consumer behavior - Publications - Faculty & Research

February 2013
Article

Commitment and Behavior Change: Evidence from the Field

By: Katie Baca-Motes, Amber Brown, Ayelet Gneezy, Elizabeth A. Keenan and Leif D. Nelson

Influencing behavior change is an ongoing challenge in psychology, economics, and consumer behavior research. Building on previous work on commitment, self-signaling, and the principle of consistency, a large, intensive field experiment (N = 2,416) examined the effect... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Marketing

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1981
Article

A Consumer Based Approach for Establishing Priorities in Consumer Information Programs: Implications for Public Policy

By: Rohit Deshpandé and S. Krishnan

Although there exists substantial research on the style and format of consumer information programs, little attention has been devoted to the critical issue of whether consumers need new information at all. A conceptual approach to systematically assess this... View Details

Keywords: Information; Consumer Behavior; Research

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13 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

The Consumer Appeal of Underdog Branding

Biography," details her joint research about the trend and its implications for brand management. Keinan, an assistant professor in the Marketing Unit at Harvard Business School whose research on consumer View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 1997
Background Note

Note on Customer Behavior

By: Gerald Zaltman

A review of selected key concepts that are useful for understanding customers. The importance of understanding customers is also discussed, along with a short description of new frontiers in the study of customer behavior. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Marketing; Consumer Behavior

Citation

Educators

20 Dec 2018
News

Consumer Rating Algorithms Score Big with Businesses, Governments

16 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Can Consumers Be Saved From Their Misguided Decisions?

iStock Consumers make regretable decisions every day, even though easily available information should convince them to do otherwise: Twenty-six percent of consumers choose Advil or other branded headache... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Consulting; Retail

May 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Teaching Note

Direct to Consumer Brands

By: Sunil Gupta

In recent years, we have seen a dramatic rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. Many of these brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s, Glossier, and Allbirds, entered mature markets dominated by established companies, and yet they grew rapidly to attain valuations... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Digital Marketing; Industry Evolution; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Change; Consumer Behavior

Citation

Purchase

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

Financial Sector More Info The Impact of Pensions and Insurance on Global Yield Curves By: Robin Greenwood & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen JUN 2018 In this NBER working paper, researchers from the Behavioral Finance and Financial Stability... View Details

February 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

JWT China: Advertising for the New Chinese Consumer

By: Elisabeth Koll

This case analyzes the business strategy and expansion of JWT China from the late 1990s to 2008. As part of the world's fourth largest marketing communications network, JWT China grew into one of the largest integrated communications companies in China operating from... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Expansion; Advertising Industry; China

Citation

Educators

Purchase

06 Dec 2020
Working Paper Summaries

'Repayment-by-Purchase' Helps Consumers to Reduce Credit Card Debt

Keywords: by Grant E. Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Stephen Bush, Zoe Chance, and Michael I. Norton

26 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

What Neuroscience Tells Us About Consumer Desire

brain data to play a key role in future research on consumer choice. (In a recent HBS industry background note on neuromarketing, she discusses the techniques that have helped researchers decode secrets such as why people love... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

2000
Chapter

Strategies of Consumer Group Mobilization

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams

Citation

2022
Working Paper

Consumer Reviews and Regulation: Evidence from NYC Restaurants

By: Chiara Farronato and Georgios Zervas

We investigate the informativeness of hygiene signals in online reviews, and their effect on consumer choice and restaurant hygiene. We first extract signals of hygiene from Yelp. Among all dimensions that regulators monitor through mandated restaurant inspections, we... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; Reviews; Hygiene; Yelp; Regulation; Food; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior

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November 2007
Article

Measuring Consumer and Competitive Impact with Elasticity Decompositions

Marketing investments are designed to change consumer behavior in ways that help goods compete in the marketplace. Previous research has focused on using elasticity decompositions to measure how these investments affect either consumer decision making or competing... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Return; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Competitive Advantage

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06 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Latest Isn’t Always Greatest: Why Product Updates Capture Consumers

Because consumers gravitate to merchandise labeled as “updated,” even if the items are not necessarily improved, according to the results. "Once something says ‘revised’ on it, it makes you suspend critical judgment." “After showing... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

21 Feb 2019
Blog Post

Machine Learning and Behavioral Economics

This is a repost from the recruiting blog. For John Bracaglia, his academic and professional careers have been driven by two themes: “machine learning and behavioral economics,” he says. “The two work together. Machine learning is about... View Details

2012
Article

Behavioral Economics and the Psychology of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

By: Joe Price and Jason Riis

Behavioral economics is an emerging paradigm that challenges the assumptions and predictions of classical economics. This new paradigm emphasizes that consumers do not always make optimal use of available information nor do they always make choices and tradeoffs in a... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Social Marketing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition

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01 Sep 2009
News

Consumer Finance Makes HBS Debut

our curriculum. Was HBS alone in not offering a consumer finance course? No. I surveyed the top twenty MBA programs in America and the top five in Europe. While some offer banking courses, and others offer View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance

2024
Working Paper

Webmunk: A New Tool for Studying Online Behavior and Digital Platforms

By: Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin and Chris Karr

Understanding the behavior of users online is important for researchers, policymakers, and private companies alike. But observing online behavior and conducting experiments is difficult without direct access to the user base and software of technology companies. We... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Technology Adoption; Behavior; Research; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web

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