Michael I. Norton Articles — HBS Working Knowledge

It's Alive!: Business Scholars Turn to Experimental Research

Published:	December 5, 2011
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.

The 'IKEA Effect': When Labor Leads to Love

Authors:	Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely
Published:	April 13, 2011
Paper Release Date:	March 2011
Feature:	Working Papers

Companies increasingly involve customers in the design and assembly of products, from Converse allowing customers to design their own shoes to IKEA asking customers to assemble their own furniture. In this paper researchers Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School), Daniel Mochon (University of California at San Diego), and Dan Ariely (Duke) use the "IKEA Effect" to explain the increase in valuation we place on products we build ourselves. The researchers discuss the implications of the IKEA Effect for marketing managers and organizations more generally.

Are We Thinking Too Little, or Too Much?

Published:	March 21, 2011
Feature:	Research & Ideas
Forum:	open for comment; 44 Comments posted

In the course of making a decision, managers often err in one of two directions—either overanalyzing a situation or forgoing all the relevant information and simply going with their gut. HBS marketing professor Michael I. Norton discusses the potential pitfalls of thinking too much or thinking too little.

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

Published:	February 22, 2011
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.

Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal

Authors:	Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, John Helliwell, Robert Biswas-Diener, Imelda Kemeza, Paul Nyende, Claire Ashton-James, and Michael I. Norton
Published:	October 27, 2010
Paper Release Date:	September 2010
Feature:	Working Papers

Can money buy happiness? Apparently it can--if that money is spent on someone else. New research shows that people around the world gain emotional benefits from using their financial resources to benefit others. The research, which included data from 136 countries, was conducted by Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, and John Helliwell, University of British Columbia; Robert Biswas-Diener, Centre of Applied Positive Psychology; Imelda Kemeza, Mbarara University of Science & Technology; Paul Nyende, Makerere University; Claire Ashton-James, University of Groningen; and Michael I. Norton, Harvard Business School.

Customer Feedback Not on elBulli's Menu

Published:	November 18, 2009
Feature:	HBS Cases

The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door at elBulli, but why? In professor Michael Norton's course, students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product.

"I read Playboy for the articles": Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences

Authors:	Zoë Chance and Michael I. Norton
Published:	September 24, 2009
Paper Release Date:	September 2009
Feature:	Working Papers

We want others to find us good, fair, responsible and logical; and we place even more importance on thinking of ourselves this way. Therefore, when people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced, or perverted, they tend to engage a host of strategies designed to justify questionable behavior with rational excuses: "I hired my son because he's more qualified." "I promoted Ashley because she does a better job than Aisha." Or, "I read Playboy for the articles." In this chapter from a forthcoming book, HBS doctoral student Zoë Chance and professor Michael I. Norton describe various means of coping with one's own questionable behavior: through preemptive actions and concurrent strategies for re-framing uncomfortable situations, forgoing decisions, and forgetting those decisions altogether.

Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior

Authors:	Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton, and Elizabeth W. Dunn
Published:	September 10, 2009
Paper Release Date:	August 2009
Feature:	Working Papers

Helping others takes countless forms and springs from countless motivations, from deep-rooted empathy to a more calculated desire for public recognition. Social scientists have identified a host of ways in which charitable behavior can lead to benefits for the giver, whether economically via tax breaks, socially via signaling one's wealth or status, or psychologically via experiencing well-being from helping. Charitable organizations have traditionally capitalized on all of these motivations for giving, with a recently emerging focus on highlighting the mood benefits of giving—the feelings of empowerment, joy, and inspiration that giving engenders. Indeed, if giving feels good, why not advertise the benefits of "self-interested giving," allowing people to experience that good feeling while increasing contributions to charity at the same time? HBS doctoral candidate Lalin Anik, Professor Michael I. Norton, and coauthors explore whether organizations that seek to increase charitable giving by advertising the benefits of giving are making claims supported by empirical research and, most importantly, whether such claims actually increase donations.

