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When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

A study of an international robotics competition reveals how experts prioritize easy-to-execute inventions over moonshot ideas. Are companies missing out on potential breakthroughs? Research by Jacqueline Lane and Karim Lakhani.

Managers, Here’s How to Bond with New Hires Remotely

Worried about engaging interns and new employees in a hybrid world? Research by Iavor I. Bojinov and Prithwiraj Choudhury shows how "virtual watercooler" sessions can make all the difference. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Learning with People Like Me: The Role of Age-Similar Peers on Online Business Course Engagement

Online learning usually has lower course engagement and higher dropout rates than in-person instruction. However, when classmates are of similar ages it helps boost retention and engagement. Similar-aged classmates have more in common, making interactions mutually rewarding.

When Do Experts Listen to Other Experts? The Role of Negative Information in Expert Evaluations for Novel Projects

Evaluators of early-stage scientific proposals tend to systematically focus on the weaknesses of proposed work rather than its strengths, according to evidence from two field experiments.

Engineering Serendipity: The Role of Cognitive Similarity in Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Production

By creating opportunities for cross-disciplinary scientists to meet and talk as part of a natural field experiment, this study analyzes and finds evidence for a systematic relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge production in the sciences. Findings may extend to similar types of cross-disciplinary knowledge-sharing opportunities in other settings.