Francesca Gino
There are 22 articles for this faculty member.
About Faculty in this Article:
Francesca Gino is an associate professor in the Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets Unit at Harvard Business School
Breaking Them In or Revealing Their Best? Reframing Socialization around Newcomer Self-Expression
| Authors: | Dan Cable, Francesca Gino, and Brad Staats |
|---|---|
| Published: | February 17, 2012 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2012 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
How can organizations build strong, sustainable employment relationships from the very start? To date, the socialization literature has focused on transmitting and maintaining culture so that new employees accept the organizational values and behavioral norms. Many organizations require newcomers to wear standard wardrobes, forbid personal possessions, follow detailed verbal scripts, and enforce appropriate displays of emotion all designed to hinder individuality. In two studies described in this paper, the authors found that organizational and employee outcomes were better when socialization tactics encouraged authentic self-expression of newcomers' personal identities and signature strengths. Organizational socialization is optimized when organizations start by recognizing and highlighting newcomers' unique identities at the very beginning of the employment relationship, when identity negotiation is a critical concern for both parties.
Learning from My Success and From Others' Failure: Evidence from Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery
| Authors: | KC Diwas, Bradley R. Staats, and and Francesca Gino |
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| Published: | February 15, 2012 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2012 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
The importance of failure in the learning process is well recognized. In organizations as work grows increasingly fragmented—more specialized and divided into smaller tasks—the role of individuals in organizational learning becomes more important. This paper examines how individuals learn directly from their own past experience, and indirectly from the past experience of others. Focusing on one particular performance outcome, the quality of surgeries, findings indicate that individuals learn the most from their own successes and the failures of others, possibly because in both cases they attribute the outcomes to internal rather than external factors. This research has implications for healthcare and organizations more generally. Research by KC Diwas, Bradley R. Staats, and Francesca Gino.
Behavioral Ethics: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Moral Judgment and Dishonesty
| Authors: | Max H. Bazerman and Francesca Gino |
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| Published: | January 26, 2012 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2012 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
What makes even good people cross ethical boundaries? Society demands that business and professional schools address ethics, but the results have been disappointing. This paper argues that a behavioral approach to ethics is essential because it leads to understanding and explaining moral and immoral behavior in systematic ways. The authors first define business ethics and provide an admittedly biased history of the attempts of professional schools to address ethics as a subject of both teaching and research. They next briefly summarize the emergence of the field of behavioral ethics over the last two decades, and turn to recent research findings in behavioral ethics that could provide helpful directions for a social science perspective to ethics. These new findings on both intentional and unintentional unethical behavior can inform new courses on ethics as well as new research investigations. Such new directions can meet the demands of society more effectively than past attempts of professional schools. They can also produce a meaningful and significant change in the behavior of both business school students and professionals.
Published in 2011
Are Creative People More Dishonest?
| Published: | December 7, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 85 Comments posted |
In a series of studies, Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely found that inherently creative people tend to cheat more than noncreative people. Furthermore, they showed that inducing creative behavior tends to induce unethical behavior. It's a sobering thought in a corporate culture that champions out-of-the-box thinking.
It's Alive! Business Scholars Turn to Experimental Research
| Published: | December 5, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 4 Comments posted |
Business researchers are turning increasingly to experiments in the lab and field to unlock the secrets of what motivates CEOs, consumers, and policymakers.
Sharpening Your Skills: Motivation
| Published: | June 22, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Sharpening Your Skills |
Can employers motivate employees to work more creatively, ethically, or productively? Or does that power reside solely within the individual? Recent research at Harvard Business School suggests workers can be motivated by their environment.
Signing at the Top: The Key to Preventing Tax Fraud?
| Published: | June 2, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 4 Comments posted |
In filling out self-reported documents such as tax forms, we declare the information truthful with our signature, but usually we sign at the end of the form. Researchers Francesca Gino and Lisa Shu discuss whether governments and companies can bolster honesty simply by moving the honesty pledge and signature line to the top of the form, before people encounter the opportunity to cheat.
When to Sign on the Dotted Line? Signing First Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest Self-Reports
| Authors: | Lisa L. Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, and Max H. Bazerman |
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| Published: | May 26, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | May 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
It's all-too-easy to lie on self-reported documents such as tax returns, expense reports, and insurance policy forms. That's why we're generally required to sign a statement declaring that the report is truthful. Usually, the signature line is located at the very end of the form—after it has been filled out already, and consequently, after the potential cheating has occurred. This paper examines whether governments and companies can bolster honesty simply by moving the signature line to the beginning of the form, such that signers are swearing that they will tell the truth rather than that they have told the truth. Research was conducted by Lisa L. Shu, Francesca Gino, and Max H. Bazerman of Harvard, Nina Mazar of the University of Toronto, and Dan Ariely of Duke University.
When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on Team Performance
| Authors: | Leigh Plunkett Tost, Francesca Gino, and Richard P. Larrick |
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| Published: | April 1, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
History has shown that possessing a great deal of power does not necessarily make someone a good leader. This paper explores the idea that power actually has a detrimental effect on leadership, especially with regard to how it affects open communication within a team. Research was conducted by Leigh Plunkett Tost of the University of Washington, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, and Richard P. Larrick of Duke University.
Driven by Social Comparisons: How Feedback about Coworkers' Effort Influences Individual Productivity
| Authors: | Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats |
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| Published: | March 16, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats explore how the valence (positive versus negative), type (direct versus indirect), and timing (one-shot versus persistent) of performance feedback affects an employee's job productivity. Specifically, through field experiments at a Japanese bank, they investigate the extent to which job performance is affected when employees learn where they stand relative to their coworkers.
