Publications

SSRN

2010
Working Paper

Will I Stay or Will I Go?: Cooperative and Competitive Effects of Workgroup Sex and Race Composition on Turnover

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Katherine L Milkman

We develop an integrated theory of the social identity mechanisms linking workgroup sex and race composition across levels with individual turnover. Building on social identity research, we theorize that social cohesion (Tyler, 1999; Hogg and Terry, 2000) and social... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Ethnicity; Race; Groups and Teams; Identity; Resignation and Termination; Gender; Cooperation

February 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

SEWA Trade Facilitation Center: Changing the Spool

By: Mukti Khaire and Kathleen L. McGinn

The case is about the decision to convert a not-for-profit organization into a for-profit company. SEWA Trade Facilitation Center (STFC), which is part of a larger non-profit organization—the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)—works to improve the livelihoods of... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; For-Profit Firms; Gender; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Arts; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; India

Educators

May 2006
Article

Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

We designed a commitment savings product for a Philippine bank and implemented it using a randomized control methodology. The savings product was intended for individuals who want to commit now to restrict access to their savings, and who were sophisticated enough to... View Details

Keywords: Information; Product; Philippines

Find at Harvard

2025
Chapter

Marjorie Yang Mun Tak 楊梅德：Entrepreneur and Innovator

By: William C. Kirby

BOOK ABSTRACT:
Chinese Encounters with America tells the stories of twelve women and men whose American experiences transformed their lives and influenced China’s trajectory, with a particular focus on the period after Beijing and Washington established... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Leadership; China

Find at Harvard

December 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent

By: Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart

Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details

Educators

Website

Creating Emerging Markets

By: Geoffrey Jones

Harvard Business School has an on-going program to conduct in-depth interviews with top business leaders who have created and managed businesses in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America over the last four decades. These interviews, many lasting several... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Emerging Market

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

03 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Corporate Social Responsibility in a Downturn

Is the economic downturn affecting the willingness and readiness of companies to look at the economic, social, and environmental impact of their business practices? Or is this a perfect time to reassess current programs and adapt them to changing—and in many cases... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Article

Counterfactual Explanations Can Be Manipulated

By: Dylan Slack, Sophie Hilgard, Himabindu Lakkaraju and Sameer Singh

Counterfactual explanations are useful for both generating recourse and auditing fairness between groups. We seek to understand whether adversaries can manipulate counterfactual explanations in an algorithmic recourse setting: if counterfactual explanations indicate... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning Models; Counterfactual Explanations

2019
Working Paper

Does Public Ownership and Accountability Increase Diversity? Evidence from IPOs

By: Rembrand Koning and John-Paul Ferguson

Does public ownership improve employment diversity? Organizational researchers theorize that increased transparency to regulators and the public should lead firms to conform to legal and social norms—but that social closure and decoupling should preserve the status... View Details

Keywords: IPO; Initial Public Offering; Employees; Diversity; Gender; Race; Entrepreneurship; United States

2016
Working Paper

Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense Against the 24/7 Work Culture

By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid

It is widely accepted that the conflict women experience between family obligations and professional jobs’ long hours lies at the heart of their stalled advancement. Yet research suggests that this “work-family narrative” is partial at best: men, too, experience... View Details

Keywords: 24/7 Work Culture; Hegemonic Narrative; Social Defense; Work-family Conflict; Systems Psychodynamic Theory; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Organizational Culture

Web

Organizational Behavior - Faculty & Research

When Organizations Are in Crisis, It's Usually Because the Business is Broken. By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague More Information We blame women for not taking the lead in the workplace. Here's why that's wrong. By: Robin Ely View Details

Web

Illumination Studies and Relay Assembly Test Room – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

were of particular interest to the company. Women in the Relay Assembly Test Room, ca. 1930 In a separate test room, an operator prepared parts for five women to assemble. The View Details

20 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 20, 2008

Working PapersGender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game Authors:Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen L. McGinn Abstract We propose a two-level-game (Putnam, 1988) perspective on gender in job negotiations. At Level 1, candidates negotiate with the employers. At Level... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2014
Working Paper

Contraceptive Access and Fertility: The Impact of Supply-Side Interventions

By: Nava Ashraf, Erica Field and Jessica Leight

Declining fertility in both the developed and developing world has led to large and potentially welfare-enhancing changes in women's labor supply, education and investment in children in recent decades. However, it has been widely noted that the pace of this decline... View Details

Keywords: Fertility; Contraceptive Access; Zambia

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 Baker Library | Historical... View Details

01 May 2024
What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

organization performance, then on to China trade policies (2012), the importance of immigration (beginning in 2003), women in leadership (2013), the need for an AI czar (2019), and remote work and organizational culture (2020). “I’m... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2017
Article

New Venture Milestones and the First Female Board Member

By: Alicia DeSantola, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Julie Battilana

We explore the antecedents of the addition of the first woman to the boards of directors of entrepreneurial ventures. Building on research on resource dependency, we propose that new ventures are most likely to add the first woman to their boards at three developmental... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Diversity; Technology Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2007
Chapter

Disrupting Gender, Revising Leadership

By: D. E. Meyerson, R. Ely and Laura Wernick

In this chapter, we present a case study of men on two off-shore oil platforms—a workplace that has traditionally rewarded men for their masculine displays of bravado and their interactions centered on proving masculinity—in which such displays and interactions were... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Safety; Leadership; Interpersonal Communication; Practice; Gender; Business Processes; Energy Industry