Publications

Forthcoming
Article

Differentiating on Diversity: How Disclosing Workforce Diversity Influences Consumer Choice

By: Maya Balakrishnan, Jimin Nam and Ryan W. Buell

Companies are facing increased pressure to “walk the talk” on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their operations. One specific call-to-action from stakeholders is the public disclosure of EEO-1s. Companies with 100+ employees are federally mandated to annually... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Corporate Disclosure; Diversity; Employees; Perception

January 2017
Article

Should You Sleep on It? The Effects of Overnight Sleep on Subjective Preference-based Choice

By: Uma R. Karmarkar, Baba Shiv and Rebecca M.C. Spencer

Conventional wisdom and studies of unconscious processing suggest that sleeping on a choice may improve decision-making. Though sleep has been shown to benefit several cognitive tasks, including problem solving, its impact on everyday choices remains unclear. Here we... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Choice; Sleep; Choice Sets; Confidence; Consumer Psychology; Consumer Preferences; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior

April 2022
Article

Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams and Michael I. Norton

Many products and services are designed to make caregiving easier, from premade meals for feeding families to robo-cribs that automatically rock babies to sleep. Yet, using these products may come with a cost: consumers may feel they have not exerted enough effort.... View Details

Keywords: Effor; Caregiving; Close Relationships; Symbolic Meaning; Signaling; Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Perception

2008
Book

Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers

By: Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman

Why do advertising campaigns and new products often fail? Why do consumers feel that companies don't understand their needs? Because marketers themselves don't think deeply about consumers' innermost thoughts and feelings. Marketing Metaphoria is a... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Nonverbal Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Books; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Failure; Nonprofit Organizations; Behavior; Emotions

2005
Chapter

Consumer Identity Motives in the Information Age

By: John Deighton

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Identity; Behavior

2013
Dissertation

Designing Freemium: A Model of Consumer Usage, Upgrade, and Referral Dynamics

By: Clarence Lee, Vineet Kumar and Sunil Gupta

Abstract. Over the past decade "freemium" (free + premium) has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups for its ability to acquire and monetize a large install-base with limited marketing resources. Freemium is a hybrid strategy where a firm offers... View Details

Keywords: Discrete-Continuous Choice Dynamic Structural Models; Bayesian Estimation; Word-of-Mouth; Digital Services; Freemium; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Business Startups

2013
Working Paper

iPosture: The Size of Electronic Consumer Devices Affects Our Behavior

By: Maarten W. Bos and Amy J.C. Cuddy

We examined whether incidental body posture, prompted by working on electronic devices of different sizes, affects power-related behaviors. Grounded in research showing that adopting expansive body postures increases psychological power, we hypothesized that working on... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Behavior; Health; Size; Outcome or Result; Power and Influence

20 Apr 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Making Health Insurance That Consumers Actually Like

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Insurance; Health

December 2012
Article

Defending the Markers of Masculinity: Consumer Resistance to Brand Gender-Bending

By: Jill Avery

I study the Porsche Cayenne SUV launch to ethnographically analyze how men consuming a gendered brand respond to perceived brand gender contamination. Consumers' communal gender work in a Porsche brand community is analyzed to uncover brand gender contamination's... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Building; Brand Equity; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Gender; Identity; Customer Focus and Relationships; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It)

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman's latest book, How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market, delves into the subconscious mind of the consumer—the place where most purchasing decisions are made. The question: How can marketers... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

February 2021
Article

How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice

By: Ryan W. Buell and Basak Kalkanci

Amid growing calls for transparency and social and environmental responsibility, companies are employing different strategies to improve consumer perceptions of their brands. Some pursue internal initiatives that reduce their negative social or environmental impacts... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operational Transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Behavior; Perception

SSRN

June 2014
Article

Building Brand Knowledge Structures: Elaboration and Interference Effects on the Processing of Sequentially Advertised Brand Benefit Claims

By: Susan E. Heckler, Kevin L. Keller, Michael J. Houston and Jill Avery

Two experiments are reported that examine the effects of an ad campaign designed to link two different benefit claims to a brand. The findings indicated that recall for a subsequently advertised claim depended on the strength of existing brand-benefit links in memory.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communication; Brand Building; Brand Management; Brands; Advertising; Consumer Psychology; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

largest consumer debt in the US, trailing only mortgage loans—and surpassing car loans, credit card debt, and home equity lines of credit. Source: New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax Many people who... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Technology and COVID Upended Tipping Norms. Will Consumers Keep Paying?

percent or less for bad service. That was the expectation up until COVID.” However, “post-COVID,” as businesses came back from pandemic-induced lockdowns, consumer behavior shifted. “Consumers started to realize the value of waitstaff... View Details

Keywords: by Anna Lamb, Harvard Gazette

January 2009
Teaching Note

Consumer Payment Systems — United States and Japan

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for [909006] and [909007]. View Details

Keywords: Cash; Cost; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Efficiency; Technology; Alliances; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States; Japan

17 Mar 2020
Working Paper Summaries

From Sweetheart to Scapegoat: Brand Selfie-Taking Shapes Consumer Behavior

Keywords: by Reto Hofstetter, Gabriela Kunath, and Leslie K. John

25 Jan 2017
HBS Case

How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?

think of the role of advertising as providing primes that are psychological in nature as a means of persuasion, you can take something that exists in society—a consumer preference for fair skin—and leverage... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Beauty & Cosmetics

Article

Determining Segmentation in Sales Response Across Consumer Purchase Behaviors

By: Randolph E. Bucklin, Sunil Gupta and S. Siddarth

Keywords: Segmentation; Sales; Customers; Behavior

August 2012
Article

Consumer Response to Versioning: How Brands' Production Methods Affect Perceptions of Unfairness

By: Andrew Gershoff, Ran Kivetz and Anat Keinan

Marketers often extend product lines by offering limited-capability models that are created by removing or degrading features in existing models. This production method, called versioning, has been lauded because of its ability to increase both consumer and firm... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Production; Competency and Skills; Welfare or Wellbeing; Cost vs Benefits; Perception; Customers; Performance Evaluation; Fairness; Business Ventures