Negotiation, Organizations & Markets

- 2021
- Working Paper
Alleviating Time Poverty among the Working Poor

By: A.V. Whillans and Colin West

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of working mothers, a population who is especially likely to experience severe time poverty. Participants received vouchers for services designed to reduce their burden of unpaid labor. The effect of these vouchers were compared against equivalently valued unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) and a neutral control condition. Using a pre-post design, in contrast to our pre-registered hypotheses, a pre-registered Bayesian ANCOVA indicated that the time-saving, UCT, and control conditions led to similar increases in subjective well-being, reductions in perceived stress, and decreases in relationship conflict. Exploratory analyses revealed that the time-saving vouchers and UCTs produced these benefits through distinct psychological pathways. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for economic development initiatives.
- 2021
- Working Paper
Alleviating Time Poverty among the Working Poor

By: A.V. Whillans and Colin West

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of working mothers, a population who is especially likely to experience severe time...
- November 5, 2021
- Article
Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

By: Michael Luca

We’ve all been told that correlation does not imply causation. Yet many business leaders, elected officials, and media outlets still make causal claims based on misleading correlations. These claims are too often unscrutinized, amplified, and mistakenly used to guide decisions. It’s easy to see how these mistakes occur, as a large body of research in behavioral economics and psychology has highlighted systematic mistakes we can make when looking at data. This article explores avoidable mistakes that have occurred as a result of misinterpreted correlations, and lays out a path for business leaders to more effectively interpret empirical patterns and leverage data to guide decisions.
- November 5, 2021
- Article
Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

By: Michael Luca

We’ve all been told that correlation does not imply causation. Yet many business leaders, elected officials, and media outlets still make causal claims based on misleading correlations. These claims are too often unscrutinized, amplified, and mistakenly used to guide decisions. It’s easy to see how these mistakes occur, as a large body of research...
- Article
Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings

By: John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman and Shlomo Benartzi

We conducted a field experiment to study the effect of framing future moments in time as new beginnings (or “fresh starts”). University employees (N=6,082) received mailings with an opportunity to choose between increasing their contributions to a savings plan immediately or at a specified future time point. Framing the future time point in relation to a fresh start date (e.g., the recipient’s birthday, the first day of spring) increased the likelihood that the mailing recipient chose to increase contributions at that future time point without decreasing their likelihood of increasing contributions immediately. Overall, fresh start framing increased retirement plan contributions in the eight months following the mailing. Our findings represent the first experimental demonstration of the benefits of fresh start framing in a consequential field setting.
- Article
Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings

By: John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman and Shlomo Benartzi

We conducted a field experiment to study the effect of framing future moments in time as new beginnings (or “fresh starts”). University employees (N=6,082) received mailings with an opportunity to choose between increasing their contributions to a savings plan immediately or at a specified future time point. Framing the future time point in...

About the Unit

The NOM Unit seeks to understand and improve the design and management of systems in which people make decisions: that is, design and management of negotiations, organizations, and markets. In addition, members of the group share an abiding interest in the micro foundations of these phenomena.

Our work is grounded in the power of strategic interaction to encourage individuals and organizations to create and sustain value (in negotiations, in organizations, and in markets). We explore these interactions through diverse approaches: Although many of us have training in economics, we also have members with backgrounds in social psychology, sociology, and law.

NOM seeks to apply rigorous scientific methods to real-world problems -- producing research and pedagogy that is compelling to both the academy and practitioners.

Recent Publications

Alleviating Time Poverty among the Working Poor

By: A.V. Whillans and Colin West

2021 |
Working Paper |
Faculty Research

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of working mothers, a population who is especially likely to experience severe time poverty. Participants received vouchers for services designed to reduce their burden of unpaid labor. The effect of these vouchers were compared against equivalently valued unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) and a neutral control condition. Using a pre-post design, in contrast to our pre-registered hypotheses, a pre-registered Bayesian ANCOVA indicated that the time-saving, UCT, and control conditions led to similar increases in subjective well-being, reductions in perceived stress, and decreases in relationship conflict. Exploratory analyses revealed that the time-saving vouchers and UCTs produced these benefits through distinct psychological pathways. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for economic development initiatives.

Citation

Read Now

The Psychology Behind Meeting Overload

By: Ashley Whillans, Dave Feldman and Damian Wisniewski

November 12, 2021 |
Editorial |
Harvard Business Review (website)

Everyone hates meetings. Attending too many can be highly stressful and tiring, and both productivity and quality take a hit when employees tune out, become demotivated, and lose valuable heads-down work time. As such, it’s hardly a surprise that managers in one survey reported 83% of the meetings on their calendars were unproductive, or that US-based professionals rated meetings as the “number one office productivity killer.” But despite what seems to be an overwhelming consensus, endless check-ins, debriefs, all-staffs, and Zoom calls continue to plague the corporate world. What will it take for us to break free from our collective addiction to meetings?

