Ideas By Year 2017

Professor Spike W. S. Lee & PhD Student Ping Dong

Can't shake old ideas? Wash them off, suggests Rotman study.
Handwipes aren't just for germs anymore. Their uses may extend to more flexible thinking and reorienting one's priorities. A pair of researchers at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management has found the physicality of cleaning one's hands acts to shift goal pursuit, making prior goals less important and subsequent goals more important.

Professor Chen-Bo Zhong & PhD Student Yeun Joon Kim

Too much structured knowledge hurts creativity, shows Rotman study
Structure organizes human activities and help us understand the world with less effort, but it can be the killer of creativity, concludes a Rotman study. While most management research has supported the idea that giving structure to information makes it easier to cope with its complexity and boosts efficiency, the paper says that comes as a double-edged sword.

Professors Mara Lederman, Avi Goldfarb & Joshua Gans

Voting with their Tweets: social media complaints can be alternative to market discipline, Rotman study shows
Nothing inspires consumer frustration quite like an airline flight delay. Researchers from the Rotman School of Management have used those meltdown moments - and the complaints they produce via the social media platform Twitter - to study how consumer "voice" may influence business behaviour.