Risk Attitudes - Publications - Faculty & Research

October 2012
Article

The Preference for Potential

By: Zakary L. Tormala, Jayson Jia and Michael I. Norton

When people seek to impress others, they often do so by highlighting individual achievements. Despite the intuitive appeal of this strategy, we demonstrate that people often prefer potential rather than achievement when evaluating others. Indeed, compared with... View Details

Keywords: Preferences; Persuasion; Uncertainty; Risk and Uncertainty; Performance Expectations; Attitudes

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03 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Ominous Background Music Is Bad for Sharks

one-quarter of the world’s chrondrichthyan species are threatened due to overfishing, according to the 2014 study Extinction Risk and Conservation of the World’s Sharks and Rays. “By highlighting that ominous background music is... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Media & Broadcasting

February 1992 (Revised September 2003)
Supplement

Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation (A-2)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Bronwyn Halliday and Michael Santoro

Beech-Nut's CEO must decide what to do. Asks students to consider how much evidence of impurity should be enough to trigger management's acknowledgment of a problem. What are the cognitive and attitudinal factors and pressures that lead people to persist in beliefs... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Risk Management; Attitudes; Nutrition; Cognition and Thinking; Food and Beverage Industry

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01 Jun 2008
News

Faculty Research Online

HBS Working Knowledge is an online forum for innovation in business practice, offering a first look at new thinking from HBS faculty. Read the complete articles summarized below by visiting their Web links. Reducing Risk with Online... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

17 Nov 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Are Optimists or Pessimists Better Leaders?

office or leading the family are less likely to foster a culture of growth, risk taking, and wealth creation. According to Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London, optimists prefer to think about how they and others can... View Details

01 Dec 2001
News

BOOK: You Can't Enlarge the Pie

argument," the authors emphasize, "is that large gains can often only be achieved when citizens learn to accept small losses in return." Standing in the way of this, however, are what the authors identify as six leading examples of muddled reasoning: "Do no harm" (in... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

30 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Preparing to Sell

well, the family has a higher risk of losing its wealth through bad investment decisions and overconsumption. Starting now, before your sale and liquidity event, you need to adopt the attitudes of those... View Details

Keywords: by Jonathan Pellegrin; Food & Beverage; Retail

15 Apr 2011
News

Students Hear Wall St. Critics

cited the FCIC’s January report that found failures in financial regulations and enforcement, corporate governance, risk management, and accountability and ethics at all levels. Overarching this, Angelides said, is a climate in which “too... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance

18 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

New Hires Lose Psychological Safety After Year One. How to Fix It.

“Delivering patient care is one of those situations where timely speaking up can be a matter of life and death, or frequently a matter of high- or low-quality care.” “Psychological safety describes a belief that the work environment is safe for interpersonal View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

Refugees' Attitudes Towards Compromise and Civil War Termination By: Fabbe, Kristin, Chad Hazlett, and Tolga Sınmazdemir Abstract— Civilians who have fled violent conflict and settled in neighboring countries are integral to processes of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

26 May 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Market Research in a Recession

product categories, or stores. Some are even changing long-held attitudes toward consumption. To many folks, filling the home with more stuff or keeping up with the Joneses is no longer appealing. As a result, the degree of uncertainty in... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

07 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

Even for Non-Believers, These Are the Next Steps on Climate Change

We can’t know what will happen, but we have a good sense for what might or could happen. Don’t wait for the one moment of indisputable truth to emerge; act on the odds presented in the information available today in sea rise curves, flood maps, and View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber

23 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

New Challenges for Long-Term Investors

individual's portfolio to his or her age (young investors should take more risk with stocks) and attitudes toward risk (conservative investors should hold more cash). Research... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

13 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Entrepreneurs Needed for Long-Run Success

risk-taking, resourceful attitude of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are good at identifying commercial opportunities and getting new products and services off the ground, even when they don't control the people and resources needed to do... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts

Web

Visionary, Innovator, Educator - Georges F. Doriot : Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

new and adventurous attitude on the part of the business community." 67 In 1987, Doriot died at the age of 87. From an era of conservative investment and large corporations, the patient visionary and calculated View Details

24 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 24, 2009

issues regarding divergent views amongst the partners, building a brand in a very competitive marketplace, and the stability of the core team. Finally, the firm has been presented with an opportunity to join two other firms in a three-way merger and the partners are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Oct 2008
What Do You Think?

Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?

attitudes toward these matters may help explain the reasoned responses to this month's questions, responses surprisingly devoid of emotion. Granted, the emphasis of the column was on how the Government should act, not whether. But... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

06 Dec 2021
News

Vision: Sound Science

at HBS.” Simons saw entrepreneurship as “the best path to translate breakthrough research into something that can help people.” He launched Akouos (Greek, for “to listen”) with a realistic attitude about View Details

Keywords: Deb Blagg

11 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 11, 2018

designing service interactions so that citizens can see the often-hidden work that government performs. Across three studies, we find that revealing the “submerged state” through operational transparency impacts citizens’ attitudes and... View Details