Hiroshi Ono received his BE in mechanical engineering from Waseda University and his MA and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He was later awarded Docent (equivalent to a second doctoral degree) in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics. He writes and speaks extensively on the relationships among motivation, happiness, and productivity in the workplace. He has a special interest in the interplay between demographic change and labor market dynamics in Japan. His latest research focuses on Japan’s work reform, especially on reducing work hours and increasing labor productivity.

Professor Ono joined ICS in 2014. His broad international experience includes professional and academic positions in the U.S., Sweden, and Japan. Professor Ono’s work has won recognition in business-oriented settings including Best International Paper Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association and Top 20 Paper Award from the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of Sociology of Education and of Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and Management. He is also an Affiliated Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University.

Professer Ono is a frequent contributor and commentator for Japanese and global news media, both print and broadcast. He is the author of Redistributing Happiness: How Social Policies Shape Life Satisfaction (with Kristen Schultz Lee, Praeger Publishing, 2016). His work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Asian Business & Management, Oxford Economic Papers, Social Forces,, and Social Science Quarterly, among others.