Filter Results:
(1,281)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,719)
- People (1)
- News (249)
- Research (1,281)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (756)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,719)
- People (1)
- News (249)
- Research (1,281)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (756)
Sort by
- 06 Mar 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing
- 1980
- Article
Consumer Impulse Purchase and Credit Card Usage: An Empirical Examination Using the Log Linear Model
By: Rohit Deshpandé and S. Krishnan
Most of the work in impulse purchase behavior has investigated the association of socioeconomic variables and unplanned purchases with equivocal results. This paper examines the interrelationship between impulse purchases, credit card usage, cost of items bought, and... View Details
- July 2015
- Article
A Behavioral Model of the Popularity and Regulation of Demandable Liabilities
By: Julio J. Rotemberg
Overoptimism regarding one's ability to arrive early in a queue is shown to rationalize deposit contracts in which people can withdraw their funds on demand even if consumption takes place later. Capitalized institutions serving overoptimistic depositors emerge in... View Details
Rotemberg, Julio J. "A Behavioral Model of the Popularity and Regulation of Demandable Liabilities." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 7, no. 3 (July 2015): 123–152.
- Article
Payment Depreciation: The Behavioral Effects of Temporally Separating Payments from Consumption
By: J. T. Gourville and Dilip Soman
Gourville, J. T., and Dilip Soman. "Payment Depreciation: The Behavioral Effects of Temporally Separating Payments from Consumption." Journal of Consumer Research 25, no. 2 (September 1998): 160–174.
- Article
Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance
By: George Loewenstein, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List and Kevin G. Volpp
We report results from two surveys of representative samples of Americans with private health insurance. The first examines how well Americans understand, and believe they understand, traditional health insurance coverage. The second examines whether those insured... View Details
Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Simplification; Insurance; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Cognition and Thinking; Insurance Industry; Health Industry; United States
Loewenstein, George, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List, and Kevin G. Volpp. "Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance." Journal of Health Economics 32, no. 5 (September 2013): 850–862.
- June, 2021
- Article
Learning from Deregulation: The Asymmetric Impact of Lockdown and Reopening on Risky Behavior During COVID-19
By: Edward L. Glaeser, Ginger Zhe Jin, Benjamin T. Leyden and Michael Luca
During the COVID-19 pandemic, states issued and then rescinded stay-at-home orders that restricted mobility. We develop a model of learning by deregulation, which predicts that lifting stay-at-home orders can signal that going out has become safer. Using restaurant... View Details
Keywords: COVID-19; Lockdown; Reopening; Impact; Coronavirus; Public Health Measures; Mobility; Health Pandemics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior
Glaeser, Edward L., Ginger Zhe Jin, Benjamin T. Leyden, and Michael Luca. "Learning from Deregulation: The Asymmetric Impact of Lockdown and Reopening on Risky Behavior During COVID-19." Journal of Regional Science 61, no. 4 (June, 2021): 696–709.
- 18 Feb 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
A Behavioral Model of Demandable Deposits and Its Implications for Financial Regulation
- Teaching Interest
Overview
The Business of Aesthetics is a new course for second-year students who are considering careers in sectors and companies whose long-term financial value is built on their ability to deliver aesthetic value. Such companies are rewarded not only for eliciting a high... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
A Behavioral Model of Demandable Deposits and Its Implications for Financial Regulation
By: Julio J. Rotemberg
A model is developed that rationalizes contracts that give depositors the right to obtain funds on demand even when depositors intend to use these funds for consumption in the future. This is explained by depositor overoptimism regarding their own ability to collect... View Details
Keywords: Banks and Banking; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Consumer Behavior; Financial Services Industry
Rotemberg, Julio J. "A Behavioral Model of Demandable Deposits and Its Implications for Financial Regulation." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 16620, December 2010.
- November 2016 (Revised March 2018)
- Background Note
Note on the Impact of Millennials on the Food System
By: José B. Alvarez, James Weber and Natalie Kindred
In 2016, the millennial generation (those age 19 to 35 in 2016), the largest generation by population in the U.S., was entering its prime home buying, family forming, earning and spending years. This generation was showing different beliefs and behaviors than previous... View Details
Keywords: Millennials; Consumer Packaged Goods; Food; Age; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Demographics; Values and Beliefs; Consumer Products Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
Alvarez, José B., James Weber, and Natalie Kindred. "Note on the Impact of Millennials on the Food System." Harvard Business School Background Note 517-064, November 2016. (Revised March 2018.)
- Article
Social Recycling Transforms Unwanted Goods into Happiness
By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Rebecca Walker Reczek and Michael I. Norton
Consumers are often surrounded by resources that once offered meaning or happiness but that have lost this subjective value over time—even as they retain their objective utility. We explore the potential for social recycling—disposing of used goods by allowing other... View Details
Keywords: Disposition; Well-being; Prosocial Behavior; Pro-environmental Behavior; Happiness; Behavior; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Environmental Sustainability
Donnelly, Grant Edward, Cait Lamberton, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Michael I. Norton. "Social Recycling Transforms Unwanted Goods into Happiness." Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 2, no. 1 (January 2017): 48–63.
