Kevin Boudreau

Research Approach

Building Real Digital Systems to Run Real Experiments in the Field

About half of my research runs large-scale field experiments inside live organizations and platforms — assembling the engineering teams that build the very systems I study, then testing and optimizing them while they operate. The other half is econometric, applied to data assembled from many organizations and platforms.

The full research programme — what I study now, and the agenda for the next decade→

How each paper was done — methods, data and the platforms behind them→

Research & Publications

Papers & Projects

One question runs through all of this: how do you organize innovation and knowledge creation at massive scale — when it takes large numbers of loosely-organized people to produce something genuinely new? I pursue it across two settings that turn out to be the same problem — digital platforms (increasingly AI platforms) and science itself.

Current projects & working papers

1. Bana, S. H. (London School of Economics), and K. J. Boudreau. "Jobseeker Engagement and Selection on Matching Platforms: Field and Lab Experiments on AI Disclosure." SSRN Working Paper 5437196.Under review, Management Science
2. "Long Tails on Platforms: Structural Conditions and Differences in Participation and Innovation." Sole-authored.R&R, Organization Science
3. Boudreau, K. J., and M. Marx (Cornell University). "The Timing of Early Professional Experience and Long-Run Career Sorting: Evidence from Random Assignment in Engineering."Working paper
4. Boudreau, K., M. Marx (Cornell University), and M. Wu (Cornell University). "Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship: Startup Work Exposure and the Decision to Found."Working paper
5. Boudreau, K., T. Jungbauer (Cornell University), and C. Williams (University of Nebraska–Lincoln). "Digitization, Artificial Intelligence, and Search and Matching in Modern Labor Markets."Working paper
6. Boudreau, K., and N. Kaushik (IIM Bangalore). "Relevant vs. Diverse Knowledge Combinations and Team Innovation Performance: Experimental Evidence from a 3-week Innovation Sprint."Working paper
7. "Who Does Multi-Disciplinary Science Field Experiment," with Ina Ganguli (UMass Amherst).Unpublished manuscript
8. Boudreau, K. J., L. Dudley (Northeastern University), and A. Ma (Northeastern University). "Institutional Differences across Platforms and Variation in Complementors’ Non-Pecuniary Motivations."Working paper
9. Dell'Acqua, F. (University of Michigan), Z. Rasouli (MIT Sloan), K. J. Boudreau, C. Mackey (Harvard Business School), M. A. Awada (Brown Capital Management), and K. R. Lakhani (Harvard Business School). "This Time Is Different: A Comparison of Three Waves of AI Adoption in the Sciences."Unpublished manuscript

Projects in the works

1. “AI and Human Expertise at the Frontier”In the works
2. “Digital Twin Interaction and Scientific Collaborations”In the works
3. “AI and Entrepreneurship”In the works

