

Keywords: by Christina Fong & Felix Oberholzer-Gee

27 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

suggest and prioritize. Lakkaraju conducted the analysis with HBS postdoctoral researcher Aounon Kumar. The ability to manipulate product comparison could give some companies an unfair advantage, but it... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

Instead, when the company wouldn’t pay them for their lunch hour, they intentionally scheduled deliveries to show up midday, when there wasn’t anyone working to receive them, sabotaging the project. “Top management have to be willing to... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Article

Selfishly Benevolent or Benevolently Selfish? When Self-interest Undermines versus Promotes Prosocial Behavior

By: Julian Zlatev and Dale T. Miller

Existing research shows that appeals to self-interest sometimes increase and sometimes decrease prosocial behavior. We propose that this inconsistency is in part due to the framings of these appeals. Different framings generate different salient reference points,... View Details

Keywords: Altruism; Charitable Giving; Framing; Prosocial Behavior; Reference Points; Self-interest; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Framework; Behavior

October 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Rakesh Khurana

Highlights giving and receiving feedback in an MBA classroom setting. View Details

Keywords: Design; System; Performance Evaluation

Educators

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01 Apr 2022
News

The Harvard Business School New Venture Competition Turns 25: Celebrating a Quarter Century of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

example by giving rewards for both individual and team performance. Without direct oversight, “Relationships can all too readily slide into cutthroat competition or totally collusive bonding. Either extreme... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

05 Apr 2022
Blog Post

The HBS New Venture Competition Turns 25: Celebrating A Quarter Century of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

For the last 25 years, the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition (NVC) has provided a forum for founders trying to tackle some of the world’s most challenging business problems. Student and alumni founders refine their ideas... View Details

September 2024
Article

Sales Coaching and Value Creation

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Despite the prevalence of “coachability” in firms’ stated hiring criteria, managers over-estimate the amount of time they actually devote to coaching their people. For example, research indicates that only 15% of sales managers even spend as much as 25% of their time... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Employee Relationship Management; Management Practices and Processes

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

2020
Chapter

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one's own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Networking; Advice; Entrepreneurs; Inventors; Start-up Employees; Venturing; Co-working; Agglomeration; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Social and Collaborative Networks

04 Aug 2014
News

Market Basket Shows the Best and Worst of Family Business

22 Sep 2010
News

Homecoming Day: Private Equity And Venture Veterans Go Back To School

October 2017 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Coaching Makena Lane

By: Ethan Bernstein and Om Lala

Makena Lane has a gift for producing results, even in the challenging retail context of the 2010s, but she also has a knack for “ruffling some feathers” in the process. Recruited to a Fortune 500 grocery and pharmacy retailer after climbing to Associate Principal in... View Details

Educators

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2019
Working Paper

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one’s own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Networking; Advice; Entrepreneurs; Inventors; Start-up Employees; Venturing; Co-working; Agglomeration; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Social and Collaborative Networks

Article

The Conversational Circumplex: Identifying, Prioritizing, and Pursuing Informational and Relational Motives in Conversation

By: Michael Yeomans, Maurice E. Schweitzer and Alison Wood Brooks

The meaning of success in conversation depends on people’s goals. Often, individuals pursue multiple goals simultaneously, such as establishing shared understanding, making a favorable impression, and persuading a conversation partner. In this article, we introduce a... View Details

Keywords: Conversation; Goal Pursuit; Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Goals and Objectives; Framework