Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management pp 1–2Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Hawthorne Effect, the

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 136 Accesses

FormalPara Definition

The Hawthorne effect demonstrates that people’s attitudes and emotions are important in management and strategy. Evolutionary theory, resource-based theory, knowledge-based theory and dynamic capabilities all incorporate the bounded rationality of the individual, but not the emotional involvement demonstrated in the Hawthorne experiments.

Hawthorne was an AT&T manufacturing plant west of Chicago, Illinois, in the 1930s. Professors Mayo, Roethlisberger and Dickson of Harvard were doing a Taylor-style engineering study at this time. The study design was simply to see the effect of different lighting levels on productivity.

The study design was simple: increase the light intensity and observe the effect on productivity – a Taylor-like experiment. They observed that greater light intensity led to higher productivity; this was expected since better light made it easier to see. But they also observed that decreasing light intensity increased productivity, which was not...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Augier, M., and D.J. Teece. 2009. Dynamic capabilities and the role of managers in business strategy and economic performance. Organization Science 20: 410–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Håkonsson, D.D., B. Obel, and R.M. Burton. 2008. Rational emotionality: Integrating emotions into psychological climate. In Designing organizations: 21st century approaches, ed. R.M. Burton, B. Eriksen, D.D. Håkonsson, T. Knudsen, and C. Snow. Boston: Springer Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helfat, C.E., S. Finkelstein, W. Mitchell, and M. Peteraf. 2007. Dynamic capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations. London: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R., and S. Winter. 1982. An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penrose, E. 1995. The theory of the growth of the firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Fuqua School of Business, 100 Fuqua Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Richard M. Burton

Authors
  1. Richard M. Burton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard M. Burton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    Mie Augier

  2. Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, University of California Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, Berkeley, California, USA

    David J. Teece

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this entry

Cite this entry

Burton, R.M. (2016). Hawthorne Effect, the. In: Augier, M., Teece, D. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_316-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_316-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94848-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation