Knowledge at Wharton

Employees' ties outside of work – whether on corporate boards or committees, or even political party affiliations – can create conflict at work, research from The Wharton School professor Henning Piezunka uncovers: https://whr.tn/4kj3oUc We're resuming our monthly series with Marissa Solomon Shandell – a Wharton Management PhD student whose popular @ResearchDoodles Instagram account depicts management concepts that can apply to your professional or personal growth – with this illustration of external connections leading to internal issues. To investigate this phenomenon, Piezunka and his co-authors analyzed data from professional soccer matches, revealing that club teammates who faced off as World Cup rivals passed to each other 11% less often in their next club season. Applying that lesson to the workplace, competing outside of work could shape the way colleagues interact in their shared workplace, potentially reducing collaboration or even leading to distrust or defensiveness. To combat this, Piezunka says, organizations can reinforce team identity, set boundaries for external engagements, and foster a culture of collaboration. #management #managementresearch #workplaceculture #culture #collaboration

This?#WomensHistoryMonth, we're sharing a special Ripple Effect roundup episode compiling key takeaways from eight previous episodes with?The Wharton School?professors: Women & Work: ??? Will Power Protect You From Retaliation? with Nancy Rothbard ??? Does Your Biological Clock Have a Price? with Corinne Low ??? Does Diversity Training Work? with Katy Milkman ??? Why Don’t Women Promote Themselves? with Judd Kessler Women & Leadership: ??? Sponsorship vs. Professional Mentoring for Women Leaders with Nancy Rothbard ??? Creating More Gender Equality in the Workplace with Maurice Schweitzer ??? How Leadership Is Defined Differently for Women with Rebecca Schaumberg ??? Challenges for Women in the Workplace with Martine Haas Swipe for a sampling of insights, and tune in to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website:?https://whr.tn/4iqj9GU #WomenLeaders?#WomenInBusiness?#WomenInLeadership

How might tariffs impact airlines? Supply chain expert Gad Allon spoke with Skift?about potential increased costs of materials and airfare to lead this week's?The Wharton School?faculty in the news roundup. Swipe through for... 1?? Allon on the aviation industry:?https://whr.tn/4hZQAjN 2?? Olivia S Mitchell on freezing your credit:?https://whr.tn/4i128n5 3?? Gupta Atul on private equity and health care:?https://whr.tn/4i0lmJw 4?? Susan Wachter on housing affordability:?https://whr.tn/3DchtSA 5?? Santiago Gallino on retail self-checkout:?https://whr.tn/3R2hZpH

To address biases in the images produced by generative AI models, The Wharton School professor Kartik Hosanagar and PhD student Pushkar Shukla developed TIBET, or Text to Image Bias Evaluation Tool. Their system automates detection at scale, helping ensure more accurate and inclusive AI outputs. They joined the Knowledge at Wharton podcast to discuss their research, the tool's capabilities and limitations, and the importance of correcting bias: https://whr.tn/4hYAMOw #GenerativeAI #GenAI #MachineLearning #AIEthics #Bias

These simple changes can enhance your decision-making, amplify your influence, and improve team performance:?https://whr.tn/3EVnzY5 In this Nano Tool for Leaders from?Wharton Executive Education,?The Wharton School?professors Adam Grant, Jerry Wind, Jonah Berger, and Michael Platt offer research-back strategies that can help you achieve better outcomes. #Leadership?#Management?#DecisionMaking?#LeadershipAdvice #LeadershipDevelopment

Gig workers like Uber drivers are experiencing the pros and cons of being managed by algorithms rather than people. How could the technology used in these types of jobs impact the larger workforce? The Wharton School professor Lindsey Cameron shares her research into the gig economy and "algorithmic management" to close our Ripple Effect podcast's four-part "Innovation" series with the Mack Institute for Innovation Management: https://whr.tn/4kgphDi The research highlights the "good-bad job" paradox: While gig workers enjoy flexibility, they also face job insecurity, unpredictable income, and lack of accessible, human management. When issues come up, such as unexpected deactivation or pay disputes, workers often lack clear resolution, she found, leaving their livelihoods in the hands of an opaque system. #GigEconomy #Algorithms #FutureOfWork #GigWork

With construction of new homes and homebuilders' confidence dropping, professor Susan Wachter discussed the current state of real estate with?Marketplace by APM. Swipe through for more in this week's?The Wharton School?faculty in the news roundup. 1?? Wachter on homebuilders:?https://whr.tn/3EPxIVY 2?? Ben Keys on natural disasters' impact on real estate:?https://whr.tn/3Xj5WaL 3?? Peter Conti-Brown on President Trump and the Fed:?https://whr.tn/3D6LEKQ 4?? Ezekiel Emanuel on appealing insurance claims:?https://whr.tn/4ieLsIe

While 98% of business leaders want to adopt AI, only 10% have generative AI models in production, a recent Accenture survey found. The Wharton School's Scott Snyder and Persona CEO Jason Hreha emphasize that AI adoption requires training, motivation, and seamless integration: https://whr.tn/43793Gy They used the Fogg Behavior Model as a guide for AI adoption, indicating that three elements must come together at any point in time for a behavior to occur: 1) Motivation 2) Ability 3) a Prompt. This chart highlights that true transformation happens when companies move from AI pilots to co-created solutions, driven by executive sponsorship, funding, OKRs, and training. Organizations that empower employees to rethink their roles in an AI-first future –while aligning incentives – are more likely to achieve lasting adoption, they offer. #GenAI #AItransformation #AIadoption #OrganizationalChange #ChangeManagement

Successful companies don't achieve their dominance purely through superior productivity. Scalability – how well firms can grow as they add resources – also plays a key role in helping them stay on top, according to a new study: https://whr.tn/4gMHaaa While productivity grows with revenue, it plateaus for the largest firms, whereas scalability keeps climbing, found researchers Sergio Salgado (The Wharton School), Joachim Hubmer (University of Pennsylvania), Serdar Ozkan (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, University of Toronto), Guangbin Hong (University of Chicago), and Mons C. (Queen's University). In fact, the top 5% of firms enjoy “returns to scale” (RTS) around 10 percentage points higher than their smaller peers, allowing them to expand efficiently even as they grow larger. Top performers achieve scalability through strategic investment in inputs like raw materials that maximize output with minimal cost increases. #Scalability #Scaling #Entrepreneurship

Cultural norms play a major role in shaping startup activity across nations and even within regions of the same country, research from The Wharton School professors Valentina A. Assenova and Raphael ("Raffi") Amit finds: https://whr.tn/4hUTrdG "Societies with looser social norms tend to foster higher rates of entrepreneurship by encouraging individual risk-taking and innovation,” Assenova says. She noted that such societies are found in places like the United States and parts of Scandinavia in Europe. According to the research, nearly 0.40% of California’s population are entrepreneurs, while states like West Virginia (0.19%) and Pennsylvania (0.17%) have some of the lowest rates. #Entrepreneurship #Entrepreneur #Innovation #Startups #Founders