Charles Ayoubi
Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School
About me
Welcome to my personal website!
I am a currenlty a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Business School and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH). Starting in September 2024, I will be joining ESSEC Business School as an Assistant Professor.
My research builds on the idea that the generation and management of innovation is not a one-size-fits-all process. Accounting for heterogeneous backgrounds and individual characteristics is instrumental for improving the production, evaluation, and diffusion of knowledge within various types of organizations, such as scientific institutions, research organizations and firms. I am particularly interested in the process of idea evaluation, which serves as a critical bridge between the generation of new ideas and their diffusion.
I employ a variety of methodologies in my research, including field experiments, applied econometrics analysis, and economic modeling, to systematically investigate the underlying processes and incentive structure that govern the production and diffusion of knowledge. My job market paper, for instance, leverages a field experiment ran in collaboration with NASA and Freelancer.com to explore how the interplay of individual characteristics of both the innovator and the evaluator shape innovation outcomes.
My studies span a range of different organizations, such as universities, big corporations, tech firms, scientific funding agencies, and national research institutions like NASA. My findings contribute to our understanding of how individual preferences, personal backgrounds, and demographic characteristics can influence the production, evaluation, and diffusion of knowledge. This work not only sheds light on how organizations can more effectively manage innovation processes but also highlights the role of individual characteristics in shaping these processes. Please see my research page for more information.
My academic journey began in France, where I completed a double degree between Centrale Paris and ESSEC Business School, followed by a master's degree in Maths (Probabilities and Statistics) at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) and a master's degree in Economics at Université Paris Sud. After a couple of years of experience in the energy industry and in strategy consulting I went to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics of Innovation at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, before joining LISH as a postdoctoral research fellow.
Email: charlesayoubi13[at]gmail[dot]com
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The role of moral preferences in knowledge diffusion. (Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2023)
The Selectivity Patterns in Science Funding.
(Science and Public Policy, 2021)
What if scientists benefit from participating in research grant competitions?
(Research Policy, 2019)
An analysis of the determinants of knowledge diffusion among scientific teams.
(Journal of Economic Behavior and Organizations, 2017)