- November 2014 (Revised January 2017)
- Case
Micromax: Scaling the Largest Indian Mobile Handset Company
By: Ranjay Gulati, Rachna Tahilyani and Alicia DeSantola
It is January 2014 and Rahul Sharma, cofounder of Micromax Informatics (Micromax), the largest Indian mobile handset company, is preparing for an emergency conference call with his private equity investors. In the last six years, Micromax had grown its annual product... View Details
Keywords: Mobile; Scaling; Indian Software Development; Consumer Behavior; Management Turnover; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Management; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; India
Gulati, Ranjay, Rachna Tahilyani, and Alicia DeSantola. "Micromax: Scaling the Largest Indian Mobile Handset Company." Harvard Business School Case 415-034, November 2014. (Revised January 2017.)
- Research Summary
Overview
By: John Beshears
In his research, Professor Beshears shows how managers can influence the behavior of customers and employees by changing the decision-making environment to call attention to a decision, to use psychological framing to shape assessments of options, or to help... View Details
- 2022
- Working Paper
Buy Now, Pay Later Credit: User Characteristics and Effects on Spending Patterns
By: Marco Di Maggio, Justin Katz and Emily Williams
Firms offering "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) point-of-sale installment loans with minimal underwriting and low interest have captured a growing fraction of the market for short-term unsecured consumer credit. We provide a detailed look into the US BNPL market by... View Details
- April 2025
- Article
Serving with a Smile on Airbnb: Analyzing the Economic Returns and Behavioral Underpinnings of the Host’s Smile
By: Shunyuan Zhang, Elizabeth Friedman, Kannan Srinivasan, Ravi Dhar and Xupin Zhang
Non-informational cues, such as facial expressions, can significantly influence judgments and interpersonal impressions. While past research has explored how smiling affects business outcomes in offline or in-store contexts, relatively less is known about how smiling... View Details
Keywords: Sharing Economy; Airbnb; Image Feature Extraction; Machine Learning; Facial Expressions; Prejudice and Bias; Nonverbal Communication; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Perception
Zhang, Shunyuan, Elizabeth Friedman, Kannan Srinivasan, Ravi Dhar, and Xupin Zhang. "Serving with a Smile on Airbnb: Analyzing the Economic Returns and Behavioral Underpinnings of the Host’s Smile." Journal of Consumer Research 51, no. 6 (April 2025): 1073–1097.
- July 2020
- Case
Kathy Fish at Procter & Gamble: Navigating Industry Disruption by Disrupting from Within
When Kathy Fish, Procter & Gamble’s Chief Research, Development & Innovation Officer, and a 40-year company veteran, stepped into her role in 2014, she was concerned that the world’s leading consumer packaged goods company had lost its capability to produce a steady... View Details
Keywords: Female Protagonist; Organizational Change; Organizational Behavior; Culture Change; Digital; Innovation; Lean Startup; Experimentation; Metrics; Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG); Leadership; Leading Change; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruption; Innovation and Invention; Digital Transformation
Truelove, Emily, Linda A. Hill, and Emily Tedards. "Kathy Fish at Procter & Gamble: Navigating Industry Disruption by Disrupting from Within." Harvard Business School Case 421-012, July 2020.
- December 2009
- Case
TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong
Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by... View Details
Keywords: Market Research; Consumer Marketing; Brands; Food; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry
Rangan, V. Kasturi, and Sunru Yong. "TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction." Harvard Business School Brief Case 094-065, December 2009.
- May–June 2023
- Article
Need for Speed: The Impact of In-Process Delays on Customer Behavior in Online Retail
By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno
The impact of delays has been widely studied in various offline services. The focus of this study is online services, and we explore the impact of in-process delays—measured by website speed—on customer behavior. We leverage novel retail and website speed data to... View Details
Keywords: Online Retail; Quasi-experiments; Abandonment; Synthetic Control; E-commerce; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Policy; Retail Industry
Gallino, Santiago, Nil Karacaoglu, and Antonio Moreno. "Need for Speed: The Impact of In-Process Delays on Customer Behavior in Online Retail." Operations Research 71, no. 3 (May–June 2023): 876–894.
- August 2016 (Revised July 2017)
- Background Note
Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture
By: Jill Avery
While companies choose to brand their products and services in many different ways, there are some central tenets that help define an optimal brand portfolio and associated brand architecture. Brand portfolio strategy involves the design, deployment, and management of... View Details
Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Portfolio; Brand Extension; Brand Portfolio Strategy; Brand Architecture; Consumer Behavior; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy
Avery, Jill. "Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture." Harvard Business School Background Note 517-021, August 2016. (Revised July 2017.)
- April 2011
- Case
Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!"
By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke
Porcini's Inc. operates a chain of 23 full-service restaurants located near shopping malls and downtown areas in the northeastern United States. Known for providing excellent service, Porcini's serves high-quality Italian cuisine made from fresh ingredients. Looking... View Details
Keywords: Franchising; Syndication; Quantitative Analysis; Performance Measurement; Human Resource Management; Incentives; Motivation; Consumer Behavior; Measurement and Metrics; Quality; Customer Value and Value Chain; Selection and Staffing; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Franchise Ownership; Customer Focus and Relationships; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Northeastern United States
Heskett, James L., and Richard Luecke. Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!". Harvard Business School Brief Case 114-277, April 2011.