Decoding the Artful Sidestep

Q&A with:	Todd Rogers
Published:	November 17, 2008
Feature:	Research & Ideas

Do you notice when someone changes the subject after you ask them a question? If you don't always notice or even mind such conversational transformations, you're not alone. New research by Todd Rogers and Harvard Business School professor Michael I. Norton explores the common occurrence of "conversational blindness." Q&A with Rogers.

The Artful Dodger: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way

Authors:	Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton
Published:	October 15, 2008
Paper Release Date:	September 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Feature:	Working Papers

Individuals frequently attempt to avoid questions they do not want to answer, from politicians dodging reporters' requests to clarify their position on when life begins, to employees sidestepping their bosses' questions as to why they are late for the third straight day. Rogers, a recent PhD grad from HBS, and Norton, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit, suggest that when faced with unwanted queries, question-dodgers sometimes exploit conversational blindness—a phenomenon whereby listeners fail to notice when speakers respond to a different question than the one they are asked—by responding with answers that seem to address the question asked, but which in fact address an entirely different question. In the context of political debates, two studies demonstrate conversational blindness, exploring both the conditions that impact the likelihood of such dodges going unnoticed, and how speakers' successful—and failed—attempts to capitalize on conversational blindness impact listeners' opinions of them.

Spending on Happiness

Q&A with:	Michael I. Norton
Published:	June 2, 2008
Feature:	Research & Ideas

Money can't buy you love but it can buy happiness—as long as it's money for someone else. New research by HBS professor Michael I. Norton and colleagues Elizabeth W. Dunn and Lara B. Aknin, described in the journal Science, looks into how and why spending money on others promotes happiness. Norton explains more in this Q&A.

The "Fees → Savings" Link, or Purchasing Fifty Pounds of Pasta

Authors:	Michael I. Norton and Leonard Lee
Published:	November 20, 2007
Paper Release Date:	November 2007
Feature:	Working Papers

Discount membership clubs have a large and growing presence in retail—one recent survey reported that Costco sells to 1 in every 11 people in the United States and Canada, and warehouse clubs are estimated to be a $120 billion industry today in the United States alone. As a result, many people have had the experience of entering one of these popular clubs and leaving hours later with more goods than can fit in their car. One rational reason for such behavior is that membership clubs do offer lower prices than other retailers. However, Norton and Lee offer a counterintuitive explanation for such buying behavior. They propose that the presence of membership fees alone—independent of the actual savings on any given product—can lead consumers to infer a "fees → savings" link, leading them to spend more than they otherwise would to capitalize on these perceived "great deals." Norton and Lee explore this phenomenon by setting up their own "membership clubs" and comparing profits across stores with varying membership fees.

The Persuasive Appeal of Stigma

Authors:	Michael I. Norton, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Dana R. Carney, and Dan Ariely
Published:	July 10, 2007
Paper Release Date:	June 2007
Feature:	Working Papers

Are minority groups more persuasive when their conversations with majority groups are conducted face-to-face? Interracial interactions are among the most perilous social occasions in contemporary America, full of opportunities for things to go awry. People in stigmatized groups, for instance, may worry that members of majority groups hold prejudiced attitudes that can lead to discriminatory or offensive behavior. Members of majority groups, for their part, may fear coming across as biased or racist. While psychology has traditionally explored the damaging effects of such interactions on social exchange, new findings contribute to the growing recognition that stigma may be a two-sided construct, marked with a host of costs but occasional benefits. This study demonstrates the persuasive power of stigmatized individuals and shows how self-presentational concerns may change attitudes.

Online Match-Making with Virtual Dates

Published:	August 28, 2006
Feature:	Research & Ideas

Users of online dating sites often struggle to find love because the sites themselves make it more difficult than it needs to be. To the rescue: Virtual Dates, an online ice-breaker from Jeana Frost of Boston University, Michael Norton of HBS, and Dan Ariely of MIT.