Rohit Deshpandé
There are 5 articles for this faculty member.
About Faculty in this Article:
Rohit Deshpandé is the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School.
Why Sweatshops Flourish
| Published: | March 23, 2009 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Everyone agrees it is wrong to buy things made with sweatshop labor. Yet many of us are willing to justify our decision when a product—a pair of jeans, for example—is something we really want. HBS doctoral student Neeru Paharia and Professor Rohit Deshpandé study the dark side of buying behavior. Their good news: We can influence change for the better.
Sweatshop Labor is Wrong Unless the Jeans are Cute: Motivated Moral Disengagement
| Authors: | Neeru Paharia and Rohit Deshpandé |
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| Published: | January 27, 2009 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2009 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Most consumers in America have purchased products made with sweatshop labor at one point or another. However, very little attention has been focused on the psychological mechanisms that enable consumers to propagate a system that implicates harm. Although many people say they care about ethical issues such as humane labor conditions, demand for products that guarantee it remains low. According to some estimates, there are hundreds of thousands of sweatshops still operating today. HBS doctoral student Neeru Paharia and professor Rohit Deshpandé examine whether people may be motivated to morally disengage in the presence of harmful attributes such as sweatshop labor when desire for a product is high. They found that research participants were significantly more likely to agree with statements such as: "The use of sweatshop labor is okay because companies must remain competitive," and "Sweatshops are the only realistic source of income for workers in poorer countries," when confronted with a hypothetical pair of shoes with a higher appeal, versus shoes with a lower appeal. The researchers also found that moral disengagement can drive people to like products they believe to be made with sweatshop labor even more. The authors suggest that since we are confronted with conflicts between our desires and our moral standards on nearly a daily basis, this research calls into question the foundation from which our moral judgments rest on. If our moral judgments are likely to vary based on our affective desires, any moral standards we may hold ourselves to are dubious at best.
Published in 2005
The New International Style of Management
| Published: | July 11, 2005 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Today's transnational road warriors and the businesses they work for are forging an international style of business, say Harvard Business School faculty and alumni. Do you speak their language?
Published in 2002
The Country Effect: Does Location Matter?
| Published: | February 25, 2002 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
How much is the success of your company pegged to the cultural and economic traditions of the country you do business in? Not much—at least that is what is suggested by Rohit Deshpandé's research on high-performing companies.
Published in 2001
Market Research Meets the "People Factor"
| Published: | April 23, 2001 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Great market research doesn't always lead to great results. Why? After a close look at sources of friction between managers and market researchers, HBS professors Gerald Zaltman and Rohit Deshpandé have ideas on how the two groups might better see eye to eye.