Memory Lane and Morality: How Childhood Memories Promote Prosocial Behavior
| Authors: | Francesca Gino and Sreedhari D. Desai |
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| Published: | March 8, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Little Damien from The Omen notwithstanding, we generally associate childhood with goodness, purity, and innocence. This paper investigates whether feelings of moral purity can be triggered by reminding adults of their childhoods, and whether this can help to induce kind and philanthropic behavior both in social settings and in the workplace. Research was conducted by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and Sreedhari D. Desai of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
The Importance of 'Don't' in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior
| Published: | February 28, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 18 Comments posted |
In a new study, HBS professors Francesca Gino and Joshua D. Margolis look at two ways that companies can encourage ethical behavior: the promotion of good deeds or the prevention of bad deeds. It turns out that employees tend to act more ethically when focused on what not to do. That can be problematic in firms where success is commonly framed in terms of advancement of positive outcomes rather than prevention of bad ones.
The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century
| Published: | February 22, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
HBS Dean Nitin Nohria and faculty look backward and forward at the most important business trends of the young twenty-first century.
The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest
| Authors: | Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely |
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| Published: | February 10, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
| Forum: | open for comment; 40 Comments posted |
Anyone who has spent significant time with artists knows that creative genius often comes with a dark side. This paper offers experimental evidence, specifically with regard to the relationship between creativity and unethical behavior. Research involving four experiments with university students was conducted by Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of the Fuqua School of Business.
Published in 2010
The Psychological Costs of Pay-for-Performance: Implications for Strategic Compensation
| Authors: | Ian Larkin, Lamar Pierce, and Francesca Gino |
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| Published: | December 28, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | December 2010 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
In studying pay-for-performance-based compensation systems, economic scholars often adhere to agency theory, which hypothesizes that firms should prominently use performance-based compensation—it alleviates the problems of employee "shirking" and ensures highly skilled employees' desire to work for the company. However, firms use performance-based pay far less frequently than agency theory predicts. This paper posits that the psychological costs of pay-for-performance systems often dominate their benefits to firms, and proposes an integrated theory of strategic compensation that takes into account the economic and psychological benefits and costs of pay-for-performance. Research was conducted by Harvard Business School professors Francesca Gino and Ian Larkin, and Lamar Pierce of Washington University.
Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees
| Published: | October 4, 2010 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 95 Comments posted |
Think effective leadership requires gregariousness and charisma? Think again. Introverts actually can be better leaders than extraverts, especially when their employees are naturally proactive, according to Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino.
The Task and Temporal Microstructure of Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Financial Services
| Author: | Bradley R. Staats, Francesca Gino |
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| Published: | September 22, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | August 2010 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Boredom and fatigue often hamper the productivity of workers whose jobs consist of repeating the same tasks. This paper explores ways in which companies can combat this problem, introducing the idea of the "restart effect" - a deliberate disruption that kindles productivity. Research, which focused on a loan-application processing line at a Japanese bank, was conducted by HBS professor Francesca Gino and Kenan-Flagler Business School assistant professor Bradley R. Staats.
Published in 2009
Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience: Self-Preservation through Moral Disengagement and Motivated Forgetting
| Authors: | Lisa L. Shu, Francesca Gino, and Max H. Bazerman |
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| Published: | February 19, 2009 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2009, revised April 2009 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Why do people engage in unethical behavior repeatedly over time? In Everybody Does It! (1994), Thomas Gabor documents the pervasive immorality of ordinary people. Challenging the stereotype that only criminals violate the law, Gabor describes the numerous transgressions of everyday life and suggests that the excuses people make for their dishonest behavior parallel the justifications criminals make for their crimes. This common tendency of people to justify and distance themselves from their unethical behavior has captured the attention of several psychologists, and a long stream of research has documented differences in the way people think about their own ethical behavior and that of others. Harvard Business School's Lisa Shu and Max Bazerman, with colleague Francesca Gino, show that seemingly innocuous aspects of the environment can promote the decision to act ethically or unethically.
Published in 2008
Nameless + Harmless = Blameless: When Seemingly Irrelevant Factors Influence Judgment of (Un)ethical Behavior
| Authors: | Francesca Gino, Lisa L. Shu, and Max H. Bazerman |
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| Published: | October 2, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | August 2008 (revised October 2009) |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Most of us regularly make ethical judgments about others' behavior and make decisions regarding whether or not to punish others' unethical behavior. Although many of us know how we would rationally like to behave in these situations, little prior research has explored the systematic errors we commit in the process of evaluating others' unethical behavior and acting upon it. The present research by Gino, Shu, and Bazerman focuses on the effects of both the outcome of unethical acts and the identifiability of the victim of wrongdoing on ethical judgments and decisions to punish unethical behavior.
No Harm, No Foul: The Outcome Bias in Ethical Judgments
| Authors: | Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore, and Max H. Bazerman |
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| Published: | April 1, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Too often, workers are evaluated based on results rather than on the quality of the decision. Given that most consequential business decisions involve some uncertainty, the upshot is that organizations wind up rewarding luck rather than wisdom. From a rational decision-making perspective, people's decisions should be evaluated based on the information the decision maker had available to him or her at the time, and not based on the ultimate results. This paper tests predictions about this effect, known as the outcome bias, in two studies in which participants were asked to consider various ethically questionable behaviors. Participants were also given information about the outcome of such behaviors and were asked to rate the ethicality of the described actions with or without the outcome information. The findings extend prior research in psychology and ethics.
