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@profhamel enjoyed the talk... especially the section on field experiments starting at minute 40!
There is an emerging community of b-school professors running *rigorous* and *relevant* management field experiments.
Tagging some papers below.
I hope it inspires some optimism. https://twitter.com/profhamel/status/1319722727352090624
There is an emerging community of b-school professors running *rigorous* and *relevant* management field experiments.
Tagging some papers below.
I hope it inspires some optimism. https://twitter.com/profhamel/status/1319722727352090624
With @RonnieChatterji @shariqueorg and Solene Delecourt ( @HarvardHBS @DukeFuqua @BerkeleyHaas) we have run RCTs looking on whether and when getting advice improves startup growth. Advice helps, especially for entrepreneurs with less training: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.2987
@hyunjinvkim ( @INSEAD) has an amazing job market paper showing that providing small businesses owners information on competitor prices helps the owner better position her business. Suggests managers are not paying enough attention to competition:
https://papers.kimhyunjin.com/Kim_JMP.pdf
https://papers.kimhyunjin.com/Kim_JMP.pdf
@agambardella61 @spinachiara1 @arnaldo_camuffo ( @Unibocconi @INSEAD) and friends are running fantastic RCTs showing that a scientific approach to strategy can greatly improve startup learning and success:
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3249
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3249
With Stefan Dimitradis ( @rotmanschool) I have a paper showing that teaching entrepreneurs "social skills" helps them build stronger relationships with peers, find better advisors, and so improves firm profitability. We can help managers network better:
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/200625_Dimitriadis_Koning_Social_Skills_Working_Paper_50983e7f-0fe8-4ad8-a65b-a1a542de3234.pdf
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/200625_Dimitriadis_Koning_Social_Skills_Working_Paper_50983e7f-0fe8-4ad8-a65b-a1a542de3234.pdf
@klakhani @inaganguli @patrick_gaule @KevinJBoudreau ( @HarvardHBS @NU_Business @UMassAmherst @UniofBath ) and co-authors have done wonderful RCTs looking at how we can promote/improve collaborations between scientists: https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00676
@janagallus ( @uclaanderson) is running RCTs on how how to best design awards and recognition to improve effort and productivity:
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2540
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2540
@bocowgill ( @Columbia_Biz) has a host of field experiments looking at how how to improve incentives in hiring (and some newer work testing the role of algorithms in hiring):
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584919
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584919
And while the RCTs above illustrate some practices that are especially effective, other experiments show what *doesn't* work.
In a paper with @shariqueorg we show that it's incredibly hard to "design" social connections between workers.
In a paper with @shariqueorg we show that it's incredibly hard to "design" social connections between workers.
People will work with an assigned team, but form relationships with who they want to no matter the manager's preferences. Strongly suggests that org. design needs to go beyond structure:
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Can_networks_be_designed_d2f5dca6-2cbd-44a1-aca3-c2ed883d12ab.pdf
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Can_networks_be_designed_d2f5dca6-2cbd-44a1-aca3-c2ed883d12ab.pdf
@LamarPierce1 @CharlotteBlank and Alex Rees-Jones ( @WUSTLbusiness @Maritz) find that framing incentives in terms of "losses" backfires: leading to dealers to sell 5% fewer cars and generating a revenue loss of $45 million!!! Don't do this!
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a80912b29f18728e17d5164/t/5e03c0f12fb96016811913ea/1577304398936/LossFramedPost.pdf
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a80912b29f18728e17d5164/t/5e03c0f12fb96016811913ea/1577304398936/LossFramedPost.pdf
And I could continue with many students and professors running rigorous and relevant studies. Apologies to everyone I left off this thread. Please add your papers!
Also worth noting that these papers use direct and clear prose (well, before going through the review process).
Also worth noting that these papers use direct and clear prose (well, before going through the review process).
Come hang out @HarvardHBS some time. I think you will see a new approach to b-school research, built around careful measurement and RCTs.
It is still the minority of work, but I and others are excited to be moving management research towards rigor and relevance.
It is still the minority of work, but I and others are excited to be moving management research towards rigor and relevance.
And we are starting to tackle increasingly important questions using RCTs: discrimination, inequality, sustainability, innovation, and so much more.
Yes, many scholars pushback against the RCT approach, some of this is sound criticism, much not. We are changing the field
Yes, many scholars pushback against the RCT approach, some of this is sound criticism, much not. We are changing the field
PS: I am always looking for more funding to support new RCTs and field experiments!
If you know of companies that want to direct more of the $5b/yr they send to universities towards useful and rigorous management research please let me know!
If you know of companies that want to direct more of the $5b/yr they send to universities towards useful and rigorous management research please let me know!
