Publications

1995
Article

The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning

By: R. Conti, T. M. Amabile and S. Pollack

This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Behavior; Performance; Motivation and Incentives; Training

September 2020
Article

How Multimedia Shape Crowdfunding Outcomes: The Overshadowing Effect of Images and Videos on Text in Campaign Information

By: J Yang, Y Li, Goran Calic and Anton Shevchenko

This study aims to explore the moderating effect of the number of images and videos on the relationship between text length in crowdfunding campaign descriptions and crowdfunding outcomes. We use data from 13,622 technology campaigns on the Kickstarter website to test... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Media; Cognition and Thinking; Performance Effectiveness; Entrepreneurial Finance

June 2021
Case

uBiome

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Olivia Graham

uBiome provided clinical tests that sequenced the DNA of human microbiome samples, providing data on health conditions directly to consumers or to prescribing physicians. Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based startup raised $105 million from top-tier venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Educators

October 2015
Article

After the Arab Spring: Are Secular Parties the Answer?

By: Mieczysław Boduszyński, Kristin Fabbe and Christopher Lamont

After the "Arab Spring" and the initial democratic reforms in Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), why has democratic progress remained so elusive in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? In recent years, that question has preoccupied numerous... View Details

Keywords: Religion; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; North Africa; Egypt; Middle East; Turkey

2014
Working Paper

Bio-Piracy or Prospering Together? Fuzzy Set and Qualitative Analysis of Herbal Patenting by Firms

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

Since the 1990s, several Western firms have filed patents based on medicinal herbs from emerging markets, evoking protests from local stakeholders against 'bio-piracy'. We explore conditions under which firms and local stakeholders share rents from such patents. Our... View Details

Keywords: Rents From New Technology; Local Stakeholders; Herbal Patents; QCA; Fuzzy Set Analysis; Qualitative Case Studies; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Patents; Emerging Markets; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

September–October 2013
Article

Discretion Within Constraint: Homophily and Structure in a Formal Organization

By: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart and Michael Tushman

Homophily in social relations results from both individual preferences and selective opportunities for interaction, but how these two mechanisms interact in large, contemporary organizations is not well understood. We argue that organizational structures and geography... View Details

Keywords: Familiarity; Interpersonal Communication; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Information Technology Industry

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Virginia Mason Medical Center (VM) hired Owens & Minor (O&M) as its alpha vendor for medical/surgical supplies in 2004. By 2005, O&M was performing Just-in-Time and Low Unit of Measure services for VM, but they believed the pricing model in the industry was outdated.... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Price; Distribution; Supply Chain Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Educators

2008
Working Paper

Positions of Power and Status: Reciprocity in the Venture Capital Industry

By: Mikolaj J. Piskorski

This paper proposes a straightforward way of differentiating between central network positions that confer power and those that confer status. I argue that actors achieve high status by receiving numerous exchanges from actors who in turn receive numerous exchanges... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Status and Position; Financial Services Industry; United States

Article

Small Worlds and Regional Innovation

Small-world networks have attracted much theoretical attention and are widely thought to enhance creativity. Yet empirical studies of their evolution and evidence of their benefits remain scarce. We develop and exploit a novel database on patent coauthorship to... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Patents; Performance Productivity; Creativity; Social and Collaborative Networks

02 Oct 2013
HBS Seminar

Laura Gee, Tufts University

A Neurocomputational Model of Altruism and Its Implications

In this paper, we propose a neurocomputational model of altruistic choice and test it using behavioral and fMRI data from a task in which subjects make choices between real monetary prizes for themselves and another. Our model captures key patterns of choice,... View Details

Web

Introduction – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

and Relay Assembly Test Room Enter Elton Mayo Human Relations and Harvard Business School Women in the Relay Assembly Test Room The Interview Process Spreading the Word The "Hawthorne Effect" Research Links... View Details

01 Dec 2023
Blog Post

8 FAQs on the MBA Application

is useful as you finalize your applications in the next few weeks! We also encourage you to check out the FAQs webpage and our Pep Talk video series. Top 5 Questions We Get from Applicants 1. Does HBS have a preference between the GMAT and GRE? We do not have a... View Details

December 2016 (Revised December 2018)
Case

From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem

By: Elie Ofek and Margot Eiran

In June 2016, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, wrestled with how to sustain Israel’s strong innovation track record and the country’s reputation as the “startup nation.” Despite the economic miracle the country had wrought since its founding, he... View Details

Educators

Web

Class Profile - Doctoral

students in our doctoral programs have strong quantitative and analytical skills, as demonstrated by their records of academic performance and test scores. 7 PHD Programs 852 Applicants, 2024 4 % Admit rate, 2024 120 Students enrolled 53... View Details

16 May 2023
HBS Case

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

road.” When KKR bought CHI Overhead Doors in 2015, it offered a test case for an idea Stavros had been toying with since he was a student at HBS. He made every employee an owner, promising each a payout of at least $15,000 if the company... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

August 2020
Article

Workplace Knowledge Flows

By: Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert and Christopher Stanton

We conducted a field experiment in a sales firm to test whether improving knowledge flows between coworkers affects productivity. Our design allows us to compare different management practices and to isolate whether frictions to knowledge transmission primarily reside... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Interpersonal Communication; Employees; Performance Productivity; Sales; Motivation and Incentives

Article

(Too) Optimistic about Optimism: The Belief that Optimism Improves Performance.

By: Elizabeth R. Tenney, Jennifer M. Logg and Don A Moore

A series of experiments investigated why people value optimism and whether they are right to do so. In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants prescribed more optimism for someone implementing decisions than for someone deliberating, indicating that people prescribe... View Details

Keywords: Optimism; Bias; Accuracy; Decision Phase; Performance; Attitudes; Performance Improvement; Perception; Outcome or Result

April 2012
Article

Emotion-induced Engagement in Internet Video Ads

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

This study shows how advertisers can leverage emotion and attention to engage consumers in watching Internet video ads. In a controlled experiment, joy and surprise were assessed through automated facial expression detection for a sample of ads. Concentration of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Online Advertising; Emotions