Publications

August 2021
Article

Hoping for the Worst? A Paradoxical Preference for Bad News

By: Kate Barasz and Serena Hagerty

Nine studies investigate when and why people may paradoxically prefer bad news—e.g., hoping for an objectively worse injury or a higher-risk diagnosis over explicitly better alternatives. Using a combination of field surveys and randomized experiments, the research... View Details

Keywords: Decision Avoidance; Difficult Decisions; Judgment And Decision Making; Medical Decision-making; Decision Making; Behavior

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December 2022
Article

I Don't 'Recall': The Decision to Delay Innovation Launch to Avoid Costly Product Failure

By: Byungyeon Kim, Oded Koenigsberg and Elie Ofek

Innovations embody novel features or cutting-edge components aimed at delivering desired customer benefits. Oftentimes, however, we observe the need to recall new products shortly after their introduction. Indeed, a firm may rush an innovation to market in an attempt... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Innovation And Strategy; Product Development Strategy; Product Introduction; Quality Control; Product Recalls; Game Theory; Market Timing; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Product Development

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2013
Book

Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to the Plan

By: Francesca Gino

You may not realize it but simple, irrelevant factors can have profound consequences on your decisions and behavior, often diverting you from your original plans and desires. Sidetracked will help you identify and avoid these influences so the decisions you make do... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision-making; Judgment; Decisions; Strategy; Behavior; Ethics; Attitudes

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

performance, and penalize failures Conducting routine, systematic audits of critical decisions by key executives where the rules of the road are clearly ambiguous Helping senior executives avoid the two... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

28 Oct 2014
News

There’s No Excuse for Avoiding Strategy

Article

Moment-to-moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

We develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact that branding activity (the audio-visual representation of brands) and consumers' dispersion of attention have on their moment-to-moment avoidance decisions during television advertising. It formalizes this... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods

24 Feb 2021
News

How to Negotiate and Avoid Costly Medical Bills

23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Is it possible to truly empower employees to make their own decisions—even when those decisions could mean life or death? That is the question posed by Dutch home healthcare organization Buurtzorg, which has radically View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

26 Jan 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Conveniently Upset: Avoiding Altruism by Distorting Beliefs about Others

Keywords: by Rafael Di Tella & Ricardo Pérez-Truglia

2010
Working Paper

Conveniently Upset: Avoiding Altruism by Distorting Beliefs about Others

By: Rafael Di Tella and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

In this paper we present the results from a "corruption game" (a dictator game modified so that the second player can accept a side payment that reduces the overall size of the pie). Dictators (silently) treated to have the possibility of taking a larger proportion of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Game Theory; Personal Characteristics

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

themselves." 2. Avoid Too Much Centralization—and Too Much Democracy Overcentralizing decision making is the biggest error companies make, Jensen says. Often as a leader, "you think you can make... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

31 Jan 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Behavioral Decision Research, Legislation, and Society: Three Cases

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman

29 Sep 2023
News

Research: In Recessions, Employees Avoid Jobs with Startups

17 Apr 2022
Book

How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray

figure is even higher, at 22 percent. And managers are responsible for 60 percent of all misconduct, with nearly a quarter of it coming from senior managers. Avoiding ’the ethical slide’ Nelson points to the recent Theranos trial, in... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

2012
Book

The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

By: Noam Wasserman

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: Should they go it alone or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Social Psychology; Outcome or Result

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24 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Climate Finance in Africa: Health, Self-Interest, Avoided Future Cost

Kenya or Senegal does not care about global carbon; that’s a “global north” concern. However, they absolutely care day to day about air pollution, cost and availability of fuel, cost and availability of electricity, and avoiding the loss... View Details

2012
Working Paper

Private and Public Decisions in Social Dilemmas: Evidence from Children's Behavior

Substantial research with adult populations has found that selfish impulses are less likely to be pursued when decisions are publicly observable. To the best of our knowledge, however, this behavioral regularity has not been systematically explored as potential... View Details

Keywords: Research; Age Characteristics; Behavior; Decisions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Announcements; Situation or Environment

October–December 2015
Article

Reducing Bounded Ethicality: How to Help Individuals Notice and Avoid Unethical Behavior

By: Ting Zhang, Pinar O. Fletcher, Francesca Gino and Max H. Bazerman

Research on ethics has focused on the factors that help individuals act ethically when they are tempted to cheat. However, we know little about how best to help individuals notice unethical behaviors in others and in themselves. This paper identifies a solution:... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Management Skills; Behavior; Perception