The latest research from INSEAD faculty explores everything from why perceived fairness matters in humanitarian aid distribution to how providing small businesses with competitors’ pricing information can improve their performance. 

Other findings reveal the ways political ideology affects consumer response to carbon labels on food products, how awards can motivate firms that don’t win and how organisations may unintentionally engage in "defensive organising", which can bolster leaders but prevent real change. 

1. Why perceptions of fairness matter in humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid can backfire when communities see its distribution as unfair. New research by Luk Van Wassenhove and co-authors* indicates that these perceptions are shaped by “distributional preferences” – deeply held views on fairness influenced by culture, relationships and experience. 

Drawing on the Syrian and Rohingya crises, they argue that to be truly inclusive, aid logistics must move beyond providing equal access or prioritising need and also account for how people judge fairness on the ground.

* Thomas Breugem from Tilburg University, Yu Fan from University of Science and Technology of China, Andreas K Gernert from Kühne Logistics University

2. How competitor insights change firm behaviour

Many small businesses don’t track competitor prices, even when the data is easy to find. Hyunjin Kim’s field experiment with 3,200 firms revealed that when given competitor pricing information, firms adjusted their own prices, often aligning more closely with near rivals. 

The research shows that these shifts appeared to enhance performance. Results also suggest that firms didn’t act on this data earlier largely because of managerial inattention – many assumed they already knew what competitors were charging or didn’t see the value in checking.

3. How ideology shapes response to carbon labels on food products

New research reveals that the effectiveness of carbon footprint labels on consumers’ food choices depends on political ideology. Julia Diana Lenk from University of Hamburg and Pierre Chandon and Shemal Doshi from INSEAD found that liberals are more likely to choose lower-emission foods, while conservatives show minimal or no response to the labels, although they do not choose higher-emission products as a result.

Overall, the findings emphasise the need for a targeted approach to eco-labelling that considers ideological and socio-demographic differences.

4. How to trigger spillover effects

Organisations, including government agencies, commonly use award programmes to motivate efforts. In a new study, Xiaowei Rose Luo and collaborators* explored the effectiveness of awards in incentivising non-winners to increase their efforts, an influence known as the spillover effect. 

They studied China’s poverty alleviation programme to understand under what conditions awards are more likely to trigger the positive spillover effect that lead to non-winners’ emulating winners.

* Weiting Zheng from University of New South Wales, Na Ni from Lingnan University, Jiaxing You from Xiamen University and Xiting Wu from Shandong University.

5. Unconscious anxiety and defensive organising in firms

During times of poor performance, leaders may unintentionally use collaboration to manage anxiety and protect their authority. This is called “defensive organising”, according to a new paper by Declan Fitzsimons, Jennifer Petriglieri and Gianpiero Petriglieri.

Drawing on a longitudinal study of one firm, they explore how these unconscious defenses spread through the organisation, creating the appearance of coordinated action while preventing real change. The study reveals how anxiety can shape organising in ways that seem sensible but ultimately reinforce the status quo.