Keywords: Meetings; Collaboration; Time Management; Psychology

Citation

Read Now

Francoise Brougher

By: Edward H. Chang, Nour Kteily and Kathleen McGinn

November 2021 |
Teaching Note |
Faculty Research

Citation

Purchase

Extension Request Avoidance Predicts Greater Time Stress Among Women

By: Ashley V. Whillans, Jaewon Yoon, Aurora Turek and Grant E. Donnelly

Article |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

In nine studies using archival data, surveys, and experiments, we identify a factor that predicts gender differences in time stress and burnout. Across academic and professional settings, women are less likely to ask for more time when working under adjustable deadlines (studies 1 to 4a). Women’s discomfort in asking for more time on adjustable deadlines uniquely predicts time stress and burnout, controlling for marital status, industry, tenure, and delegation preferences (study 1). Women are less likely to ask for more time to complete their tasks because they hold stronger beliefs that they will be penalized for these requests and worry more about burdening others (studies 1 to 2d). We find no evidence that women are judged more harshly than men (study 3). We also document a simple organizational intervention: formal processes for requesting deadline extensions reduce gender differences in asking for more time (studies 4a to 5).

Keywords: Burnout; Time Stress; Workplace Practices; Deadlines; Time Management; Gender; Well-being

Citation

Read Now

Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

By: Michael Luca

November 5, 2021 |
Article |
Harvard Business Review (website)

We’ve all been told that correlation does not imply causation. Yet many business leaders, elected officials, and media outlets still make causal claims based on misleading correlations. These claims are too often unscrutinized, amplified, and mistakenly used to guide decisions. It’s easy to see how these mistakes occur, as a large body of research in behavioral economics and psychology has highlighted systematic mistakes we can make when looking at data. This article explores avoidable mistakes that have occurred as a result of misinterpreted correlations, and lays out a path for business leaders to more effectively interpret empirical patterns and leverage data to guide decisions.

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Data Analysis; Organizations; Decision Making; Data and Data Sets; Analysis; Learning

Citation

Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings

By: John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman and Shlomo Benartzi

Article |
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

We conducted a field experiment to study the effect of framing future moments in time as new beginnings (or “fresh starts”). University employees (N=6,082) received mailings with an opportunity to choose between increasing their contributions to a savings plan immediately or at a specified future time point. Framing the future time point in relation to a fresh start date (e.g., the recipient’s birthday, the first day of spring) increased the likelihood that the mailing recipient chose to increase contributions at that future time point without decreasing their likelihood of increasing contributions immediately. Overall, fresh start framing increased retirement plan contributions in the eight months following the mailing. Our findings represent the first experimental demonstration of the benefits of fresh start framing in a consequential field setting.

Keywords: Choice Architecture; Randomized Field Experiment; Savings; New Beginning; Fresh Start; Saving; Retirement; Behavior

Citation

Find at Harvard

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The Effects of Retirement on Sense of Purpose in Life: Crisis or Opportunity?

By: Ayse Yemiscigil, Nattavudh Powdthavee and Ashley V. Whillans

November 2021 |
Article |
Psychological Science

Does retirement lead to an existential crisis or present an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of purpose in life? Prior research has documented a negative association between retirement and sense of purpose in life, suggesting that retirement could lead people to feel aimless and lost. We revisit these findings using a quasi-experimental approach and identify the causal impact of retirement on purpose in life. In a nationally representative panel of American adults (N = 8,113), we apply an instrumental variable analysis and use the differences in the likelihood of retirement driven by Social Security retirement incentives in the U.S. to find a sizable increase in purpose in life as an outcome of retirement. These improvements are driven by lower socioeconomic status individuals who retire from dissatisfying jobs. The findings suggest that retirement may provide an opportunity to experience a renewed sense of purpose, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

Keywords: Aging; Meaning; Socioeconomic Status; Life Experiences; Retirement; Well-being

Citation

Find at Harvard

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A Salient Sugar Tax Decreases Sugary Drink Buying

By: Grant E. Donnelly, Paige Guge, Ryan Howell and Leslie John

November 2021 |
Article |
Psychological Science

Many governments have introduced sugary drink excise taxes to reduce purchasing and consumption of such drinks; however, they do not typically stipulate how such taxes should be communicated at point-of-purchase. Historical, field, and experimental data entailing over 225,000 purchase decisions indicated that introducing a $0.01/ounce sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) tax—without making it salient on price tags—had no effect on purchasing (-1.26%; p=.28). However, when “Includes Sugary Drink Tax” was added to tax-inclusive price tags, SSB purchasing was lower than: pre-tax (-9.78%; p<. 001); a post-tax period when drinks did not bear price tags (-5.04%; p<.001); and a post-tax period when drinks bore tax-inclusive price tags that did not mention the tax (-3.83%, p=.002). Making the tax’s beneficiary (student programs) salient on price tags had no added effect. Two follow-up experiments suggest that tax-salience was effective partly because consumers overestimate the tax amount, leading to reduced purchase intention.

Keywords: Decision-making; Open Data; Open Materials; Preregistered; Health; Policy; Taxation; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making