Publications

Educators

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

What Your Non-Binary Employees Need to Do Their Best Work

When Katherine Coffman presents her research findings about how gender stereotypes shape the behavior of men and women in the workplace, she is often asked: What about non-binary individuals? “People understandably keep asking, ‘What... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 1994 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Jensen Shoes: Lyndon Brooks' Story

Jane Kravitz (Caucasian female), strategic product manager, and Lyndon Brooks (African American male), a member of her staff at Jensen Shoes, a successful producer and marketer of casual, athletic, and children's footwear, are assigned to new positions and to each... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Ethnicity; Race Characteristics; Performance Evaluation; Gender Characteristics; Management Skills; Diversity; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Educators

December 4, 2023
Article

Stop Assuming Introverts Aren't Passionate About Work

By: Kai Krautter, Anabel Büchner and Jon M. Jachimowicz

Society often assumes that the only way to be passionate is to act extroverted, but that is simply not true. In their new research, the authors found that regardless of their actual level of passion, extroverted employees are perceived as more passionate than... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Personality; Extraversion; Scale Development; Personal Characteristics; Perception; Employees; Prejudice and Bias

2023
Working Paper

Insufficiently Justified Disparate Impact: A New Criterion for Subgroup Fairness

By: Neil Menghani, Edward McFowland III and Daniel B. Neill

In this paper, we develop a new criterion, "insufficiently justified disparate impact" (IJDI), for assessing whether recommendations (binarized predictions) made by an algorithmic decision support tool are fair. Our novel, utility-based IJDI criterion evaluates false... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Forecasting and Prediction; Prejudice and Bias

Forthcoming
Chapter

Racism, Causal Explanations, and Affirmative Action

By: Theresa K. Vescio, Amy Cuddy, Faye Crosby and Kevin Weaver

BOOK ABSTRACT: In recent decades, research in political psychology has illuminated the psychological processes underlying important political action, both by ordinary citizens and by political leaders. As the world has become increasingly engaged in thinking about... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Race; Complexity

Web

Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

and unfunded firms. Because randomization of the sample was not feasible, we address endogeneity around selection bias using a sample of qualitatively similar firms based on a funding decision score. This allows us to observe the local... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

Thinking Ahead

As we wind down 2023, there’s talk everywhere of generative AI and how it will fundamentally alter the world as we know it; but how does that translate for your corner of the business world? Is TikTok something you need to take seriously? (Is it time to dance?) We... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Illustrations by Chris Gash; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

2020
Working Paper

(When) Does Appearance Matter? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Christos A. Makridis and Subhradip Sarker

While there is evidence about labor market discrimination based on race, religion, and gender, we know little about whether physical appearance leads to discrimination in labor market outcomes. We deploy a randomized experiment on 1,000 respondents in India between... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Coronavirus; Discrimination; Homophily; Labor Market Mobility; Limited Attention; Resumes; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias

January 2025
Article

Reducing Prejudice with Counter-stereotypical AI

By: Erik Hermann, Julian De Freitas and Stefano Puntoni

Based on a review of relevant literature, we propose that the proliferation of AI with human-like and social features presents an unprecedented opportunity to address the underlying cognitive and affective drivers of prejudice. An approach informed by the psychology of... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; AI and Machine Learning; Interpersonal Communication; Social and Collaborative Networks

03 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Confronting Racism in AI 'Creates a Better Future for All of Us'

eyes with white as its color. It was just one of the many moments that gripped the audience of doctoral students. And so much so that BiGS is planning a conference where Turner and his lab mates will present research that examines the... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis

Web

Financial Accounting Online Course | HBS Online

principles and recognize the impact of judgment and bias on financial statements and accounting practices. Highlights Deferrals Inventory Mahindra: Loan Process Show Hide Details Concepts Accruals and Deferrals Inventory Long-Lived Assets... View Details

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

teams were allowed 10 minutes to talk and get to know one another before they were presented with the task—a simple way to develop affective trust—while the other half weren't. Once again, the researchers found links between cultural... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

26 Apr 2022
Book

What Does Your Business Stand For? Why Building Trust Starts with Purpose

he also took action, closing all Starbucks stores to provide training to employees on racial bias and inclusion. Looking back, Johnson says that moment in Philadelphia gave him the opportunity to reaffirm the company’s sense of purpose.... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

Article

Gender Bias, Social Impact Framing, and Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Matthew Lee and Laura Huang

Recent studies find that female-led ventures are penalized relative to male-led ventures due to role incongruity, or a perceived “lack of fit,” between female stereotypes and expected personal qualities of business entrepreneurs. We examine whether social impact... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Framework; Perception; Performance Evaluation

Find at Harvard

13 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 13, 2009

that as the same customers gain more experience with online DVD rentals, the extent to which they hold should films longer than want films decreases. Our results suggest that present bias has a meaningful... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

The Dark Side of Fintech Borrowing

they need it most, such as after a job loss, research suggests. That presents a quandary for policymakers, Di Maggio says. Fintech companies bundle loans and sell them to other investors, much like the real estate loans that helped propel... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services; Banking

2022
Working Paper

Politics at Work

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Valdemar Pinho Neto and Edoardo Teso

We study how individual political views shape firm behavior and labor market outcomes. Using new micro-data on the political affiliation of business owners and private-sector workers in Brazil over the 2002–2019 period, we first document the presence of political... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Employees; Prejudice and Bias; Brazil

2014
Working Paper

Multinational Firms, Labor Market Discrimination, and the Capture of Competitive Advantage by Exploiting the Social Divide

By: Jordan I. Siegel, Lynn Pyun and B.Y. Cheon

The organizational theory of the multinational firm holds that foreignness is a liability, and specifically that lack of embeddedness in host-country social networks is a source of competitive disadvantage; meanwhile the literature on labor market discrimination... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Human Capital; Selection and Staffing; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Markets; Profit; Gender; South Korea

SSRN