Publications

27 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Social Network Marketing: What Works?

When marketers want to reach users of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, or Cyworld, they have two choices: buy advertising or start a viral campaign. New research by Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta suggests that... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising; Publishing; Retail

27 Jun 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Social Norms Versus Social Responsibility: Punishing Transgressions Under Conflicting Obligations

Keywords: by Francesca Gino, Celia Moore & Lamar Pierce

2007
Book

Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector

By: Jane Wei-Skillern, James Austin, Herman Leonard and Howard Stevenson

"Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector provides an excellent overview of the many tools available to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Society

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2012
News

Social Investing Pioneers

the social impact bond, an innovative approach to marrying social purpose with financial returns for investors. Still in the pilot stage in the UK, social impact bonds already... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance

August 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Technical Note

Leading Global Teams: Managing SPLIT to Bridge Social Distance

By: Tsedal Neeley

Keywords: Global Leadership; Global Collaboration; Social Distance; Global Teams; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Organizations; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

2020
Working Paper

Working (From Home) During a Crisis: Online Social Contributions by Workers During the Coronavirus Shock

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Wesley W. Koo and Xina Li

Prior research has documented that during mortality-related crises workers face psychic costs and are motivated to make social contributions. In addition, management practices that encourage workers to make social contributions during a crisis create value for firms.... View Details

Keywords: Crisis; Social Contributions; Work From Home (WFH); Cannot Work From Home (CWFH); Social Distancing; Online Communities; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Employees; Working Conditions; Internet and the Web; Crisis Management

SSRN

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Research Summary

Social Marketing and Cause Marketing

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Rangan is studying the role of marketing in influencing social change by focusing on the adoption of social products and ideas such as family planning, economic development, drug abuse prevention, health care, and recycling. Rangan is attempting to determine how social... View Details

01 Jun 2009
News

Social Enterprise Visionary

John Whitehead Played a Key Role in Developing the HBS Initiative AUSTIN, WHITEHEAD, AND RANGAN: Social enterprise pioneers. In the early 1990s, legendary Wall Street executive and former deputy secretary of state John Whitehead (MBA... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance; Social Assistance

03 Feb 2014

2+2 Information Session: Duke University

This information session is an opportunity for bachelor and master degree students to learn more about the 2+2 application process to the MBA program and ask questions to an Admissions Board Member. The session will take place at 4:30 PM in Social Sciences 119. No... View Details

Inequality in Socially Permissible Consumption

Contributing to the burgeoning discourse on economic inequality, we expose an inequality in what the poor are socially permitted to buy. Across 11 experiments (n = 4,179), we demonstrate that lower-income individuals are held to more... View Details

May 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Background Note

Social Enterprise in Latin America

By: Brian L. Trelstad and Karina Souza

This research note provides an overview of the social enterprise ecosystem in Latin America, exploring current dynamics across key markets, including country-specific insights on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Central America. In a region characterized... View Details

April 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Social Strategy at American Express

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

American Express has developed a number of strategic partnerships with Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to improve their card members experience and lower its customer acquisition cost. The case details the history of these partnerships, examines American Express' own... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Social Marketing; Financial Services Industry

December 2019
Case

Steemit: A New Social Media?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Alexander White and Karen Elterman

This case discusses the alternative social media site Steemit, including the principles it was founded on in 2016 and the challenges it faced in 2019. Steemit was a blockchain-based platform that aimed to differentiate itself from other social media companies by... View Details

November 2009
Article

Neural Mechanisms of Social Influence

By: Malia Mason, Rebecca Dyer and Michael I. Norton

The present investigation explores the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of social influence on preferences. We socially tagged symbols as valued or not-by exposing participants to the preferences of their peers-and assessed subsequent brain activity during an... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence; Value; Information; Outcome or Result