Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>Using the historical random assignment of MBA students to sections at Harvard Business School (HBS), I explore how executive peer networks can affect managerial decision making. Within an HBS class, firm outcomes are significantly more similar among graduates from the same section than among graduates from different sections, with the strongest effects in executive compensation and acquisitions strategy. I demonstrate the role of ongoing social interactions by showing that peer effects are more than twice as strong in the year following staggered alumni reunions. Supplementary tests suggest that peer influence can operate in ways that do not contribute to firm productivity.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hht019 Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question How do peer effects affect the behaviour of top corporate executives? Sample Trial population and sample selection Graduates of HBS who became top executives in S&P 1500 firms Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description The intervention tests the effect of peer networks on managerial decision making by comparing variation in compensation and merger & acquisition activity between alumni from HBS classes and sections within those classes (smaller, randomly assigned groups of students with stronger social bonds). Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method Administrative data Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Executive compensation, merger and acquisition activity, investment, leverage, interest coverage and cash policy.</p> Results <p>Variation in compensation and merger & acquisition activity is around 10% less iamong class section peers than among class peers more broadly.</p> Intervention costs Cost benefit ratio Reference Shue, K. (2013). 'Executive Networks and Firm Policies: Evidence from the Random Assignment of MBA Peers'. The Review of Financial Studies. Citation for use in academic references
