article thumbnail

Virgin Atlantic Tested 3 Ways to Change Employee Behavior

Harvard Business Review

So we partnered with Virgin Atlantic Airways on a field experiment to understand how the behavior of employees—in this case, airline captains—influences fuel efficiency, and how low-cost company interventions can influence their behavior. Importantly, however, captains in this group reported 6.5%

article thumbnail

Uber Shows How Not to Apply Behavioral Economics

Harvard Business Review

Another example I often give concerns the use of fuel- and carbon-efficient flight practices in the airline industry. It’s a well-documented social-science finding called the Hawthorne effect.) All four groups increased their implementation of fuel-efficient behaviors. The implication? An estimated cost savings of $5.37