Research Statement

My research focuses on improving managerial and consumer decisions. One of my papers titled "Hierarchy Shapes Consumer Perceptions of Responsibility for and Reactions to Company Communication Regarding Ethical Scandals" (with Nathan and Palmeira) is under second round, revising for resubmission  to the Journal of Business Research. In this research, we examine company communication regarding ethical scandals. We explore the impact of internally blaming either the sales associates or the upper-level managers and the role of consumers' interpersonal experience with the sales associates in their response toward the company. Previous researchers studied how consumers react when companies deny or shift blame to a third party when accused of an integrity violation.

Another paper titled "Centrality of Sensory Attributes in Brand Extension Evaluations" (with Varki and Elsantiel) is under second review at the Journal of Consumer Marketing. In this work, we explore the role of sensory attributes of a parent brand in the evaluation of its extensions into new and unrelated product categories. We also compare the relative importance of sensory attributes and brand equity in extension evaluations. Past researchers explored the role of functional and symbolic attributes of a parent brand in the evaluation of its extensions and ignored the role of sensory attributes. Also, previous research did not compare the role of sensory attributes vs. brand equity in extension evaluations.   

A paper titled "The Incidental Effect of Changes in Nutritional Labelling Regulations on Consumers' Preference for Healthy Options – An Attention Based Explanation" (with Kumar and Bender) is in preparation for submission to the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. This project won the 2022 Association of Consumer Research (ACR) and the 2021 ACR - American Marketing Association - Transformative Consumer Research grants. In this project, we investigate the effectiveness of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendation to increase the font size of calories printed on product labels (to help consumers choose healthy options). Our study results suggest that calories with larger font size distract attention away from other potentially less healthful nutrients and could lead to a choice of unhealthy food options. 

My dissertation examines multi-category, sequential decisions involved in product customization. The substantive context I use is online food ordering, and I examine how implicit references created by the way items in the appetizer category influence choices in the entrée and dessert categories. I show that these spillover effects could be positive (reinforcing) or negative (balancing) depending on the price-quality associations created in the appetizer category. The work is in preparation for submission to the Journal of Marketing Research.

Two studies titled "The Effect of Artificial Intelligence Self-Learning Capability on User Cognitive Efforts" (with Lin, Yin, Gert-Jan, & Triparna) have been completed. This research aims at understanding user response to Artificial Intelligence support and is targeted to the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Two studies have been completed, titled "Perceived Control, Flow, and the Online Experience" (with Sajeev Varki & Ling Hu). This research examines consumers' online product customization experience and is targeted to the Journal of Retailing.