Scientists - Publications - Faculty & Research

20 Aug 2020
Book

From the Plow to the Pill: How Technology Shapes Our Lives

Spar: Yes, if this moment demonstrates anything, it’s that science matters and that we need to invest more of our talent and resources to scientific inquiry. Now that doesn’t mean that scientists always get everything right. But the long... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 May 2005
Research & Ideas

What Could Bring Globalization Down?

am not sure waves are the right natural-world image here. I would prefer to think of events such as forest fires or earthquakes—sudden crises arising from the advent of what scientists call "criticality." Q: What other... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

07 Mar 2023
HBS Case

ChatGPT: Did Big Tech Set Up the World for an AI Bias Disaster?

particular area. Her findings, which she presented at a prominent investor conference, captured the imaginations of industry titans and academics. Computer scientists long assumed that AI systems would become more accurate and objective... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Technology

02 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

Blissful Thinking: When It Comes to Finding Happiness, 'Your Dreams Are Liars'

graduated. “Here’s the good news: They got everything they wanted,” Brooks said. “Here’s the bad news: They wanted the wrong thing. The result is that they’re not as happy as they could be. We need to teach a class on happiness,” Brooks concluded. A social View Details

Keywords: by Dan Morrell

23 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Men Want Powerful Jobs More Than Women Do

New research from Harvard Business School reveals a stark gap in the professional ambitions of men and women. Having surveyed a diverse sample of more than 4,000 men and women, a team of social scientists reports a list of potentially... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

28 Nov 2018
HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

team with data scientists and others trained in computer science, math, statistics, and physics, including many who held doctorates. To attract the best people, Target knew it had to keep at least part of its data operation in Silicon... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

02 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Profits and Economic Development

Keywords: by Dan Schwab & Eric Werker

Research Summary

Current Research

By: Leslie K. John

Professor John is a behavioral scientist who uses both laboratory and field experiments to investigate questions that are at the intersection of marketing, organizational behavior, and public policy.

Professor John’s work has been published in leading... View Details

03 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

The Power of Rituals in Life, Death, and Business

winning team). But what's the point? Behavioral scientist Michael I. Norton became interested in mourning rituals after reading Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering, which describes elaborate ways... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

plays out in companies and industries from the 2019 Michelin Movin’ On transportation conference. It was held in Montreal, and business and government leaders and researchers and scientists who work on transportation came together to... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

09 Apr 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

The Dark Side of Performance Bonuses

decisions, to get flu shots, to lose weight, to be wiser about personal financial planning. Behavioral scientists are becoming the new HR superstars in some organizations. Research through the years at Harvard Business School has explored... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Value of Advice: Evidence from Mobile Phone-Based Agricultural Extension

Keywords: by Shawn A. Cole; Agriculture & Agribusiness

15 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Looking For a Job? Some LinkedIn Connections Matter More Than Others

billion new ties and created 600,000 new jobs over a five-year period. Are acquaintances more helpful during a job search? For decades, social scientists have debated whether casual acquaintances—or arms-length relationships—are more... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators

performance of identical twins on a battery of ten creativity tests could be attributed to genetics. 6 In contrast, roughly 80 percent to 85 percent of the twins' performance on general intelligence (IQ) tests could be attributed to genetics. 7 So general intelligence... View Details

Keywords: by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gergersen & Clayton M. Christensen

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

for policy choices.” Kerr, the Dimitri V. D’Arbeloff–MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration, has researched the economic effects of global migration of workers for more than a decade, sometimes partnering with his wife, Sari Pekkala Kerr, an economist... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

19 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

What Chandrayaan-3 Says About India's Entrepreneurial Approach to Space

use is the cheapest in India partly because of the system’s technological underpinnings. We still are a very poor country. It’s encouraging nonetheless that several scientists across several domains have been able to compete and... View Details

Keywords: by Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette; Aerospace

November 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Infarm: Betting the (Indoor) Farm on Food Security

By: Elie Ofek

In the summer of 2023, the co-founders of Infarm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) company, were contemplating a major pivot going forward. While Infarm had successfully shown it could grow over 75 products—mainly herbs, leafy greens and mushrooms—in modular... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Transition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; North America; Toronto; Northeastern United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

08 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Silos That Work: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Collaborate

lifted.” Zuzul teamed up with 11 other researchers—including network scholars, theoretical statisticians, and computer scientists at the University of Washington, John Hopkins University, and Microsoft—to author the 2021 working paper,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

29 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Do Disasters Rally Support for Climate Action? It's Complicated.

Environmental disasters like wildfires can ignite awareness of climate change and boost eco-friendly politicians’ careers. But do voters perceive a tradeoff between environmental policies and local economic growth? In Brazil, home to a majority of the Amazon tropical... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

19 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior

systematically analyzed their effectiveness in terms of impact per dollar spent. Beshears is part of an informal group of behavioral scientists who, a few years ago, discussed doing just that. Spearheaded by UCLA’s Shlomo Benartzi, and... View Details