MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Evaluating New Technology? You're More Biased Than You May Realize

Unconscious ideas about new technology can lead to poor investment decisions.

In the same way that leaders may harbor an implicit bias about characteristics of groups of people, they may also harbor implicit biases about new technology — including new technology they might be considering investing in to improve productivity or competitiveness.

You may think that you make decisions about technology tools with an open mind and a clear process for evaluating options. But our review of hundreds of published studies on new technology adoption reveals that personal beliefs about new technology — that it’s wondrous, complex, and alien — prompt specific, unconscious biases about how and why it’s better than older options.

About the Author

Kimberly D. Elsbach is a professor of management and the Stephen G. Newberry Chair in Leadership at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. She is also an international research fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University. Ileana Stigliani (@istigliani) is an associate professor of design and innovation at Imperial College Business School, where she also leads the Imperial Business Design Studio.

Learn more about MIT SMR.