Management Science

Theories of reference-dependent preferences propose that individuals evaluate outcomes as gains or losses relative to a neutral reference point. We test for reference dependence in a large data set of marathon finishing times n = 9,789,093. Models of ...

We investigate whether organizations can create value by introducing visual transparency between consumers and producers. Although operational transparency has been shown to improve consumer perceptions of service value, existing theory posits that ...

This experiment tests for a causal relationship between the meaning of work and employees' motivation to perform well. The study builds on an existing employer-employee relationship, adding realism to the ongoing research of task meaning. Owing to an ...

Using coordination games, we elicit social norms directly for two different games where either an agreement to take the first best action has been reached or where no such agreement exists. We combine the norms data with separately measured choice data ...

We study the inefficiencies stemming from a firm's operating flexibility under debt. We find that flexibility in replenishing or liquidating inventory, by providing risk-shifting incentives, could lead to borrowing costs that erase more than one-third ...

Motivated by the recent interest in making delay announcements in large service systems, such as call centers, we investigate the accuracy of announcing the waiting time of the last customer to enter service LES. In practice, customers typically respond ...

This paper compares the financial and environmental performance of two revenue models for the online retailing of groceries: the per-order model, where customers pay for each delivery, and the subscription model, where customers pay a set fee and ...

In many settings firms rely on nongovernmental organizations NGOs to certify prosocial attributes embodied in their products. We provide a model of competition between NGOs in the provision of labeling services. Competition between a fixed number of ...

This study documents a positive relationship between the option-implied risk-neutral skewness RNS of individual stock returns' distribution and future realized stock returns during the period 1996-2012. A strategy that goes long the quintile portfolio ...

This paper investigates the impact of debt covenant protection on the cross section of equity returns with a firm-level covenant index and four subindices. We find that firms with weaker covenant protection lower covenant index levels earn significantly ...

Sell-side analysts change their stock recommendations when their valuations differ from the market's. These valuation differences can arise from either differences in earnings estimates or the nonearnings components of valuation methodologies. We find ...

The effect of corporate governance may depend on a firm's financial slack. On one hand, financial slack may be spent by managers for their private benefits; a high level is likely associated with severe agency conflicts. Thus corporate governance ...

Theory predicts that individual investor's incentives to uncover new information about asset values are low if asset prices are efficient. This, in turn, implies that heterogeneity in investment manager skill, if present, should be most clearly visible ...

Correlations of equity returns have varied substantially over time and remain a source of continuing policy debate. This paper studies stock market correlations in an equilibrium model with heterogeneous risk aversion. In the model, preference ...

Link recommendation, which suggests links to connect currently unlinked users, is a key functionality offered by major online social networks. Salient examples of link recommendation include "People You May Know" on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as "You ...

How do teams make joint decisions under risk when some team members learn about a prospect from description and others learn from experience? In a series of experiments, we find that two-person teams composed of one participant who learns from ...

Contrary to the tendency of mediators to defuse negative emotions between adversaries by treating them kindly, we demonstrate the surprising effectiveness of hostile mediators in resolving conflict. Hostile mediators generate greater willingness to ...

Despite growing interest in various facets of the position of chief marketing officer CMO, there is very little research on CMO compensation. Accordingly, we set out to investigate the determinants of CMO compensation and its effect on firm performance. ...

We incorporate product demonstrations into a game theoretic model of price competition. Demonstrations may include product samples, trials, return policies, online review platforms, or any other means by which a firm allows consumers to learn about ...

We present a long-term power generation expansion planning model that features a long planning horizon, an hourly time resolution, multiperiod investment and retirement decisions, transmission constraints, start-up restrictions, and short-term demand ...