Published

1. Boudreau, K. J. 2026. "Building on AI's Unfinished Foundation." MIT Sloan Management Review (Fall 2026): 71–76. PDF
2. Boudreau, K. J. 2026. "Field Experiments in the Science of Science: Lessons from Peer Review and the Evaluation of New Knowledge." In The Economics of Science: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead, edited by M. MacGarvie and R. Veugelers. University of Chicago Press (forthcoming); NBER Working Paper 34811. PDF
3. Boudreau, K. J., L. B. Jeppesen, and M. Miric. 2026. "Artificial Intelligence as a Platform Technology: Strategic Implications of Competing on Top of an AI Platform." In Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Strategy, edited by F. Csaszar and N. Jia, 55–70. Edward Elgar. PDF
4. Boudreau, K. J., and N. Kaushik. 2023. "Gender Differences in Responses to Competitive Organization? A Field Experiment on Differences between STEM and Non-STEM Fields from an Internet-of-Things Platform." Organization Science 34(6): 2119–2142. PDF
5. Boudreau, K. J., L. B. Jeppesen, and M. Miric. 2023. "Free(mium) Strategies for Digital Goods." In Research Handbook on Digital Strategy, edited by C. Cennamo, G. B. Dagnino, and F. Zhu, 126–141. Edward Elgar Publishing. PDF
6. Boudreau, K. J., L. B. Jeppesen, and M. Miric. 2022. "Profiting from Digital Innovation: Patents, Copyright and Performance." Research Policy 51(5): 104477. PDF
7. Boudreau, K. J., L. B. Jeppesen, and M. Miric. 2022. "Competing on Freemium: Digital Competition with Network Effects." Strategic Management Journal 43(7): 1374–1401. PDF
8. Boudreau, K. J. 2021. "Promoting Platform Takeoff and Self-Fulfilling Expectations: Field Experimental Evidence." Management Science 67(9): 5953–5967. PDF
9. Boudreau, K. J., L. B. Jeppesen, T. Reichstein, and F. Rullani. 2021. "Crowdfunding as Donations to Entrepreneurial Firms." Research Policy 50(7): 104264. PDF
10. Miric, M., K. J. Boudreau, and L. B. Jeppesen. 2019. "Protecting Their Digital Assets: The Use of Formal & Informal Appropriability Strategies by App Developers." Research Policy 48(8): 103738. PDF
11. Boudreau, K. J., and M. Marx. 2019. "From Theory to Practice: Field Experimental Evidence on Early Exposure of Engineering Majors to Professional Work." NBER Working Paper No. 26013. National Bureau of Economic Research. PDF
12. Lakhani, K. R., K. J. Boudreau, and E. C. Guinan. 2018. "Randomized Insights." In P. Azoulay et al., "Toward a More Scientific Science" (Policy Forum), Science 361(6408): 1194–1197. PDF
13. Boudreau, K. J. 2018. "Amateurs Crowds & Professional Entrepreneurs as Platform Complementors." NBER Working Paper No. 24512. National Bureau of Economic Research. PDF
14. Boudreau, K. J., T. Brady, I. Ganguli, P. Gaule, E. C. Guinan, A. Hollenberg, and K. R. Lakhani. 2017. "A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations." Review of Economics and Statistics 99(4): 565–576. PDF
15. Boudreau, K. J. 2017. "A Short Guide to Strategy for Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business Review (HBR.org), October 17, 2017. PDF
16. Boudreau, K. J. 2017. "Platform Boundary Choices & Governance: Opening-Up While Still Coordinating and Orchestrating." In Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Platforms, edited by J. Furman, A. Gawer, B. S. Silverman, and S. Stern, 227–297. Advances in Strategic Management. Emerald. PDF
17. Boudreau, K. J., K. R. Lakhani, and M. Menietti. 2016. "Performance Responses to Competition across Skill Levels in Rank-Order Tournaments: Field Evidence and Implications for Tournament Design." RAND Journal of Economics 47(1): 140–165. PDF
18. Boudreau, K. J., E. C. Guinan, K. R. Lakhani, and C. Riedl. 2016. "Looking Across and Looking Beyond the Knowledge Frontier: Intellectual Distance, Novelty, and Resource Allocation in Science." Management Science 62(10): 2765–2783. PDF
19. Boudreau, K. J., and K. R. Lakhani. 2016. "Innovation Experiments: Researching Technical Advance, Knowledge Production, and the Design of Supporting Institutions." Innovation Policy and the Economy 16: 135–167. PDF
20. Boudreau, K. J., and K. R. Lakhani. 2015. "'Open' Disclosure of Innovations, Incentives and Follow-on Reuse: Theory on Processes of Cumulative Innovation and a Field Experiment in Computational Biology." Research Policy 44(1): 4–19. PDF
21. Boudreau, K. J., and L. B. Jeppesen. 2015. "Unpaid Crowd Complementors: The Platform Network Effect Mirage." Strategic Management Journal 36(12): 1761–1777. PDF
22. Lakhani, K. R., K. J. Boudreau, P.-R. Loh, L. Backstrom, C. Baldwin, E. Lonstein, M. Lydon, A. MacCormack, R. A. Arnaout, and E. C. Guinan. 2013. "Prize-Based Contests Can Provide Solutions to Computational Biology Problems." Nature Biotechnology 31(2): 108–111. PDF
23. Boudreau, K. J., and K. R. Lakhani. 2013. "Using the Crowd as an Innovation Partner." Harvard Business Review 91(4): 60–69. PDF
24. Guinan, E. C., K. J. Boudreau, and K. R. Lakhani. 2013. "Experiments in Open Innovation at Harvard Medical School: What Happens When an Elite Academic Institution Starts to Rethink How Research Gets Done?" MIT Sloan Management Review 54(3): 45–52. PDF
25. Boudreau, K. J. 2012. "Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom? An Early Look at Large Numbers of Software App Developers and Patterns of Innovation." Organization Science 23(5): 1409–1427. PDF
26. Boudreau, K. J., and K. R. Lakhani. 2012. "The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort." In The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited, edited by J. Lerner and S. Stern, 483–502. University of Chicago Press. PDF
27. Boudreau, K. J., N. Lacetera, and K. R. Lakhani. 2011. "Incentives and Problem Uncertainty in Innovation Contests: An Empirical Analysis." Management Science 57(5): 843–863. PDF
28. Boudreau, K. J. 2010. "Open Platform Strategies and Innovation: Granting Access vs. Devolving Control." Management Science 56(10): 1849–1872. PDF
29. Boudreau, K. J., and K. R. Lakhani. 2009. "How to Manage Outside Innovation." MIT Sloan Management Review 50(4): 69–76. PDF
30. Boudreau, K. J., and A. Hagiu. 2009. "Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators." In Platforms, Markets and Innovation, edited by A. Gawer, 163–191. Edward Elgar. PDF

