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New research on prejudice and bias from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including racial discrimination in the sharing economy, politically biased language in Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia, and why investors prefer pitches from male entrepreneurs over those from female entrepreneurs.
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Face Value: Do Certain Physical Features Help People Get Ahead?

by Kara Baskin

Society seems to reward people with particular facial features. Research by Shunyuan Zhang and colleagues uses machine learning to analyze traits that people associate with charisma. The findings highlight opportunities to enhance one's image—and challenge bias.

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Crushed Crowdfunding for Minority Entrepreneurs

by Scott Van Voorhis

When public anxiety about immigration surges, Black, Asian, and Hispanic inventors have a harder time raising funds for new ideas on Kickstarter, says research by William Kerr. What can platforms do to confront bias in entrepreneurial finance?

ChatGPT: Did Big Tech Set Up the World for an AI Bias Disaster?

by Scott Van Voorhis

Google tried to silence AI bias warnings from ethicist Timnit Gebru. Will a world enamored with OpenAI's ChatGPT be able to confront them? Tsedal Neeley reflects on Gebru's experience in a case study, and offers advice on managing the ethical risks of AI.

What's Missing from the Racial Equity Dialogue?

by Danielle Kost

Fellows visiting the Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society (BiGS) at Harvard Business School talk about how racism harms everyone and why it’s important to find new ways to support formerly incarcerated people.

Addressing Racial Discrimination on Airbnb

Re: Michael Luca

For years, Airbnb gave hosts extensive discretion to accept or reject a guest after seeing little more than a name and a picture, believing that eliminating anonymity was the best way for the company to build trust. However, the apartment rental platform failed to track or account for the possibility that this could facilitate discrimination. After research published by Professor Michael Luca and others provided evidence that Black hosts received less in rent than hosts of other races and showed signs of discrimination against guests with African American sounding names, the company had to decide what to do. In the case, “Racial Discrimination on Airbnb,” Luca discusses his research and explores the implication for Airbnb and other platform companies. Should they change the design of the platform to reduce discrimination? And what’s the best way to measure the success of any changes?

Why Technology Alone Can't Solve AI's Bias Problem

by Michael Blanding

Engineers designed "fair-ranking algorithms" to prevent artificial intelligence from marginalizing certain groups. While these tools help, research by Himabindu Lakkaraju finds that they can't completely override the most stubborn source of bias: people.

Too Nice to Lead? Unpacking the Gender Stereotype That Holds Women Back

by Shalene Gupta

People mistakenly assume that women managers are more generous and fair when it comes to giving money, says research by Christine Exley. Could that misperception prevent companies from shrinking the gender pay gap?

Why the Largest Minority Group Faces the Most Hate—and How to Push Back

by Pamela Reynolds

A community's biggest minority group endures the most discrimination from a majority who fears losing status, says research by Marco Tabellini and colleagues. Findings from 20 years of crime and demographic data could help policymakers improve race relations.

When Bias Creeps into AI, Managers Can Stop It by Asking the Right Questions

by Rachel Layne

Even when companies actively try to prevent it, bias can sway algorithms and skew decision-making. Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza offer a new approach to make artificial intelligence more accurate.

Steps to Help You Get Out of Your Own Way

by Sean Silverthorne

These research-based tips will help you slow down, fight the fog, and improve both your home life and work life. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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

by Jacqueline N. Lane, Misha Teplitskiy, Gary Gray, Hardeep Ranu, Michael Menietti, Eva C. Guinan, and Karim R. Lakhani

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.

Discrimination, Disenfranchisement and African American WWII Military Enlistment

by Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini

The United States entered World War II during one of the worst periods of racial discrimination in post-Civil War history. This paper examines the social costs of this discrimination, with clear implications for policymakers: Requiring equal contributions from citizens means treating citizens equally.

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

by Kristen Senz

Poor design decisions contribute to racial discrimination on many online platforms. Michael Luca and colleagues offer tips for reducing the risk, used by Airbnb and other companies. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Starbucks Commits to Raising Awareness of Racial Bias

Re: Francesca Gino & Katherine B. Coffman

After a highly publicized act of racial discrimination by a Starbucks employee the company revised store policies and employee training practices. Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman discuss unconscious bias in corporate culture. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Pursuit of Passion Propagates Privilege

by Josephine Tan and Jon M. Jachimowicz

While graduating students are often exhorted to do work they love to do, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to feel that they are a fit for and have the skills to thrive in a job that calls for passion.

Is a Business School-Industry Collaboration Needed to Attract Black Talent to Campus?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP:James Heskett's readers suggest that recruiting minority students to business school must be matched with programs to retain them. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Changing In-group Boundaries: The Role of New Immigrant Waves in the US

by Vasiliki Fouka, Shom Mazumder, and Marco Tabellini

How do new immigrants affect natives’ views of other minority groups? This work studies the evolution of group boundaries in the United States and indicates that whites living in states receiving more Mexican immigrants recategorize blacks as in-group members, because of the inflow of a new, “affectively” more distant group.

Novel Risks

by Robert S. Kaplan, Dutch Leonard, and Anette Mikes

Companies can manage known risks by reducing their likelihood and impact. But such routine risk management often prevents them from recognizing and responding rapidly to novel risks, those not envisioned or seen before. Setting up teams, processes, and capabilities in advance for dealing with unexpected circumstances can protect against their severe consequences.

Why Backstage Capital Invests in ‘Underestimated’ Entrepreneurs

Laura Huang discusses VC Arlan Hamilton’s strategy of backing entrepreneurs who have been ignored because of stereotypes, biases, and preconceptions. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

'I Know Why You Voted for Trump' and Other Motivation Misperceptions

by Dina Gerdeman

We often make knee-jerk assumptions about what motivates other people’s choices, a bad habit both in the political and business worlds. Kate Barasz explains what we can do about it. Open for comment; 0 Comments.