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  • Article

Competition and Social Identity in the Workplace: Evidence from a Chinese Textile Firm

By: Takao Kato and Pian Shu
We study the impact of social identity on worker competition by exploiting the well-documented social divide between urban resident workers and rural migrant workers in urban Chinese firms. We analyze data on weekly output, individual characteristics, and coworker... View Details
Keywords: Social Identity; Coworker Effect; Productivity; Relative Performance Incentive; Intergroup Competition; Competition; Groups and Teams; Performance Productivity; Identity
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  • 31 Jan 2008
  • Working Paper Summaries

Peer Effects and Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda & Jesper B. Sørensen
  • Forthcoming
  • Article

Proximate (Co-)Working: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions

By: Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl and Christian Catalini
We examine the influence of physical proximity on between-start-up knowledge spillovers at one of the largest technology coworking hubs in the United States. Relying on the exogenous assignment of office space to the hub’s 251 start-ups, we find that proximity... View Details
Keywords: Knowledge Integration; Coworking; Microgeography; Business Startups; Technology Adoption; Diversity; Interpersonal Communication; Knowledge Sharing; Geographic Location
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  • April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
  • Case

Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects

By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull
The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details
Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Interactive Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Making; Training; Design; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance; Performance Improvement; Research; Sales; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Telecommunications Industry; Utah; United States
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  • Article

The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Katherine L. Milkman
Using a field experiment in a 401(k) plan, we measure the effect of disseminating information about peer behavior on savings. Low-saving employees received simplified plan enrollment or contribution increase forms. A randomized subset of forms stated the fraction of... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retirement
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  • 30 May 2024
  • News

How to Have Effective Conversations

that common vision and common strategy, you have to be able to communicate what it is. AW: Was there an aha moment where you said, oh, this is a book? CD: I got into this bad pattern with my wife, which was that I would come home for a long day at work and complain... View Details
  • 03 May 2024
  • Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

A new study of startups sharing a coworking space offers a new wrinkle in the debate over work-from-anywhere: Proximity matters, especially close proximity, to spread knowledge between disparate enterprises. “The more different the... View Details
Keywords: by Ben Rand
  • August 2020
  • Article

Workplace Knowledge Flows

By: Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert and Christopher Stanton
We conducted a field experiment in a sales firm to test whether improving knowledge flows between coworkers affects productivity. Our design allows us to compare different management practices and to isolate whether frictions to knowledge transmission primarily reside... View Details
Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Interpersonal Communication; Employees; Performance Productivity; Sales; Motivation and Incentives
Related
  • 15 Aug 2013
  • Working Paper Summaries

Competition and Social Identity in the Workplace: Evidence from a Chinese Textile Firm

Keywords: by Takao Kato & Pian Shu

    Proximate (Co-)Working: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions

    We examine the influence of physical proximity on between-start-up knowledge spillovers at one of the largest technology coworking hubs in the United States. Relying on the exogenous assignment of office space to the hub’s 251 start-ups, we find that proximity... View Details

    • Winter 2024
    • Article

    Is Pay Transparency Good?

    By: Zoë B. Cullen
    Countries around the world are enacting pay transparency policies to combat pay discrimination. Since 2000, 71 percent of OECD countries have done so. Most are enacting transparency horizontally, revealing pay between coworkers doing similar work within a firm. While... View Details
    Keywords: Policy; Wages; Knowledge Sharing; Job Design and Levels; Negotiation; Performance Productivity; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives
    Related
    • 30 Sep 2015
    • News

    Four Ways To Get Your Global Team To Gel

    • 04 Jun 2013
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Prosocial Bonuses Increase Employee Satisfaction and Team Performance

    Keywords: by Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton, Elizabeth W. Dunn & Jordi Quoidbach
    • Article

    Can Wages Buy Honesty?: The Relationship Between Relative Wages and Employee Theft

    By: C. X. Chen and Tatiana Sandino
    In this study we examine whether, for a sample of retail chains, high levels of employee compensation can deter employee theft, an increasingly common type of fraudulent behavior. Specifically, we examine the extent to which relative wages (i.e., employee wages... View Details
    Keywords: Risk Management; Behavior; Compensation and Benefits; Societal Protocols
    Related

      Can Wages Buy Honesty? The Relationship between Relative Wages and Employee Theft

      In this study we examine whether, for a sample of retail chains, high levels of employee compensation can deter employee theft, an increasingly common type of fraudulent behavior. Specifically, we examine the extent to which relative wages (i.e., employee wages... View Details
      • 03 Jun 2022
      • Research & Ideas

      In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

      to relocate for at least a year through its Tulsa Remote program, providing incentives such as $10,000 in cash, coworking space, assistance with finding a home, and community-building events. So far, the city has attracted close to 2,000... View Details
      Keywords: by Kara Baskin
      • 16 Jun 2009
      • First Look

      First Look: June 16

      effects on citation rates. Our findings suggest that subfields can increase the impact they have on the broader intellectual discourse by situating their phenomena in rich contexts that illuminate the connections between their findings... View Details
      Keywords: Martha Lagace
      • 18 Jun 2020
      • Blog Post

      Black MBA Students Pen Letters to the HBS Community: Letter 3/5

      coworkers by default.   I would like to be one of many to tell you that Black people are not responsible for your education on individual, institutional, or structural racism. Furthermore, the time to be a silent and passive ally is over.... View Details
      • 27 Feb 2023
      • Research & Ideas

      How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

      deviations on the performance of individual stores in a new study. “One employee being late or absent can negatively affect not only store operations, but also their coworkers by making them stay to make up for the lost labor.” Ananth... View Details
      Keywords: by Ben Rand; Retail
      • 10 Mar 2008
      • Research & Ideas

      Encouraging Entrepreneurs: Lessons for Government Policy

      local, regional, and national competitiveness. “Former entrepreneurs offer a positive impression of what it's like to own your own business.” In recent research, Harvard Business School professor Ramana Nanda analyzes these deeper layers of entrepreneurship. In... View Details
      Keywords: by Julia Hanna