Filter Results: (34) Arrow Down

SystemRemove System →

New research on systems from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including systems architecture and modularity.
Page 1 of 34 Results →

It’s Not All About Pay: College Grads Want Jobs That ‘Change the World’

by Rachel Layne

Many college graduates will accept lower salaries for roles that have the potential to give back to society, says research by Letian Zhang. Could trading pay for altruism help shrink the income gap?

Confront Workplace Inequity in 2023: Dig Deep, Build Bridges, Take Collective Action

by Pamela Reynolds

Power dynamics tied up with race and gender underlie almost every workplace interaction, says Tina Opie. In her book Shared Sisterhood, she offers three practical steps for dismantling workplace inequities that hold back innovation.

Buy-In from Black Patients Suffers When Drug Trials Don’t Include Them

by Scott Van Voorhis

Diversifying clinical trials could build trust in new treatments among Black people and their physicians. Research by Joshua Schwartzstein, Marcella Alsan, and colleagues probes the ripple effects of underrepresentation in testing, and offers a call to action for drugmakers.

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.

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

by Rachel Layne

If banks hire more minority loan officers, more people of color might tap into a crucial means of wealth building: buying a home. Research by Adi Sunderam comes on the heels of a real estate frenzy that has mostly benefited white Americans.

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Kristin Blesch, and Oliver P. Hauser

Policymakers trying to shrink the income gap have long relied on a statistical benchmark to guide decisions. But taking a broader view of inequality might lead to better solutions, say Jon Jachimowicz and colleagues.

University of the Future: Finding the Next World Leaders in Higher Ed

by Dina Gerdeman

Which universities will step into the void as American colleges decline? In the book Empires of Ideas, William Kirby explores how the history of higher education in the US, China, and Germany might shape its future.

Digital Labor Market Inequality and the Decline of IT Exceptionalism

by Ruiqing Cao and Shane Greenstein

The experience in five cities accounts for almost all the wage inequality in IT wages in the US between 2000 and 2018. Overall that brought IT wages closer to STEM wages.

Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Ruomeng Cui, Hao Ding, and Feng Zhu

Analysis of data from the largest open-access repositories for social science in the world finds that female researchers’ productivity significantly dropped relative to that of male researchers as a result of the lockdown in the United States.

What Is an "Essential" Purchase for a Low-Income Family?

by Rachel Layne

Phone or flour? People with lower incomes are judged more harshly for what they choose to buy, say Serena F. Hagerty and Kate Barasz. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Spreading the Health: Americans' Estimated and Ideal Distributions of Death and Health(care)

by Sorapop Kiatpongsan and Michael I. Norton

Across varying political ideologies and income levels, Americans both underestimate the current extent of inequality of mortality and healthcare, and prefer each to be more equally distributed.

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.

Product Disasters Can Be Fertile Ground for Innovation

by Michael Blanding

Rather than chilling innovation, product accidents may provide companies an unexpected opportunity to develop new technologies desired by consumers, according to Hong Luo and Alberto Galasso. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

‘Organizing’, ‘Innovating’, and ‘Managing’ in Complexity Space

by Michael C. Moldoveanu

This paper explores organizational complexity by proposing a two-dimensional framework to help us understand organizational coping mechanisms and failure modes. The framework makes it possible to ask new questions about organizational adaptations to complexity that investigate its underlying structure and dynamics.

How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

by Dina Gerdeman

Researchers believe gender stereotypes hold women back in the workplace. Katherine Coffman's research adds a new twist: They can even cause women to question their own abilities. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Quantile Forecasts of Product Life Cycles Using Exponential Smoothing

by Xiaojia Guo, Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr., and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Many important business decisions rely on a manager’s forecast of a product or service’s life cycle. One of the most widely used forecasting techniques is exponential smoothing models. This paper introduces a model suitable for large-scale forecasting environments where key operational decisions depend on quantile forecasts.

Knowing What Your Boss Earns Can Make You Work Harder

by Rachel Layne

Learning what your co-worker earns can make you less productive, but knowing your manager's paycheck can motivate you to work harder. Research by Zoë Cullen. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Celebrating 'The Men and Women of the Corporation' 40 Years Later

by Robin J. Ely

Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s Men and Women of the Corporation inspired and informed a generation of scholars studying gender, status, and power. Robin J. Ely interviews Kanter about her groundbreaking research and why it remains relevant today. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Corporate Tax Cuts Don't Increase Middle Class Incomes

by Roberta Holland

New research by Ethan Rouen and colleagues suggests that corporate tax cuts contribute to income inequality. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Complex Disclosure

by Ginger Zhe Jin, Michael Luca, and Daniel Martin

This study shows that companies looking to hide unfavorable information might strategically be making contract terms unnecessarily complex, harming consumers and undermining the effectiveness of disclosure. These results highlight a role for regulation that would encourage simpler forms of disclosure.