15781: How to Experiment: Lessons from Policymaking

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

10:15 - 11:45 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall B- B3-m8

Session Type: Symposium (panel)
Orientation: Research,Diversity
Highlight: Showcase Symposium
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/EdmDJX

Organizer(s)

NP

Naja Pape

INSEAD, France
CS

Chiara Spina

INSEAD, Singapore

Panelist(s)

LK

Leena Kinger Hans

Indian School of Business, India
JG

Jana Gallus

UCLA Anderson School of Management, United States
LP

Lamar Pierce

Washington U. in St. Louis, United States
CG

Cedric Gutierrez

Bocconi U., Italy
NP

Naja Pape

INSEAD, France
AC

Andrea Contigiani

The Ohio State U. Fisher College of Business, United States

This symposium proposes that experiments have the potential to be used more effectively in strategy and entrepreneurship research if they leverage methodological innovations from policy-makers. Policymakers traditionally diverge from researchers in their use of experiments, prioritizing a pragmatic understanding of 'what works' to find solutions to our grand challenges by embracing implementation complexity and context-dependent variations. The symposium combines the perspectives of experts on experiments in prominent organizations captured on video with a live debate and commentary with management scholars with deep expertise in experiments. The management scholars participating in the live debate will ‘translate’ best practices from the “real world” and discuss to what extent and how they can be applied to research in strategy and entrepreneurship by putting them in the context of their own work. Presenters will outline specific opportunities to advance the theory, techniques, and variety of topics that methodologically advanced experiments can address and provide actionable insights for researchers at all stages of their career. This symposium builds on the success of the symposia held during the Academy of Management 2022, 2023 and 2024 that focused on insights from economics, psychology and practitioners, respectively, and combined saw participation from over 250 scholars.