Doing the Work
Failures in Forecasting: An Experiment on Interpersonal Projection Bias
Benjamin Bushong & Tristan Gagnon-Bartsch
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using a real-effort experiment, we show that people project their current tastes onto others when forecasting others’ behavior, even when their tastes are exogenously manipulated and transparently different. In the first part of our experiment, “workers” stated their willingness to continue working on a tedious task. We varied how many initial tasks workers completed before eliciting their willingness to work (WTW); some were relatively fresh when stating their WTW, whereas others were relatively tired. Later, a separate group of “predictors” -- who also worked on the task -- guessed the WTW of workers in each state. We find: (i) tired workers were less willing to work than fresh workers; (ii) predictors (in aggregate) accurately guessed the WTW of workers when they were in the same state as the workers about whom they were predicting; but (iii) when fresh predictors were guessing about tired workers, they substantially overestimated their WTW; and (iv) when tired predictors were guessing about fresh workers, they underestimated their WTW. Using an additional treatment, we find that workers also mispredicted their own future WTW, and we compare the magnitudes of intrapersonal and interpersonal projection bias.
Managers Can Support Employees in Working-Class Contexts by Promoting Growth Mindsets
Inhyun Han et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
White-collar workplaces are critical “gateway” contexts. They play a crucial role in providing valuable opportunities and upward social mobility. Some groups are less likely, however, to feel they belong in these settings. For example, those with a college degree may feel relatively at ease. However, those without may be uncertain about whether they will be fully included. We examine one possibility for addressing these class-based belonging gaps. A growing education literature demonstrates the power of growth mindsets. We extend this research to the workplace and test its benefits. In two preregistered experiments (N = 1,777), we find that endorsing growth mindsets can support working-class (WK) individuals. When managers have a growth mindset, WK individuals report high sense of belonging. The effect occurred because managers with growth mindsets reduced identity threat. A preregistered survey of employees in the real world (N = 300) triangulated these findings. Sense of belonging was higher among those who believed their manager had a growth mindset. Furthermore, they reported greater job satisfaction and commitment. These findings have important implications for the growing conversation on addressing class divides.
Faking It with the Boss’s Jokes? Leader Humor Quantity, Follower Surface Acting, and Power Distance
Xiaoran Hu et al.
Academy of Management Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Most scholarly work concludes that leader humor positively affects emotional outcomes for followers. However, two interrelated issues with past research make this view incomplete: (a) studies often conflate the act of expressing humor with the humor’s effectiveness, and (b) existing research overlooks follower emotion regulation. In addressing these issues, we generate and test new theory that challenges the theoretical consensus, highlighting why and when leader humor expression has emotional costs for followers. Specifically, we theorize that leader humor quantity, irrespective of its quality, puts pressure on followers to engage in “surface acting” to fake or exaggerate positive emotions. We further propose that these surface acting responses are more likely to occur when followers hold high power distance values, such that followers more willingly comply with expectations to display positive emotions in response to leader humor expression. This increase in surface acting then leads to more emotional exhaustion and less job satisfaction for followers. Results from three studies -- incorporating a field experiment, a laboratory experiment, and a multi-wave field study -- provide support for these hypotheses. We close with a discussion of how our findings provide a unique counterpoint regarding the effects of leader humor on follower emotional outcomes.
Stepping Sideways to Step up: Lateral Mobility and Career Advancement Inside Organizations
Matthew Bidwell & J.R. Keller
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although internal labor market theory emphasizes promotions as the main form of mobility within organizations, many internal job moves take people sideways into jobs that are at the same hierarchical level as the one that was left. Despite the prevalence of these lateral moves, however, we have little evidence on what role they play in workers’ careers. We argue that lateral mobility can facilitate subsequent career advancement by allowing for the development and demonstration of new skills and can, therefore, help those who would struggle to be promoted from their current job to develop their careers further. We establish empirical evidence on the implications of lateral mobility using eight years of personnel data from a large U.S. healthcare company. Our analyses show that those employees who move laterally are more likely to be subsequently promoted and achieve substantially higher pay growth than a matched sample of employees. We also find that lateral moves are more likely to be undertaken by those who have spent longer in the job but have lower performance than those who are promoted. This pattern of results suggests that lateral mobility provides an important avenue for career growth as people who step sideways in organizations are more likely to subsequently step up.
The allure of consensus: People (over)seek consensus in selecting group persuasion strategies
Derek Rucker et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
How do people select targets when tasked with persuading a group of people? One approach would be to prioritize getting people in support of the persuader’s position to hold relatively extreme attitudes -- an extremity strategy. An alternative approach would be to prioritize getting as many people as possible to support the persuader’s position, regardless of how extreme they are -- a consensus strategy. Although some situations might allow persuaders to combine these strategies, the present work examines how people select targets and strategies when a natural trade-off exists between acquiring fewer people with more extreme attitudes versus more people with less extreme attitudes. Prior work suggests that potential advantages exist for both extremity and consensus strategies. However, the current research finds that people exhibit a strong preference for a consensus strategy when tasked with selecting targets in group persuasion contexts. Further, this preference prevails even when consensus strategies would backfire and cause one’s persuasive efforts to fail. This allure of consensus is demonstrated across eight primary experiments, which also reveal why people are drawn to a consensus strategy as well as explore potential boundary conditions for this preference. This work has implications for understanding how persuaders select targets and strategies in the context of group persuasion. In addition, the paradigms and results invite a host of new avenues for future research.
Trade Secret Protection and the Integration of Information Within Firms
Ionela Andreicovici, Sara Bormann & Katharina Hombach
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examine the effect of trade secret protection laws on internal information integration (i.e., the extent to which economic agents are provided with access to decision-relevant information from other economic agents within a firm). We argue that stronger trade secret protection laws increase firms’ internal information integration because they reduce the proprietary costs of information leakage. To test our prediction, we measure a firm’s internal information integration by the share of its sites integrated into its enterprise management system. Exploiting the staggered adoption of trade secret protection laws via the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), we find that these laws increase firms’ internal information integration. This effect is stronger (weaker) for firms with higher proprietary costs (coordination benefits). Further, we provide evidence that the UTSA-induced increase in internal information integration translates into improvements of firms’ internal information quality and decision-making quality. Taken together, our results enhance the understanding of the economic trade-offs shaping firms’ internal information environment.
The Labor Market Effects of Marijuana Legalization on Firms' Cost of Equity
Scott Guernsey, Matthew Serfling & Cheng Yan
University of Tennessee Working Paper, March 2024
Abstract:
We investigate the impact of medical marijuana legalization (MML) on firms' cost of equity (COE). Exploiting the staggered implementation of MML across U.S. states and accounting for potential biases in difference-in-differences estimators with two-way fixed effects, we find that firms experience a significant decline in their COE following MML. Drawing from theoretical models linking asset prices to labor market frictions, we hypothesize that this effect is driven by MML easing labor search frictions and increasing worker supply. Corroborating the theory's predictions, the impact of MML is stronger for firms with greater growth potential and those that employ more skilled workers. Providing more direct evidence of this channel, we document an increase in the migration rates of inventors and highly skilled and educated workers to states post-legalization, which is also associated with improved innovation productivity. Increased home prices and homeownership rates after MML are further consistent with an increase in labor supply demanding more local housing.