Does an employer "owe" its staff for their efforts, or is the relationship one of a shared give and take? The way that question is answered can affect an employee's performance, and it's not only their own answer that matters. If their coworkers fall in the former camp, then that, too, can have a negative effect on the employee. Riki Takeuchi and Kin Fai ... Read More

A customer walks past a shop window and sees sports shoes advertised for $800. Researchers have long shown that exposure to such high "price anchors" can increase the amount a customer is willing to pay for products in that category. But, what effects does it have on the prices consumers are willing to pay for products in unrelated categories? Will this high ... Read More

People contribute their services for free in many different ways. In the U.S., for instance, about one-quarter of adults offer voluntary service to community groups. Internationally, many people contribute to online communities such as Wikipedia and YouTube. What do they get out of it? This is a topic of some discussion among researchers. Many argue that ... Read More

Firms such as Amazon and Netflix have devised recommendation systems that help consumers to quickly wade through the mountains of information at their fingertips and zero in on the items they might be interested in buying. These systems provide a valuable service and yet, their potential is still not fully developed. Rong Zheng of HKUST and his co-authors ... Read More

What are the rationales underlying consumers' grocery purchases that typically involve multiple varieties or flavors of the same brand? Liang Guo of HKUST considers the example of yoghurt, where consumers are likely to purchase multiple items and even multiple flavors, and breaks down the underlying rationales to offer insights on what consumers may be ... Read More

Researchers studying the dynamics of teams tend to focus on competition between demographic categories represented in a team, such as between men and women. But often two or more different professional categories, such as doctors or nurses, are required to work together as a unit. How do the dynamics change? Prof. Prithviraj Chattopadhyay of HKUST and his co ... Read More

Conflict in the workplace can have positive consequences by spurring team members to examine other perspectives and information in order to reach a consensus. But conflict comes in different forms and not all of them are beneficial. Jing Zhu of HKUST and her co-authors examine the interaction between task conflict and relationship conflict and show how these ... Read More

A commercial for a bank features the father of a little girl imagining his daughter on her wedding day and feeling both happy and sad. The use of such a mixed emotions appeal can evoke poignant responses in viewers, but advertisers need to be aware that not everyone will be comfortable with that - a result which could make them regard the advertisement less ... Read More

Viral marketinsome viral campaigns have performed phenomenally well - for example, a viral video by Unilever in 2006 generated over 2.3 million views in its first 10 days and three times more traffic to the company's website than a Super Bowl commercial had - many campaigns falter. Ralf van der Lans of HKUST and his co-authors Gerrit van Bruggen, Jehoshua ... Read More

Many types of business activities, such as new product launches, can fall outside the range of traditional accounting measures. This means investors relying on bottom-line earnings may not get the full picture. An alternative is to consider annual 10-K reports, a mandatory requirement of the Securities and Exchange Commission which give a comprehensive but ... Read More