Entrepreneurship & Innovation

People quickly form impressions about moral character; for example, if people learn that someone cheated, they form a negative impression about that person's character and expect that person to cheat in the future. Four studies show that the formation of such moral character impressions depends on the degree of valence homogeneity in the target's context. We argue that this is the case because the degree of homogeneity in the context (the evaluative ecology) informs perceivers about the reliability of signals.

Prior studies linking grit — defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals — to performance are beset by contradictory evidence. As a result, commentators have increasingly declared that grit has limited effects. We propose that this inconsistent evidence has occurred because prior research has emphasized perseverance and ignored, both theoretically and empirically, the critical role of passion, which we define as a strong feeling toward a personally important value/preference that motivates intentions and behaviors to express that value/preference.

Moral Utility Theory provides an integrative framework for understanding the motivational basis of ethical decision making by modeling it as a process of subjective expected utility (SEU) maximization. The SEUs of ethical and unethical behavioral options are proposed to be assessed intuitively during goal pursuit, with unethical conduct emerging when the expected benefits of moral transgressions outweigh the expected costs.

Past studies have found that multicultural approaches to diversity can reduce prejudice and stimulate positive intergroup relations. The current research explored a possible negative side effect of multiculturalism: whether organizational diversity structures geared toward multiculturalism can conceal racial discrimination and delegitimize racial discrimination claims.

An essential function of the Federal Reserve is to manage the central payment system. The distributed ledger technology is a digital innovation with the potential to transform payments, clearing, and settlement processes. In my brief remarks, I will introduce the Federal Reserve's management of payment systems, emphasize how the distributed ledger technology could reduce operational and financial inefficiencies for payment systems, and highlight some potential challenges to the distributed ledger technology's broad implementation.

I study the benefits to entrepreneurial migration, focused on firms moving to Silicon Valley. Using a machine learning estimator and panel data, I find moving to Silicon Valley leads to higher startup performance on equity outcomes, financing, patenting, products, and revenue. These results are robust to a stringent coefficient stability test, and show no evidence of pre-trends. The benefits are partially driven by knowledge spillovers, and sensitive to capital market conditions during migration. Despite the benefits to migration, most startups do not move.

This article offers a primer on social power and social class with respect to their theoretical importance, conceptual distinction, and empirical relationship. We introduce and define the constructs of social power, social class, and one's psychological sense of power. We next explore the complex relationship between social power and social class. Because social class can produce a sense of power within an individual, studies on social power can inform theory and research on social class.

Many organizations employ diversity initiatives, such as diversity mission statements, in order to effectively recruit and manage a diverse workforce. One approach emphasizes multiculturalism, which focuses on the acknowledgement and celebration of racial diversity. Multiculturalism has been found to produce greater inclusion by racial majorities and increased psychological engagement of racial minorities, but has also been linked to negative outcomes among Whites, from feelings of exclusion to greater stereotyping to perceiving racial discrimination claims as less valid.