Idea posted: March 2015

Institutions: Chinese University of Hong Kong    Kellogg School of Management   

Personnel policies are often considered in the context of the individual — policies related to hiring, promoting, and firing individuals, for example. However, personnel policies must operate within the context…

Idea posted: January 2015

Institutions: University of Utah David Eccles School of Business    Purdue University Krannert School of Management    University of Cambridge Judge Business School   

Previous studies have explored the link between CEO pay and future business performance with mixed results. In some cases, higher CEO pay is linked to better results; other studies show…

Idea posted: November 2014

Institutions: University of Cambridge Judge Business School   

Does hiring compensation consultants result in higher pay for CEOs? Until recently, academic studies exploring this question have yielded no evidence that CEOs use compensation consultants to justify higher pay.…

Idea posted: September 2014

Institutions: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania    McGill University   

The best students from the best universities and graduate schools will be attracted to the most desirable companies to work for in their industries. At first glance, it would seem…

Idea posted: June 2014

Institutions: Kellogg School of Management    University of Chicago Booth School of Business   

Motivation can be divided into two dimensions: outcome-focused and process-focused. With outcome-focused motivation, people are driven by the desire of an achievement. They want to finish the task so that…

Idea posted: June 2014

Institutions: University of Southern California Marshall School of Business    University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business    University of Chicago Booth School of Business   

The use of reference points — for example, a monthly sales quota of 20 sales — is at the heart of reference-dependent behavioural economic theories, the most influential being “prospect…

Idea posted: February 2014

Institutions: Saïd Business School, University of Oxford    University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce    International Monetary Fund    Ohio State University Moritz College Of Law   

Investment banking was once regulated mainly by ‘reputational incentives’: bankers were motivated to act in the client’s best interests by concern for the bank’s good name. It was a system…

Idea posted: January 2014

Institutions: Kellogg School of Management    Yale University   

The question of whether positive or negative incentives work better has long been a matter of debate in society. From biblical times to the very recent past, children were thought…

Idea posted: October 2013

Institutions: INSEAD    Hong Kong University of Science and Technology   

It is important to draw a distinction between over-confidence and over-optimism in business. The former can be seen as a pejorative term, linked to arrogance and hubris, and the latter…