Harvard Business

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

CEOs are seldom dismissed when the company they lead underperforms, in part because they wield considerable power over the board. So how can boards more effectively enforce CEO accountability in the face of poor performance? The authors recently analyzed boards of 865 U.S.-listed

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Consulting Success

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

How Consulting Founders Avoid Burnout & Recharge (7 Research-Backed Strategies) is a post from: Consulting Success Building your consulting business is like navigating an uncharted ocean: full of opportunity, but relentless and unforgiving. The true challenge isn’t just charting the course.

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Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

With five generations working side-by-side, growing political polarization, and the challenges of global and hybrid work, companies need better strategies to foster cooperation, increase engagement, and solve complex problems.

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Harvard Business

OCTOBER 2, 2024

However, new research reveals that scaling early, particularly within the first 12 months, significantly raises the risk of startup failure, especially for two-sided platforms. Silicon Valley often touts rapid scaling as the best strategy for achieving startup success.

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Harvard Business

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Yet, previous research has shown that delegating decision-making can cause employees to feel overly burdened. In a new paper, researchers examine the negative impact that handing over choice responsibility can have on delegator-delegate relationships.

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Harvard Business

JUNE 18, 2024

New research reveals the surprising power of “referral contagion,” where referred customers not only buy more but also refer 30-57% more new customers than others. This phenomenon, observed across industries, is driven by social factors like the perception of referring as appropriate and the tendency to befriend similar people.

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Harvard Business

AUGUST 20, 2024

Previous research has found that new ideas are seen as risky and are often rejected. New research suggests that this rejection can be due to people’s lack of shared criteria or reference points when evaluating a potential innovation’s value.

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Harvard Business

JULY 11, 2024

Yet, the authors’ latest research suggests one catalyst for learning is often lacking when it’s needed most: psychological safety. Across industries, from manufacturing to health care, the luxury of waiting years to benefit from new talent is long gone.

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Harvard Business

JULY 24, 2024

However, scientific studies have found mixed results: On the one hand, some studies find evidence that passionate employees tend to perform better, while other research has documented null or even negative effects on performance. What’s the root of these inconsistent findings surrounding passion?

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Harvard Business

JULY 3, 2024

A large body of research on work-family conflict drew on this notion and illustrated how work and family domains create conflicting demands and interfere with one another. Instead, in the past, family has been mostly seen as competing with work for an employee’s finite resources, like their time and energy.

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Harvard Business

MAY 8, 2024

Across a series of seven studies, researchers found that these fears are consistently exaggerated: Candidates think they are much more likely to jeopardize a deal than managers report they are. The authors explore two reasons driving this fear and offer research-backed advice on how anxious candidates can approach job negotiations.

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Harvard Business

AUGUST 20, 2024

Recent research shows that one commonly employed tactic — turning off social media comments — can undermine influencers’ key assets: their persuasiveness, likability, and perceived sincerity.

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Harvard Business

JULY 17, 2024

Recent research suggests employee reactions can be broken down into four categories: excited supporters, calm compliers, torn shapers, and discontented opponents. Traditionally, employee responses have been overly simplified as “resistors,” who complicate or hinder DEI initiatives, or “supporters” of DEI, who facilitate their implementation.

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Consulting Success

DECEMBER 27, 2024

In this article, I’ll give you a simple and practical method for conducting market research for your consulting business. Consulting Market Research: How To Decode Your Client’s Needs is a post from: Consulting Success

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Harvard Business

APRIL 24, 2024

Researchers who analyzed consumer feedback from Etsy discovered that what consumers value most about upcycled products is not their sustainability but their creativity.

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Harvard Business

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Research shows that setbacks can galvanize your career in unexpected ways that make you more successful. If you’ve hit a big pothole on the road to success, take heart.

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Harvard Business

AUGUST 23, 2024

The authors of this article present research findings from their analysis of data describing over 29,000 unique loyalty points earning and spending transactions made during two recent years by 500 airline loyalty program consumers. Do consumers treat loyalty points the same way that they treat traditional money?

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Harvard Business

MARCH 20, 2024

Despite the potential career benefits of building high-status networks, research has long shown that women face greater obstacles in establishing these networks compared to men.

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Harvard Business

MARCH 13, 2024

Researchers recently reviewed 69 articles focused on the management implications of the Covid-19 pandemic that were published between March 2020 and July 2023 in top journals in management and applied psychology.

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Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Extensive research has indicated the benefits of showing gratitude to those around you, including your colleagues or employees. However, a new study suggests that the timing of these expressions can make a big difference.

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Harvard Business

AUGUST 13, 2024

In a new study, researchers examined some of these strategies, including Yelp and Wayfair’s labels which identify minority-owned businesses. In the last few years, large companies like Wayfair, Amazon, Yelp, DoorDash, and Instacart have launched initiatives to try to address racial inequality in their business models.

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Harvard Business

APRIL 12, 2024

A global analysis of previous research over the last three decades shows that women entrepreneurs face a higher rate of business loan denials and increased interest rates in loan decisions made by commercial bankers.

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Harvard Business

AUGUST 15, 2024

The authors’ research found that three persistent problems plague DEI initiatives: They do not connect to operational or strategic goals and objectives; they do not include the rank-and-file; and they are often implemented through periodic efforts like annual diversity training that aren’t integrated into day-to-day work processes.

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Harvard Business

JUNE 5, 2024

Research shows this happens due to “entrenchment,” where repeating an activity blocks consideration of better options and makes you more likely to keep doing it. In life and at work, we often get stuck persisting in unpleasant activities even when more enjoyable and equally effective alternatives exist.

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Harvard Business

MAY 14, 2024

But research shows that leaders do not fully understand their employees’ use of, and readiness for, AI. Leaders who are exploring how AI might fit into their business operations must not only navigate a vast and ever-changing landscape of tools, but they must also facilitate a significant cultural shift within their organizations.

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Harvard Business

JUNE 7, 2024

But new research suggests that’s not always true. Retailers might think that bigger discounts attract more customers. Sometimes, a smaller discount that looks more precise — say 6.8% as compared to 7% — can make people think the deal won’t last long, and they’ll buy more.

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Harvard Business

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Researchers conducted a series of studies to understand when curiosity may lead to different reactions in the workplace. They found that curious employees were often seen by their leaders as insubordinate and, in turn, less likable. However, curious employees who were politically skilled were not seen this way.

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Harvard Business

OCTOBER 18, 2024

Drawing on a large body of recent research, the authors argue that well-being programs are failing, in part, because they focus on individual solutions rather than the broader systems that affect workers. By 2026, global corporate spending on wellness programs is set to top $94.6

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Harvard Business

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

In a new paper, researchers analyzed more than 55,000 Instagram posts from the top 763 influencers worldwide during a six month period and discover that posts that read as more authentic to the influencer, for example posts that show close family or friends, receive the highest engagement.

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Harvard Business

APRIL 11, 2024

Over a series of nine experiments, researchers found that the way low ratings are communicated shapes user experience and behavior in a number of ways. Averaged rating systems, used by platforms such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, present an overall score that aggregates all individual ratings.

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