Learning By Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Share Their DEI Data (Even When It’s Unflattering)

workforce is, says a recent paper by Harvard Business School researchers. Even when a company’s numbers aren’t ideal, their transparency sends the message that they’re trying to change, the HBS authors write. “There’s definitely a... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

the assistance of ChatGPT) Throughout 2023, we dedicated considerable effort to assessing whether the recent strides in generative AI were mere fads or indicative of a transformative future. This period was marked by extensive... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

09 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

How Tennis, Golf, and White Anxiety Block Racial Integration

results raise an uncomfortable question: Are the self-segregating behaviors exhibited by many White Americans the result of conscious or unconscious racist thoughts? “To me, that’s a less important question,” says Jachimowicz. “I View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

of value to the US economy each year, the researchers estimate. Sources: US Patent and Trademark Office; “(Live) and Work from Anywhere: Geographic Flexibility and Productivity Effects at the United States Patent Office” by Prithwiraj... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

25 May 2021
Research & Ideas

White Airbnb Hosts Earn More. Can AI Shrink the Racial Gap?

Airbnb began offering a free tool to help all hosts set reasonable rates. The real-time, “smart pricing” program uses machine learning to automatically adjust the property’s nightly fees by considering a... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Technology; Accommodations

05 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Hormones Foretell Whether People Will Cheat

and maintenance of unethical behaviors." It probably doesn't help that many businesses try to thwart potential fraud by threatening employees with severe consequences—increasing stress and thus elevating cortisol. "If you View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

03 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

safeguard remote workers’ rights. In Portugal, new legislation protects remote workers by prohibiting employers from contacting employees after hours or remotely monitoring their work. Choudhury thinks this... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

23 Jan 2024
Book

More Than Memes: NFTs Could Be the Next Gen Deed for a Digital World

like any other. By contrast, each NFT is unique, just like in a litter of puppies. This makes them non-fungible—you generally wouldn’t trade your puppy for another one! (The word token in context basically just means a digital object that... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Information Technology; Technology; Financial Services

21 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

People Trust Business, But Expect CEOs to Drive Social Change

Public trust in business remains relatively unshaken amid economic turbulence and a lingering pandemic, even as faith in the media and government falters, but leaders could do more to address social issues, a new global opinion survey shows. However, not everyone... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

30 May 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

Entrepreneurship’s Wild Ride

slightly different approach to research in this area by deciding that entrepreneurship should not be what we study, but rather, the entrepreneurial firm should be where we study. Q: What have been the main findings of the inquiry that has... View Details

Keywords: by William Mahoney

03 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

The Power of Rituals in Life, Death, and Business

Sake Of Science To find out whether it was possible to assuage grief by performing seemingly meaningless rituals designed by someone else, Norton and Gino conducted a laboratory study in which they induced... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

21 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Did Pandemic Stimulus Funds Spur the Rise of 'Meme Stocks'?

jumped after the first two stimulus payments hit in April 2020 and January 2021, driven by retail investor buying, says research by Harvard Business School Professor Robin Greenwood. "We've been through this... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

02 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

Blissful Thinking: When It Comes to Finding Happiness, 'Your Dreams Are Liars'

and a former professional French-horn player, Brooks came to the subject of happiness by way of art. His early research focused on why people produce and consume art and beauty as well as the motives behind human generosity. He discovered... View Details

Keywords: by Dan Morrell

27 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Voting Democrat or Republican? The Critical Childhood Influence That's Tough to Shake

American political candidates are forecast to spend as much as $12 billion by next November to put ads on airwaves, texts on phones, and signs on lawns. Yet new research from Harvard Business School finds that no amount of money can undo... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

04 Mar 2024
What Do You Think?

Do People Want to Work Anymore?

Cottringer said, “The two best questions I was ever asked were (a) Do you think people are born good, bad, or neutral and (b) What is the most important thing you learned from one of your worst failures?”... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

C3.ai—Driven to Succeed

By: Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

CEO Tom Siebel navigates his artificial intelligence (ai) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading platform ad service provider. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

30 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Market Makers Bid for Success

really learn how to think, and at a P&Gamp, you learn classical branding and positioning and market attack plans. You get the experience, then you take it to the high-tech world. I View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Web Services; Technology

24 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Passion at Work Is a Good Thing—But Only If Bosses Know How to Manage It

employees’ passion.” This may include learning what employees themselves are more and less passionate about, and to create a psychologically safe environment where potential difficulties are welcomed conversation topics. Design for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together

bonding activity—regular rituals like doing the Walmart Cheer or firing a Nerf toy gun to conclude a project—led to a 16 percent increase in how meaningful employees judged their work to be, according to research by Harvard Business... View Details