An acclaimed behavioural scientist Francesca Gino, renowned for her studies on “honesty,” has been caught in the eye of a storm following allegations of data fraud. Gino, a researcher and professor at Harvard Business School, who has co-authored 135 academic papers in peer-reviewed journals, finds herself embroiled in a scandal involving the alleged fabrication of research papers. The allegations against Gino came to light after a June 16 article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education questioned the validity of a 2012 paper co-authored by Gino and her colleagues. According To NY Times, Max H. Bazerman, another professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of the paper, revealed that the university had informed him of suspicions surrounding the study overseen by Gino, suggesting the inclusion of fabricated results. However, Bazerman firmly denied any involvement in academic fraud or data tampering, stating, “I did not have anything to do with the fabrication.”
The controversial paper examined the impact of the placement of truthful declarations on tax and insurance forms, suggesting that individuals who signed at the bottom of the page were not as honest as those who signed at the top.
On June 17, a blog called DataColada, run by three behavioural scientists—Uri Simonsohn of ESADE Business School, Leif Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley and Joseph Simmons of the University of Pennsylvania—shared a detailed discussion exposing evidence of falsified results in Gino’s 2012 study. According to the blog post, the scientists had contacted Harvard Business School in the fall of 2021 to raise concerns about Gino’s work, presenting a report containing evidence of fraud not only in the 2012 paper but also in three other collaborative projects.
DataColada, a platform dedicated to examining the integrity and reliability of social science research, published the first part of its exposé, titled Clusterfake. It is worth noting that three more parts are yet to be released, promising further insights into the matter.
The bloggers highlighted the fact in their blog saying that Harvard had access to more extensive information, including the original data collected through Qualtrics survey software. They emphasized that if the suspected fraud involved manipulating downloaded data files while collecting genuine information on Qualtrics, the original files would serve as irrefutable evidence of misconduct. Conversely, if their concerns proved unfounded, the files would solidify their misguided assumptions.
Meanwhile, Francesca Gino’s Harvard profile reveals that she is presently on administrative leave.
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