Ting Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School.
Her research identifies interventions that solves problems within the domains of expertise and ethics. She investigates these topics using experimental methods in the lab and the field.
EXPERTISE
Experts often have difficulty getting back into the mindset of how novices think and feel. In her dissertation work, she investigates how helping experts rediscover the experience of inexperience enables experts to understand the challenges that novices face. These findings have implications for how experts advise, teach, and mentor novices, and how novices can help experts give more effective and encouraging advice. Her research also shows that individuals often do not see the value of documenting their everyday thoughts and experiences in part because they believe they will be able to remember these experiences in the future. As a result, individuals forgo opportunities to reflect and document their present experiences and thereby preclude their future selves from having the opportunity to rediscover these moments.
ETHICS
Another theme of her research entails generating interventions that push individuals to think beyond the immediately obvious solutions available in the present moment. When individuals grapple with moral dilemmas, she finds that asking "What could I do?" instead of "What should I do?" helps individuals find solutions that integrate seemingly incompatible moral imperatives. In another paper, she shows that one possible intervention to resolve seemingly intractable interpersonal conflicts is to increase, rather than reduce, hostility. In particular, a third-party mediator that acts in a hostile--rather than nice--manner can create the perception of a common enemy between two disputants, enabling them to resolve their conflict.
Her research identifies interventions that solves problems within the domains of expertise and ethics. She investigates these topics using experimental methods in the lab and the field.
EXPERTISE
Experts often have difficulty getting back into the mindset of how novices think and feel. In her dissertation work, she investigates how helping experts rediscover the experience of inexperience enables experts to understand the challenges that novices face. These findings have implications for how experts advise, teach, and mentor novices, and how novices can help experts give more effective and encouraging advice. Her research also shows that individuals often do not see the value of documenting their everyday thoughts and experiences in part because they believe they will be able to remember these experiences in the future. As a result, individuals forgo opportunities to reflect and document their present experiences and thereby preclude their future selves from having the opportunity to rediscover these moments.
ETHICS
Another theme of her research entails generating interventions that push individuals to think beyond the immediately obvious solutions available in the present moment. When individuals grapple with moral dilemmas, she finds that asking "What could I do?" instead of "What should I do?" helps individuals find solutions that integrate seemingly incompatible moral imperatives. In another paper, she shows that one possible intervention to resolve seemingly intractable interpersonal conflicts is to increase, rather than reduce, hostility. In particular, a third-party mediator that acts in a hostile--rather than nice--manner can create the perception of a common enemy between two disputants, enabling them to resolve their conflict.
Research Articles
Zhang, T., Wang, D., Galinsky, A.D. (in press). Learning down to train up: Mentors are more effective when they value insights from below. Academy of Management Journal.
Zhang, T., Harrington, K., Sherf, E. N. (2022). The errors of experts: When expertise hinders effective provision and seeking of advice and feedback. Current Opinion in Psychology.
Zhang, T., & North, M. S. (2020). What goes down when advice goes up: Younger advisers underestimate their impact. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(10): 1444–1460.
Data and materials
Data and materials
Kim, T., Zhang, T., & Norton, M. I. (2019). Pettiness in social exchange. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(2): 361-373.
Data and materials
Data and materials
Zhang, T., Gino, F., & Margolis, J. D. (2018) Does “could” lead to good? On the road to moral insight. Academy of Management Journal, 61(3): 857-895.
Zhang, T., Gino, F., & Norton, M. I. (2017). The surprising effectiveness of hostile mediators. Management Science, 63(6): 1972-1992.
Data and materials
Data and materials
Sezer, O., Zhang, T., Gino, F., & Bazerman, M. H. (2016). Overcoming the outcome bias: Making intentions matter. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 137(6), 13-26.
Zhang, T., Fletcher, P. O., Gino, F., Bazerman, M. H. (2015). Reducing bounded ethicality: How to help individuals notice and avoid unethical behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 44(4), 310-317.
Data and materials
Data and materials
Zhang, T., Kim, T., Brooks, A. W., Gino, F., & Norton, M. I. (2014). A “present” for the future: The unexpected value of rediscovery. Psychological Science, 25(10), 1851-1860.
Data and materials
Data and materials
Zhang, T., Gino, F., & Bazerman, M. H. (2014). Morality rebooted: Exploring simple fixes to our moral bugs. Research in Organizational Behavior, 34(0), 63-79.
Invited Articles and Chapters
Lu, J., Zhang, T., Galinsky, A. D, & Rucker, D. D. (2018). On the distinction between selfish and unethical behavior. Atlas of Moral Psychology. In Gray, K. J., & Graham, J. (Eds.), Atlas of Moral Psychology (pp. 465-474). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Zhang, T. & Bazerman, M. H. (2013). Managerial decision biases. In Kessler, E. H., (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Management Theory (pp. 470-474). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Zhang, T. & Bazerman, M. H. (2013). Managerial decision biases. In Kessler, E. H., (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Management Theory (pp. 470-474). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Working Papers
Zhang, T. Back to the beginning: How rediscovering inexperience helps experts advise novices.
Guenoun, B. +, Blunden, H. +, Zhang, T. & Gino, F. When curiosity is generosity: Social curiosity increases advice quality.
Ruttan, R., Zhang, T., & Decelles, K. With a little help from my friends: Resilience shapes compassion.
Cormier, G.+, Shah, S. +, Zhang, T., O’Brien, E., & Gino, F. The direct experience premium.
Fincher, K., Zhang, T., Galinsky, A. D. Configural processing and perspective taking.
Guenoun, B. +, Blunden, H. +, Zhang, T. & Gino, F. When curiosity is generosity: Social curiosity increases advice quality.
Ruttan, R., Zhang, T., & Decelles, K. With a little help from my friends: Resilience shapes compassion.
Cormier, G.+, Shah, S. +, Zhang, T., O’Brien, E., & Gino, F. The direct experience premium.
Fincher, K., Zhang, T., Galinsky, A. D. Configural processing and perspective taking.