Evolving and Leading for Innovation

Sophia Pink, PhD Candidate, Operations, Information, and Decisions, The Wharton School; Jose Cervantez, PhD Candidate, Operations, Information, and Decisions, The Wharton School; Katy Milkman, Operations, Information, and Decisions, The Wharton School Abstract: When people want to build multiple habits, is it better to start them all at once or to layer them on gradually? This project ...Read More

Tiantian Yang, Management, The Wharton School Abstract: Female-led ventures in female-focused industries (e.g., FemTech) face a unique tension between authenticity and perceived legitimacy in the eyes of potential employees. While identity-based lived experience can signal market insight and mission alignment, it may also conflict with gendered norms about who leads high-growth ventures. This project explores how ...Read More

The private equity industry has grown significantly in the past decades, and this explosive growth has generated much interest on the impact of private equity’s footprint on the economy and the labor market. Using career history data from nearly 11 million employees at 16,137 private equity-backed firms from 2000 to 2024, I find that firms ...Read More

Corporate reputation is a vital strategic asset for organizations. Yet, its socially constructed nature has made it challenging for scholars to agree on a precise definition or develop a reliable measurement strategy for it. Historically, scholars have relied on measures that are useful for assessing reputation earned but fail to capture its dynamic nature or ...Read More

This proposal presents two innovative research projects designed to harness the transformative power of AI to enhance healthcare outcomes. In close collaboration with the Somaliland Ministry of Health and Development (MoHD), the Taiwan International Cooperation Development Fund (ICDF), and Penn researchers, we aim to tackle critical healthcare challenges in Somaliland, one of East Africa’s most ...Read More

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, understanding how humans and machines achieve mutual understanding has become a crucial scientific challenge. Our research addresses this challenge by developing a digital web platform that studies how humans and AI systems communicate and build shared understanding in real-time. While machines can now model our preferences ...Read More

Spousal cofounding teams are common, yet we know little about how they affect startups’ ability to attract new hires. While prior work highlights internal advantages of spousal teams, such as trust, cohesion, and resilience, we propose that they may trigger concerns among external audiences by blurring professional and personal roles. Focusing on prospective employees, we ...Read More

Companies often encourage their customers to share their progress toward personal goals, such as their fitness journey, on social media. In this research, we investigate how doing so impacts motivation. While documenting goal pursuit online may increase motivation through immediate social rewards (likes, comments), accountability, and social support, it could also have no effect of ...Read More

Thinking about a future positive experience can be enjoyable and exciting. However, we suggest that thinking too much about a future positive experience can backfire. In particular, we investigate whether people would become less excited initially when they are reminded more (vs. less often) about a future positive experience. We suggest that people can adapt ...Read More

This study explores how firms’ search strategies shape innovation outcomes in the context of emerging general-purpose technologies (GPTs), with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). GPTs, defined by their broad applicability and undefined market needs, challenge traditional search theories by requiring firms to balance advancing technological capabilities (supply-side innovation) with identifying practical use cases (demand-side ...Read More