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    HappinessRemove Happiness →

    New research on happiness from Harvard Business School on issues including spending money on new experiences versus goods, and how and why spending money on others promotes happiness.
    Page 1 of 17 Results
    • 14 Feb 2023
    • Research & Ideas

    When a Vacation Isn’t Enough, a Sabbatical Can Recharge Your Life—and Your Career

    by Michael Blanding

    Burning out and ready to quit? Consider an extended break instead. Drawing from research inspired by his own 900-mile journey, DJ DiDonna offers practical advice to help people chart a new path through a sabbatical.

    • 10 Jan 2023
    • Research & Ideas

    How to Live Happier in 2023: Diversify Your Social Circle

    by Michael Blanding

    People need all kinds of relationships to thrive: partners, acquaintances, colleagues, and family. Research by Michael Norton and Alison Wood Brooks offers new reasons to pick up the phone and reconnect with that old friend from home.

    • 29 Sep 2022
    • Op-Ed

    Inclusive Leadership Advice: Get Comfortable With the Uncomfortable

    by Francesca Gino

    People tend to seek sameness, but they can teach themselves to relish in the differences of the human experience. Francesca Gino offers these three principles from improv to anyone who's trying to lead more inclusively.

    • 21 Sep 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Find More Meaning in Life

    by Shalene Gupta

    Before you give notice and go on a vision quest, consider this: Fulfillment doesn't require big change, says research by Julian De Freitas and colleagues. In fact, you can find more meaning even in a job you don't love.

    • 02 Jun 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    Blissful Thinking: When It Comes to Finding Happiness, 'Your Dreams Are Liars'

    by Dan Morrell

    Happiness research is all the rage. Arthur Brooks shares how understanding the origins of joy can improve the way we lead organizations—and our personal lives.

    • 25 Jan 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

    by Michael Blanding

    It's not about the bigger home or the better vacation. Financial stability helps people escape the everyday hassles of life, says research by Jon Jachimowicz. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 29 Nov 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    How Bonuses Get Employees to Choose Work Over Family

    by Rachel Kim Raczka

    Working late again? Research by Ashley Whillans and colleagues shows how incentive pay encourages workers to think of downtime as wasted time. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 05 Jan 2021
    • Cold Call Podcast

    Using Behavioral Science to Improve Well-Being for Social Workers

    Re: Ashley V. Whillans

    For child and family social workers, coping with the hardships of children and parents is part of the job. But that can cause a lot of stress. Is it possible for financially constrained organizations to improve social workers’ well-being using non-cash rewards, recognition, and other strategies from behavioral science? Assistant Professor Ashley Whillans describes the experience of Chief Executive Michael Sanders’ at the UK’s What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, as he led a research program aimed at improving the morale of social workers in her case, “The What Works Centre: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Social Worker Well-being.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 05 Oct 2020
    • Book

    Want to Be Happier? Make More Free Time

    by Dina Gerdeman

    Enjoying life requires time, but too often we willingly give it away in pursuit of money and career. Ashley Whillans shows how to restore the proper balance. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 21 May 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    Fighting the COVID Blues: Advice from Business Research

    by Dina Gerdeman and Danielle Kost

    Pandemic uncertainty doesn't have to spell doom. Happiness experts at Harvard Business School offer these research-based strategies for managing stress. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 26 Nov 2018
    • Book

    Make Your Employees Feel Psychologically Safe

    by Martha Lagace

    To do their best work, people need to feel secure and safe in their workplace. In a new book, Amy C. Edmondson details how companies can develop psychological safety. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 04 Jan 2018
    • Cold Call Podcast

    How to Monetize Happiness

    Re: Ethan S. Bernstein

    Is there a business model around happiness? Hitachi believes that a happy employee is a productive one, and is investing in "happiness sensors" to prove the connection. Ethan Bernstein explains why in this podcast. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 13 Nov 2017
    • Research & Ideas

    Want to Be Happier? Spend Some Money on Avoiding Household Chores

    by Dina Gerdeman

    In an age of time scarcity, buying our way out of the negative moments in the day is an important key to happiness, according to research by Ashley V. Whillans, Michael I. Norton, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Paul Smeets, and Rene Bekkers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 05 Aug 2013
    • Research & Ideas

    To Buy Happiness, Purchase an Experience

    by Carmen Nobel

    Michael Norton explains why spending money on new experiences yields more happiness than spending it on new products. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 15 May 2013
    • Research & Ideas

    From McRibs to Maseratis: The Power of Scarcity Marketing

    Re: Michael I. Norton

    In the new book Happy Money: the Science of Smarter Spending, behavioral economists Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton describe how money can buy happiness—but only if we spend it the right way. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 10 Sep 2009
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior

    by Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton & Elizabeth W. Dunn

    Helping others takes countless forms and springs from countless motivations, from deep-rooted empathy to a more calculated desire for public recognition. Social scientists have identified a host of ways in which charitable behavior can lead to benefits for the giver, whether economically via tax breaks, socially via signaling one's wealth or status, or psychologically via experiencing well-being from helping. Charitable organizations have traditionally capitalized on all of these motivations for giving, with a recently emerging focus on highlighting the mood benefits of giving—the feelings of empowerment, joy, and inspiration that giving engenders. Indeed, if giving feels good, why not advertise the benefits of "self-interested giving," allowing people to experience that good feeling while increasing contributions to charity at the same time? HBS doctoral candidate Lalin Anik, Professor Michael I. Norton, and coauthors explore whether organizations that seek to increase charitable giving by advertising the benefits of giving are making claims supported by empirical research and, most importantly, whether such claims actually increase donations. Key concepts include: Happier people give more and giving makes people happier, such that happiness and giving may operate in a positive feedback loop (with happier people giving more, getting happier, and giving even more). At the same time, charitable organizations should be concerned about the possibility of crowding out their donors' proclivity to donate in the longer term by incentivizing them (via gifts, etc.) in the short term. While offering donors monetary or material incentives for giving may undermine generosity in the long term, preliminary research suggests that advertising the emotional benefits of prosocial behavior may leave these benefits intact and might even encourage individuals to give more. Future research is needed to disentangle the possible costs and benefits of self-interested giving. The authors are actively engaging charitable organizations to conduct these studies. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 02 Jun 2008
    • Research & Ideas

    Spending on Happiness

    by Sarah Jane Gilbert

    Money can't buy love but it can buy happiness—as long as it's spent on someone else. Research by Michael I. Norton and colleagues looks into how and why spending on others promotes happiness. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

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