Consumer Psychology - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Empathy: The Brand Equity of Retail

There's a famous line from the movie The Godfather, which is often repeated in corporate settings: "This is business, not personal." Ironically, though, that statement is actually bad business advice. During the Consortium for Operational Excellence in Retailing (COER)... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

Companies that spent decades understanding consumer-buying psychology traditionally assumed that specific products could satisfy discrete consumer needs. Now, they will need to define View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

July – August 2010
Article

Vision Statement: Mapping the Social Internet

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Tommy McCall

Fresh data on internet user behaviors around the globe show an East-West divide. View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Emerging Markets; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet

Citation

Find at Harvard

Purchase

04 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 4

Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct By: Edmondson, Amy C., and Zhike Lei Abstract—Psychological... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

University Press The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology By: Norton, Michael I., Derek D. Rucker, and Cait Lamberton, eds. Abstract—Why do consumers make the purchases... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 5, 2008

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-052.pdf Psychological Influence in Negotiation: An Introduction Long Overdue Authors:Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman Abstract This paper discusses the causes and consequences of the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jun 2002
News

The Mind Speaks, Marketers Listen

unconscious and often visual, for the last decade Zaltman has solicited visual images from subjects to chart thoughts about a wide array of products. While skeptics may see the ZMET as a passing fad, others consider it evidence of a growing trend toward the use of... View Details

19 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Privacy Protection Notices Turn Off Shoppers

By now, it’s an expected right-of-passage. As you enter credit card information for an online purchase, up pops two familiar words: “Privacy Notice.” Does seeing those words make you more confident about the transaction, knowing that the company will safeguard your... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

March 2006
Background Note

Influencing Customer Behavior in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei and Amy C. Edmondson

Explores ways in which service firms can influence the behavior of their customers. Drawing from research on employee motivation and applying it to customer motivation, the note describes two levels of managerial control: instrumental control, which shapes behavior... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Governance Controls; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Service Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

March 2011
Article

Do Sell-Side Stock Analysts Exhibit Escalation of Commitment?

By: John Beshears and Katherine L. Milkman

This paper presents evidence that when an analyst makes an out-of-consensus forecast of a company's quarterly earnings that turns out to be incorrect, she escalates her commitment to maintaining an out-of-consensus view on the company. Relative to an analyst who was... View Details

Keywords: Escalation Of Commitment; Stock Market; Updating; Behavioral Economics; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Financial Markets; Forecasting and Prediction

Citation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

1996
Chapter

Commercial Technology: Imaginative Understanding of User Needs

By: D. A. Leonard and J. Doyle

Keywords: Information Technology; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Perception; Business Ventures

Citation

25 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 25, 2006

developed countries. Large emerging economies with little inward FDI include India and Turkey, despite the relaxation over the last two decades of the restrictions imposed on foreign firms between 1950 and 1980. This working paper explores why Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2022
Teaching Note

Arçelik (A), (B): From a Dealer Network to an Omnichannel Experience

By: Ayelet Israeli, Fares Khrais and Menna Hassan

Arçelik Turkey, the country’s market leader in household appliances, was at an omnichannel crossroads in January 2020. Arçelik was a B2B player utilizing a dealership network with an umbrella of brands and had one of the largest brick-and-mortar store networks in... View Details

Citation

Purchase

01 Sep 2005
News

Predictable Surprises

Administration at HBS and is also formally affiliated with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Psychology Department, Center on the Environment, and Program on Negotiation. Predictable Surprises (HBS Press) was published in 2004. You... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

02 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

Do Online Dating Platforms Help Those Who Need Them Most?

Over the past decade, socially-focused websites have attracted hundreds of millions of users and changed the social fabric in fundamental ways. The likes of eHarmony and Match.com enable us meet new people. Platforms including Facebook, Path, and Zynga help us... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

March 2021
Article

Active Choice, Implicit Defaults, and the Incentive to Choose

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

Home-delivered prescriptions have no delivery charge and lower copayments than prescriptions picked up at a pharmacy. Nevertheless, when home delivery is offered on an opt-in basis, the take-up rate is only 6%. We study a program that makes active choice of either home... View Details

Keywords: Active Choice; Defaults; Implicit Defaults; Incentives; Consumer Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Motivation and Incentives

Citation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

25 Aug 2015
News

Sunset in the East?

the medium term, to this government manipulation other than investor psychology? —Jim Daley (MBA 1986) KIRBY: Investor psychology probably is the biggest risk, but another is an overreliance on hard infrastructure investments (roads,... View Details

Keywords: Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Real Estate; Health, Social Assistance

Article

The Pitfalls of Pricing Algorithms: Be Mindful of How They Can Hurt Your Brand

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

More and more companies are relying on pricing algorithms to maximize profits. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning enables real-time price adjustments based on supply and demand, competitors’ activities, delivery schedules, and so forth. But... View Details

Keywords: Algorithmic Pricing; Dynamic Pricing; Price; Change; Information Technology; Brands and Branding; Perception; Consumer Behavior

Citation

Find at Harvard

2011
Working Paper

Observation Bias: The Impact of Demand Censoring on Newsvendor Level and Adjustment Behavior

By: David F. Drake

In an experimental newsvendor setting we investigate three phenomena: Level behavior — the decision-maker's average ordering tendency; adjustment behavior — the tendency to adjust period-to-period order quantities; and observation bias — the tendency to let the degree... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making; Prejudice and Bias; Profit

Citation