Research

Research in Progress (underline denotes principal investigator)

Chapman, Lennay M., Ana Valenzuela, and Kathleen D. Vohs. "Just Between You and Me: Paying Privately Signals Communal Traits and Enhances Others’ Willingness to Cooperate," Manuscript in preparation.

Abstract: Increasingly, consumers’ everyday interactions are facilitated by online platforms. One notable feature of many online platforms is that they give consumers the ability to interact with other consumers privately or publicly. The present work examines decisions about interacting privately or publicly with others in the context of peer-to-peer financial transactions. The authors propose that choosing a private mode of transacting represents a socially mindful behavior, as it preserves partners’ future ability to keep private or disclose the transaction details. Partners, recognizing private payment as a socially mindful behavior, infer private (vs. public) payment initiators to possess stronger communal traits, and expect that they will be more likely to cooperate. On the basis of these inferences, partners themselves become more likely to cooperate. Consumers also use the decision to transact privately to signal their own communal orientation, expecting it may encourage cooperation in others. Nine studies conducted both in the United States and Europe support these propositions.

Chapman, Lennay M., Ana Valenzuela, and Kathleen D. Vohs. "More Than Just Your Name: Public Donations May Signal Both Prosocial and Pro-self Motives," Manuscript in preparation.

Abstract: Many donation platforms (e.g., GoFundMe.com) give consumers a seemingly innocuous choice: to display their donations publicly (i.e., with their names) or anonymously. While past research has yet to find consistent evidence that displaying donation behavior impacts donors’ social influence (Berman et al. 2015), the present work establishes that behind this null effect are two indirect effects in opposite directions. Three pre-registered studies demonstrate that public donations drive competing inferences: that donors are driven by others-serving motives, such as trying to encourage others to donate, but also by self-serving motives, such as trying to show off. Inferences of others-serving motives strengthen perceptions of donors’ communal traits and in turn enhance observers’ willingness to endorse the donors or actually donate to the causes they support. Yet inferences of self-serving motives weaken perceptions of donors’ communal traits and reduce observers’ willingness to endorse donors and contribute to their chosen causes. Results from three pre-registered studies, including one with real donation behavior, support these predictions.

Chapman, Lennay M., David Luna, Ana Valenzuela, and Scott Schanke. "A Chatbot’s Language Can Undermine Consumer Trust," Manuscript in preparation.

Abstract: Artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots hold the potential to enhance customer service, assist in information acquisition, and increase sales. Yet consumer-oriented chatbots are especially vulnerable to human-induced bias in language, as their dialog is generated directly by human creators. The present work investigates how consumers respond when a chatbot’s language contains linguistic cues associated with deception. A pilot study and four experiments show that the presence of two linguistic deception markers (emphatic markers and low lexical diversity) within a chatbot’s language negatively impacts purchase intentions and willingness to provide information (e.g. an email address). We provide process evidence showing that diminished trust mediates the relationship between linguistic deception markers and reduced purchase intentions. Additionally, this work provides an empirical paradigm to test the effects of language in service interactions, since chatbots provide a way to abstract linguistic factors from the physical characteristics of the interaction.

Chapman, Lennay M. and Ana Valenzuela. "An Integrative Analysis of the Constraining Effects of Technology on Consumer Behavior," Manuscript in preparation.

Refereed Conference Special Sessions:

Valenzuela, Ana and Lennay M. Chapman (October, 2021), When Cash is no longer King: On the Unintended Consequences of Digital Financial Platforms. Association for Consumer Research (virtual).

Valenzuela, Ana and Lennay M. Chapman (October, 2021), “Device-dependencies”: How Smartphone use affects Consumer Beliefs and Choices. Association for Consumer Research (virtual).

Refereed Paper Presentations (underline denotes presenter):

Chapman, Lennay M., David Luna, Ana Valenzuela and Scott Schanke (October, 2022), Is that chatbot lying to me? The effects of linguistic markers in chatbot interactions. Association for Consumer Research, Denver, CO.

Chapman, Lennay M., Ana Valenzuela, and Kathleen D. Vohs (March, 2022), Just between you and me: Private Transactions Signal Communal Traits and Enhance Others’ Willingness to Cooperate. Society for Consumer Psychology conference (virtual).

Chapman, Lennay M., David Luna, Ana Valenzuela and Scott Schanke (March, 2022), Linguistic Markers of Deception: How a Chatbot’s Language Can Undermine Behavior and Trust. Society for Consumer Psychology conference (virtual).

Chapman, Lennay M. and Ana Valenzuela (October, 2021), Just between you and me: Private Transactions Signal Moral Traits and Enhance Others’ Willingness to Cooperate. Association for Consumer Research (virtual).

Chapman, Lennay M. and Ana Valenzuela (October, 2021), The Addictive Properties of Mobile Applications: How Endless Scrolling and Intermittent Notifications Impact Consumer Perceptions and Behavior. Association for Consumer Research (virtual).

Refereed Poster Presentations (underline denotes presenter):

Chapman, Lennay M., Ana Valenzuela, and Kathleen D. Vohs (November, 2022), Just between you and me: Private Transactions Signal Communal Traits and Enhance Others’ Willingness to Cooperate. Society for Judgment and Decision Making, San Diego, CA.

Chapman, Lennay M. and Ana Valenzuela (March, 2021). Just between you and me: Paying privately signals moral traits and enhances others' willingness to cooperate. Society for Consumer Psychology (virtual).

Chapman, Lennay M. and Kathleen D. Vohs (March, 2021). Phones and selves: Self-Smartphone Overlap, Online Self-Disclosure, And Privacy Concerns. Society for Consumer Psychology (virtual).

Non-Refereed Publications:

Anand, Divya and Lennay M. Chapman (2021, May 4). “Using Micro Influencers for Customer Engagement? Seek the Ones that Follow Few Others,” JMR Scholarly Insights.

Chapman, Lennay M. (2017, September 15). "Putting Under Armour in the “SWOT-light," The Motley Fool.

Chapman, Lennay M. (2017, August 26). "Kohl’s faces the challenges of omnichannel retailing," The Motley Fool.

Chapman, Lennay M. (2017, August 14). "Where is Under Armour finding growth?," The Motley Fool.

Chapman, Lennay M. (2017, August 3). "One Important Thing Kohl's is Doing Right," The Motley Fool.

Chapman, Lennay M. (2017, July 28). "What Kohl’s management doesn’t want shareholders to focus on," The Motley Fool.