I'm a Stanford professor who's studied organizational behavior for decades. The widespread layoffs in tech are more because of copycat behavior than necessary cost-cutting.

• Industries like tech, media, and finance have slashed thousands of jobs in the past few months.
• Companies have cited an economic downturn and a drop in demand for the job cuts.
• A Stanford professor says there's another simpler reason: Companies are blindly copying each other.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The idea that human behavior is influenced by what others do is really old. If you're a pedestrian and you see a stop signal, but no cars are coming and somebody steps into the street, you'll probably do it too. It's almost automatic behavior.