What are the allegations against Francesca Gino? Investigation launched against Harvard professor amid calls of termination

Francesca Gino, a renowned psychology professor and behavioral scientist at Harvard University for her studies on dishonesty and unethical behavior, was found to have manipulated data in her research. Recently, the university launched an investigation into this issue.

A three-person investigating committee's 1,300-page report was made available on March 14, 2024, for public reading when it was unsealed.

The report revealed that Gino had altered observations in four studies. One of Gino's primary defenses before the committee, according to the report dated March 7, 2023, was that the culprit might have been someone else, someone who had access to her computer, online data storage account, and/or data files.

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The investigation report on Francesca Gino was unsealed to the public

Award-winning researcher Francesca Gino focuses her studies on how leaders and employees can lead more creative, productive, and meaningful lives and the reasons behind people's decisions in the workplace. Most recently, she authored a best-selling book, Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules in Work and Life.

Additionally, Gino is connected to the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation, the Harvard Mind, Brain, Behavior Initiative, and the Harvard Kennedy School Behavioral Insight Group.

Gino co-authored four academic papers published between 2012 and 2020, which were accused of having "contained fraudulent data." She came under fire last year after three behavioral scientists published a series of posts on their blog, Data Colada.

Even though Francesca Gino objected, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, a judge approved Harvard's demand to reveal the study the institution had provided as part of its defense.

The report was made public after U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun ruled that Gino had not provided sufficient justification to keep the report sealed and constituted a judicial record with an implied right of public access.

According to the university report, Francesca Gino told the investigators that she or her research assistants might have mishandled the data or that someone with "malicious intentions" might have tampered with it.

Gino identified the most likely culprit as a professor. However, the investigating committee could not find a good reason why the other professor would have fabricated Gino's data to commit wrongdoing. The committee stated that Gino did not provide proof of any acts of data fabrication by actors with malicious intent.

The report read,

“The committee concludes that Professor Gino has engaged in multiple instances of research misconduct, across all four studies at issue in these allegations.”

Harvard's lawyers had filed the committee's work product into the court file to get a summary judgment and dismiss Gino's $25 million defamation lawsuit against Harvard, HBS Dean Datar, and the three writers of the Data Colada blog.

The report further read,

“The Investigation Committee believes that the severity of the research misconduct that Professor Gino has committed calls for appropriately severe institutional action.”

The investigation also included examining her data, emails, and manuscripts for the studies both internally and through a third-party forensics company,

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