The full library — grouped by programme, with abstracts, methods and 21 audio narrations→

Teaching & Mentoring

Teaching Strategy for the Economy We Actually Have

Kevin teaches executives, MBA and master’s students, and honors undergraduates to design for the economy we actually have — one built on platforms, data, and AI — and he has advised doctoral students into academic careers and trained more than fifty research assistants at London Business School, Harvard, the NBER, and Northeastern.

Courses, the frameworks behind them, and how he mentors→

Honors & Funding

More than $1.51 million in competitive research funding over the years — from federal agencies, foundations, and industry — alongside multiple best-paper honors.

Professional Background & Service

Collaborators

Research Coauthors & Collaborators

• Ramy ArnaoutHarvard / BIDMC
• Marcantonio AwadaBrown Capital Management
• Lars BackstromMeta
• Carliss BaldwinHarvard Business School
• Sarah BanaLondon School of Economics
• Andrea BlascoHarvard IQSS
• Thomas BradyHarvard / Mass General
• Ramon Casadesus-MasanellHarvard Business School
• Fabrizio Dell'AcquaUniversity of Michigan
• Ina GanguliUMass Amherst
• Patrick GauleUniversity of Bristol
• Eva GuinanHarvard / Dana-Farber
• Andrei HagiuBoston University
• Anthony HollenbergWeill Cornell Medicine
• Lars Bo JeppesenCopenhagen Business School
• Thomas JungbauerCornell University
• Nilam KaushikIIM Bangalore
• Nicola LaceteraUniversity of Toronto
• Karim LakhaniHarvard Business School
• Po-Ru LohHarvard Medical School
• Mike LydonTopCoder
• Alan MacCormackHarvard Business School
• Matt MarxCornell University
• Michael MeniettiHarvard LISH
• Milan MiricUSC Marshall
• Zahra RasouliMIT Sloan
• Toke ReichsteinCopenhagen Business School
• Christoph RiedlNortheastern University
• Francesco RullaniCa’ Foscari University of Venice
• Cole WilliamsUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln

Contact

For research and collaborations, doctoral advising, or press and media.

k.boudreau@northeastern.edu · CV (PDF) · Google Scholar · ORCID · NBER