Publications

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Article

Returnable Reciprocity: Returnable Gifts Are More Effective than Unreturnable Gifts at Promoting Virtuous Behaviors

By: J.J. Zlatev and Rogers, T.

Increasing virtuous behaviors, such as initiating healthy habits, is an important goal for policymakers and social scientists. To promote compliance with requests to perform virtuous behaviors, we study “returnable reciprocity.” Whereas traditional reciprocity involves... View Details

Keywords: Nudges; Reciprocity; Want-should Conflicts; Wellness; Health; Behavior; Change; Well-being

September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Cooking Down a Storm: Changing Culture at Pasta Serafina (A)

By: Susanna Gallani, Francesca Gino and Raffaella Sadun

Plant management at Pasta Serafina, a pasta producer in the south of Italy, is struggling to contain employee absenteeism. While the misbehavior is concentrated in a minority of the workers, its effects impact not only the plant’s performance, but also the climate and... View Details

Keywords: Absenteeism; Moral Hazard; Employees; Behavior; Problems and Challenges; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employee Relationship Management; Performance Productivity; Decision Making

Educators

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

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04 Jul 2021
News

As the Pandemic Changes How We Work, Co-working Is Taking off in the Suburbs

Web

Rewiring the Workplace: Behavioral Economics and the Future of Inclusive Organizations - Blog: RGE Report

Race, Gender and Equity at Work Race, Gender and Equity at Work Filter Results Arrow Down Arrow Up Read posts from Author HBS Staff Topics Topics Board Diversity RGE Blog Filters Read posts from Author HBS Staff Topics Topics Board Diversity RGE Blog 14 May 2025... View Details

06 Aug 2021
News

The 3 Phases of Making a Major Life Change

February 2021
Tutorial

What are Agile Teams?

By: Tsedal Neeley

This video explores the elements that constitute agile teams. From its history in the "Agile Manifesto," this philosophy for organizational behavior prioritizes working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and... View Details

Keywords: Agile Practices; Organization Behavior; Priorities; Groups and Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs

March 2015
Supplement

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO Robert van Brugge

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO (and former Global Director of Research) Robert van Brugge answers questions about organizational culture, change management, and collaboration, in this video supplement to the HBS case series "Global Expansion at Sanford C. Bernstein." Sanford... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry

26 Nov 2018
News

New York Alumni Explore Risks and Opportunities in Climate Change

Clubs News Clubs News In partnership with the HBS Business and Environment Initiative (BEI), the HBS Club of New York tackled the issue of climate change from a business perspective in a spirited panel discussion moderated by clean energy... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; clubs; alumni clubs

Web

3 Technologies that Will Change the World - Course Catalog

examines 3 recently developed ‘godlike technologies’ - artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and synthetic biology- that have passed commercial viability and are on-track to change the foundations of business and society by 2035. These... View Details

28 Mar 2019
News

California Alumni Explore Role of Capitalism in Addressing Climate Change

Clubs News Clubs News If capitalism is to blame for climate change, can it also be the best hope to stop it? That’s the paradox that HBS alumni in Southern California confronted in a sold-out, faculty-led roundtable discussion on business and climate View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

26 Aug 2020
News

What the Climate Change Movement Can Learn from the Pandemic

current environment. The way that we're seeing it as an opportunity to learn from how to help people make effective changes that align with this new time and how they want to live their lives. For instance, we just did a piece last week... View Details

September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
Supplement

Cooking Down a Storm: Changing Culture at Pasta Serafina (B)

By: Susanna Gallani, Francesca Gino and Raffaella Sadun

The case complements Pasta Serafina (A) by describing the aftermath of a town hall meeting in which management had publicly denounced the absenteeism problem and challenged the employees to find a solution. In spite of the initial mistrust against management, the fear... View Details

Keywords: Absenteeism; Employees; Behavior; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employee Relationship Management; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Performance Evaluation

April 2011
Article

The Emotional Impact and Behavioral Consequences of Post-M&A Integration: An Ethnographic Case Study in the Software Industry

By: David Ager

This ethnographic case study has focused in depth on one type of acquisition, that of two small, young firms (each with less than 2,000 employees and less than ten years in operation) acquired by one company in the software development industry based in the United... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Mergers and Acquisitions; Emotions

October 2012 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Carolina for Kibera

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Beth-Ann Kutchma and Cailin B. Hammer

Carolina for Kibera (CFK) is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote youth leadership and gender and ethnic cooperation in Kibera, the largest unstructured settlement situated in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya. CFK's programs constructively... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Power and Influence; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Enterprise; Negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Kenya; United States

Educators

Article

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski

Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Standardized Testing; Gender; Higher Education; Prejudice and Bias