Publications

1982
Article

Correlates of Deficient Consumer Environments: The Case of the Elderly

By: Rohit Deshpandé and S. Krishnan

Although much research attention has been given to the format of consumer information environments, there has been little study of the effects of consumer environments lacking in information. This paper describes an empirical study of elderly consumers functioning in... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Age; Information

April 2018
Article

Consumers Avoid Buying from Firms with Higher CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

By: Bhavya Mohan, Tobias Schlager, Rohit Deshpandé and Michael I. Norton

We document a novel driver of consumer behavior: pay ratio disclosure. Swiss corporation performance data gathered during a legally mandated pay ratio referendum reveals that salient high pay ratios are associated with decreased firm sales (Pilot Study). An... View Details

Keywords: Pay Ratio; Wage Fairness; Purchase Intention; Customers; Wages; Fairness; Consumer Behavior

May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big... View Details

Educators

Purchase

November 2007
Article

A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta

In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Learning; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Service Delivery; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Service Industry

02 May 2005
What Do You Think?

Where is Consumer Generated Marketing Taking Us?

Summing Up Consumer generated marketing is a fact of life to which all of us will have to adapt. Adaptation means learning how to use CGM to provide one form of input in fashioning product and marketing decisions. Those are the messages... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

12 Jan 2015
News

Why Online Retailers Are Starting to Care About Your Feelings

Keywords: e-commerce; consumer behavior; innovation; Retail Trade

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

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

2021
Working Paper

CEO Activism, Consumer Polarization, and Firm Performance

By: Young Hou and Christopher W. Poliquin

CEOs are increasingly engaging in activism on controversial social and political issues that do not directly affect their businesses. Simultaneously, the general public is increasingly polarized. We examine how CEO support for gun control after two mass shootings... View Details

Keywords: CEO Activism; Guns; Polarization; Non-market Strategy; Social Issues; Leadership; Consumer Behavior; Performance

Web

Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

optimizing banner design are much smaller than those from adopting browser-level consent, which eliminates the time costs of repeated decisions. Keywords: Consumer Behavior ; Decision Choices and Conditions... View Details

2005
Chapter

Consumer Identity Motives in the Information Age

By: John Deighton

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

September–October 2019
Article

How Purchase Probability Scales Can Shed Light on Consumer Purchase Intentions

By: Rene Befurt and Alvin J. Silk

Market researchers generally, and survey experts specifically, study consumers to learn about their behavior: What are consumers’ opinions, attitudes, thoughts, and actions at the various stages of the buying process? Especially in litigation cases, these and other... View Details

Keywords: Purchase Intentions; Buying Process; Consumer Behavior; Surveys

Purchase

January 2004
Background Note

Why Developers Don't Understand Why Consumers Don't Buy

By: John T. Gourville

Looks at the psychological biases developers bring to the new product development process. Identifies three reasons why developers may do a poor job of identifying the demand for an innovative, new concept or product: (1) the self-selection bias, (2) differing initial... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Management; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Perspective; Prejudice and Bias

Educators

October 2017
Article

'Be Careless with That!' Availability of Product Upgrades Increases Cavalier Behavior Toward Possessions

By: Silvia Bellezza, Joshua M. Ackerman and Francesca Gino

Consumers are often faced with the opportunity to purchase a new, enhanced product, such as a new phone, even though the product they currently own is still fully functional. We propose that consumers act more recklessly with their current products when in the presence... View Details

Keywords: Carelessness; Product Upgrade; Ownership; Justification; Consumer Behavior; Attitudes; Property

2020
Working Paper

Consumers Punish Firms That Cut Employee Pay in Response to COVID-19

By: Bhavya Mohan, Serena Hagerty and Michael Norton

Two experiments, including one incentive compatible study, examine the impact of cutting pay for executives versus employees in response to COVID-19 on consumer behavior. Study 1 explores the effect of announcing cuts or no cuts to CEO and employee pay, and shows that... View Details

Keywords: Employee Furloughs; CEO Pay Cuts; Pay Ratios; Purchase Intention; Health Pandemics; Employees; Wages; Executive Compensation; Consumer Behavior

SSRN

24 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

In recent years, consumer review sites including Yelp, Citysearch, and TripAdvisor have become the first stop for recommendations on everything from dinner to dentists. Along the way, they've earned a loyal following from fans, but also... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

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

about consumer behavior and in using that knowledge to benefit consumers. These firms include McNeil Consumer Health Care, McCann-Erickson, Procter & Gamble, Hallmark, Bank... 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