Diana Jue-Rajasingh

When does discrimination increase predictive accuracy? the costs and benefits of discrimination

Discrimination is a pervasive aspect of modern society and human relations. Building on judgment research, we develop a model that explains the mechanisms driving discrimination and describes situations in which discrimination is more likely to occur because decision makers benefit from increased predictive accuracy. Our work contextualizes existing statistical discrimination models, in which decision makers substitute group averages in the absence of reliable information about individual ability. We do so by incorporating two additional parameters into the decision making process: environmental uncertainty and decision maker inconsistency. We find that uncertainty severely dampens the benefits of discrimination and that inconsistency can overturn any benefit from discriminating (i.e., make discrimination costly). Our model implies that decision makers must acknowledge that discrimination is only beneficial under a very specific set of conditions and uncovers paths toward reducing the likelihood of discrimination occurring.

From the Lab to the Land: Social Impact Technology in Rural Southern India

Despite their growing popularity, bottom-up, innovation-based development efforts are failing to make a significant social impact at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). Merely inventing widgets for development – like affordable solar lanterns, improved cookstoves, and bicycle-powered machines – is not enough. They must move from the lab to the land, into the hands of the people they are intended to benefit. Innovations in scalable, sustainable models for social impact technology dissemination are desperately needed, lest these technologies be designed in vain.

In this thesis, I first discuss previous failures in social impact technology dissemination, beginning with the Appropriate Technology movement and continuing with the efforts of multinational corporations that have tried selling into the BOP. Through field research in southern India, I then analyze the current efforts and experiments of small and medium enterprises. Finally, I describe my experiences co-founding Essmart, a rural distributor of social impact technologies. This effort is based directly on my field research. Essmart’s goals are to bridge the gap between global manufacturers of social impact technologies and rural end users. The venture gives rural retail stores access to technologies that improve their customers’ lives.

The Spillover Effects of Social Movement Coalitions on Entrepreneurial Entry into Emerging Markets for Socially Beneficial Products

I study the spillover effects of a social movement coalition in geographically distant markets. By analyzing 112 national emerging markets for clean cookstoves between 2013 and 2017, I find that entrepreneurial entry into a country’s emerging market is predicted by the number of organizational ties to countries where the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) is actively promoting the creation of clean cookstove markets. I argue that coalition spillover effects occur because participating member organizations learn how to promote a social movement’s cause and how to collaborate with other organizations. If these organizations operate in multiple locations, then they can transfer their knowledge. However, I propose that the diffusion of knowledge depends on the characteristics of these multilocational organizations and the characteristics of the destination countries. For example, larger organizations serve as less effective ties, and a country’s cultural autonomy and hierarchy can weaken the effect of organizational ties on entrepreneurial entry. My results shed new light on the existence of social movements’ geographical spillover effects, and they extend our understanding of how multilocational organizations can effectively act as channels of diffusion.

The consequences of using venture philanthropy to create markets that address social problems: Learning from the clean cookstoves and fuels market in East Africa

The use of venture philanthropy to address social problems has become an increasingly popular model of international development. This study examines the efforts and consequences of venture philanthropists that are working to promote the adoption of products that address complex problems. Through an inductive study consisting of qualitative archival data, interviews, and field observations, I document the emergence of an emerging market in East Africa and present evidence of how actors (entrepreneurs, intermediaries, and national governments) are affected by the institutional model of venture philanthropists. I then comment on how this has altered – or stifled – the trajectory of the emerging market.

The color of their skin or the content of their character? Social bias, reputation, & employment outcomes on online labor platforms

When does discrimination increase predictive accuracy?

Operational strategies for distributing durable goods in the base of the pyramid