Publications

2011
Article

A Choice Prediction Competition for Social Preferences in Simple Extensive Form Games: An Introduction

By: Eyal Ert, Ido Erev and Alvin E. Roth

Two independent, but related, choice prediction competitions are organized that focus on behavior in simple two-person extensive form games: one focuses on predicting the choices of the first mover and the other on predicting the choices of the second mover. The... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Game Theory; Fairness

12 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing: A Practical Guide

organizations and in the supply chain. In the book, we identify three reasons for perverse incentive misalignment: Incentives exist to induce specific behavior. Managers who design incentives often are not entirely clear on the behavior... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Retail; Auto

September – October 2011
Article

Manage the Culture Cycle

By: James L. Heskett

Organizational culture—the shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that determine "how we do things around here"—can be measured and shaped. In organizations with large numbers of customer-facing employees, it can account for up to half of the difference in operating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Value; Behavior; Retention; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Learning; Innovation and Invention; Labor

01 Apr 2024
In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

increase has prompted a shift in purchasing habits, with consumers increasingly opting for store-brand items over name brands, favoring discount stores, and reducing purchases of non-essential items. Such behavior is a direct response to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Consumer Products

Forthcoming
Article

The Anatomy of a Hospital System Merger: The Patient Did Not Respond Well to Treatment

By: Raffaella Sadun, Martin Gaynor, Adam Sacarny, Chad Syverson and Shruthi Venkatesh

Despite the continuing US hospital merger wave, it remains unclear how mergers change, or fail to change, hospital behavior and performance. We open the “black box” of hospital practices through a mega-merger between two for-profit chains. Benchmarking the merger's... View Details

Keywords: Performance Improvement; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Industry

Article

When Hiring CEOs, Focus on Character

By: Aiyesha Dey

The author, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied the ways in which the lifestyle behaviors of CEOs—in particular, materialism and a propensity for rule breaking—may spell trouble for a company. Her research, which includes looking at... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Lifestyle; Risk Management; Recruitment; Ethics

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June 2023
Article

Are You Listening to Me? The Negative Link between Extraversion and Perceived Listening

By: Francis J Flynn, Hanne Collins and Julian Zlatev

Extraverts are often characterized as highly social individuals who are highly invested in their interpersonal interactions. We propose that extraverts' interaction partners hold a different view-that extraverts are highly social, but not highly invested. Across six... View Details

Keywords: Extraversion; Listening; Self-monitoring; Sociability; Interaction; Interpersonal Communication; Perception

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December 1988
Article

Ordinal Independence in Non-Linear Utility Theory

By: Jerry R. Green and Bruno Jullien

Individual behavior under uncertainty is characterized using a new axiom, ordinal independence, which is a weakened form of the von Neumann-Morgcnslern independence axiom. It states that if two distributions share a tail in common, then this tail can be modified... View Details

Keywords: Preferences

April 2014
Article

Awards Unbundled: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

By: Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Scott S. Lee

Organizations often use non-monetary awards to incentivize performance. Awards may affect behavior through several mechanisms: by conferring employer recognition, by enhancing social visibility, and by facilitating social comparison. In a nationwide health worker... View Details

Keywords: Social Comparison; Awards; Optimal Expectactions; Zambia; Status and Position; Performance Expectations; Motivation and Incentives; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Zambia

November 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Tom Cruise

By: Anita Elberse and Peter Stone

In November 2006, Harry Sloan, chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) offers movie star Tom Cruise and his business partner Paula Wagner a chance to run United Artists (UA), a dormant studio within MGM's portfolio. Just over two months earlier, Viacom... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Talent and Talent Management; Film Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Partners and Partnerships; Value Creation; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

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Article

The Contingent Nature of Public Policy and the Growth of U.S. Commercial Banking

By: Christopher Marquis and Zhi Huang

That public policy affects organizational behaviors is well accepted, but less explored is how these effects may depend on other external environmental factors. We investigate how policy is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to understand the growth of... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Commercial Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

June 1998
Article

Reward, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creativity

By: B. A. Hennessey and T. M. Amabile

Comments on R. Eisenberger and J. Cameron's (see record 1996-06440-007) discussion on the impact of reward on creativity. The authors argue that Eisenberger and Cameron overlooked or failed to adequately explain several demonstrations of lower creativity on rewarded... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation

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2018
The Significance of Race Research in the 21st Century

Harvard Business School AASU50 Research Findings

September 2023
Article

A Pull versus Push Framework for Reputation

By: Jillian J. Jordan

Reputation is a powerful driver of human behavior. Reputation systems incentivize 'actors' to take reputation-enhancing actions, and 'evaluators' to reward actors with positive reputations by preferentially cooperating with them. This article proposes a reputation... View Details

Keywords: Reputation; Behavior; Game Theory