Rom Y. Schrift Curriculum Vitae, September 2010

Transcription

1 Rom Y. Schrift Curriculum Vitae, September 2010 Columbia Business School Phone: (646) Columbia University Fax: (212) Broadway New York, NY Web: EDUCATION Ph.D., Marketing, June 2011 (Expected) Columbia Business School Columbia University, New York, NY M. Phil., November 2008 Columbia Business School Columbia University, New York, NY M.B.A., Marketing (with Honors), June 2006 The Jerusalem School of Business Administration The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, June 2002 Faculty of Engineering Sciences Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel HONORS AND AWARDS Best Competitive Paper Award, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2010 Winter Conference Best Student Paper Award, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2010 Winter Conference AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow, Texas Christian University, 2010 Annual UH Doctoral Symposium Fellow, University of Houston, 2010 Columbia University Doctoral Fellow, 2006-present Outstanding Thesis Award, Kmart Center for Marketing and Retailing, 2006 Gal-Ed Foundation Scholarship,

2 PUBLICATIONS AND WORK UNDER REVIEW Schrift, Rom Y., Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Complicating Choice: the Effort Compatibility Hypothesis, Journal of Marketing Research, (forthcoming) - Winner of the Best Competitive Paper Award (SCP 2010) Parker, Jeffrey R. and Rom Y. Schrift, The Rejectable Choice-Set: How Seemingly Irrelevant No-Choice Options Affect Consumer Decisions, (conditionally accepted at the Journal of Marketing Research) - Winner of the Best Student Paper Award (SCP 2010) Kivetz, Ran, Oded Netzer and Rom Y. Schrift (2008), The Synthesis of Preference: Bridging Behavioral Decision Research and Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18 (3), DISSERTATION Complicating Choice Co-chairs: Ran Kivetz and Oded Netzer Committee Members: Jonathan Levav and Yaacov Trope (proposal defended on May 20 th, 2010) It has been well documented that, in the pre-decisional stage, consumers often simplify their decisions by bolstering one of the alternatives and/or denigrating others (see Brownstein 2003 for a review). Such reduction of choice conflict enables consumers to make easier, more confident choices. In my dissertation, I provide a theoretical analysis of, and empirical evidence for, the opposite behavior. I discuss conditions under which consumers complicate choices in order to feel that they invested enough effort to make the right choice. Specifically, I postulate that when faced with important decisions, such as choices between primary physicians or between career paths, consumers are motivated to engage in a diligent decision process or due diligence. When an important choice feels too easy, consumers artificially increase the choice conflict and effort by reconstruing the choice context. I propose a unifying effort-compatibility principle that accounts for both simplifying and complicating decision processes. The effort compatibility principle asserts that consumers value and strive for compatibility between the degree of effort they anticipate, or think is adequate to reach a certain decision, and the level of effort they actually exert. Accordingly, when a certain decision seems harder than initially anticipated, a simplifying process ensues. However, when the decision feels easier to resolve than anticipated (e.g., important, yet easy choices), consumers artificially increase the effort they invest in making the decision. In a series of eleven studies I test and validate the effort compatibility principle 2

3 and explore several ways by which decision makers complicate their decisions. In particular, I find that decision makers complicate their decisions by (1) bolstering unimportant attributes, (2) distorting their holistic judgment of alternatives, (3) selectively retrieving information from memory, (4) conducting an intensive information search, (5) selectively interpreting incoming information, and (6) reversing the valence of ordinal attributes (e.g., more is better becomes less is better). Such conflict enhancement behavior enables consumers to attain effort-compatibility and perceive themselves as engaging in diligent decision-making. WORKING PAPERS AND SELECTED RESEARCH IN PROGRESS Creating the Illusion of Choice through Selective Information Search and Retrieval, with Ran Kivetz and Oded Netzer Guessing What You Want, Knowing What You Need: How No-Choice Options Influence Preference Formation, Consistency, and Persistency, with Jeffrey R. Parker All in One versus All is None: Bundled Benefits and Perceived Product Efficacy, with Jonathan Levav Preference Polarization in Repeated Measurement Designs, with Oded Netzer From Abstractness to Concreteness, Pay What You think It s Worth, with Noel Capon and Ping Wang Modeling and Exploiting Response Time in Preference Measurements, with Olivier Toubia and Oded Netzer RESEARCH INTERESTS Consumer and Managerial Judgment and Decision Making Biased Pre-decisional Processing and Metacognition Consumer Preference Formation and Information Search Preference Measurement 3

4 CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED TALKS The Rejectable Choice Set: How Seemingly Irrelevant No-choice Options Affect Decisions, with Jeffrey R. Parker, the 28 th Annual UH Doctoral Symposium, Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, April, 2010 Complicating Choice, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Society for Consumer Psychology, St. Pete Beach, FL, February, 2010 The Rejectable Choice Set: How Seemingly Irrelevant No-choice Options Affect Decisions, with Jeffrey R. Parker, Society for Consumer Psychology, St. Pete Beach, FL, February, 2010 Complicating Choice, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference, Boston, MA, November, 2009 The Rejectable Choice Set: How Seemingly Irrelevant No-choice Options Affect Decision, with Jeffrey R. Parker, Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference, Boston, MA, November, 2009 The Constructive Role of Effort in Consumer Choice, (Session Chair) and Complicating Choice, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Association for Consumer Research Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October, 2009 From Diligence to Hindrance, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Marketing in Israel, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, December, 2008 From Diligence to Hindrance, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, White Box Advisors Graduate Student Conference, Yale School of Management, New Haven, CT, May, 2008 From Diligence to Hindrance, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, January 2008 TEACHING INTERESTS Marketing Management, Marketing Research, Creativity in Business, Consumer Behavior TEACHING EXPERIENCE Instructor: Special sessions in Conjoint Analysis: Introduction and Applications Spring 2010 (MBA), Summer 2009 (MBA), Spring 2009 (MBA/EMBA) 4

5 Fall 2008 (MBA), Spring 2007 (EMBA) Teaching Assistant for: Introduction to Marketing/Marketing Management Professor Leonard Lee, Fall 2009, Spring 2009 Professor Ricardo Montoya, Summer 2008 Professor Skander Esseghaier, Summer 2008 Professor Oded Netzer, Spring 2010, Fall 2008, Spring 2008 Managing Marketing Programs Professor Kamel Jedidi, Spring 2009 Professor Asim Ansari, Spring 2009 Professor Olivier Toubia, Spring 2010 Marketing Research Professor Oded Netzer, Spring 2010, Fall 2008, Spring 2008 Professor Jacob Goldenberg, Spring 2006, Marketing Strategy Professor Jonathan Levav, Spring 2010, Fall 2009 Professor Asim Ansari, Spring 2010, Fall 2009 New Product development Professor Olivier Toubia, Fall 2009, Fall 2007 Systematic Creativity in Business Professor Jacob Goldenberg, Fall 2009, Summer 2008, Summer 2007 SERVICE Trainee reviewer for the Journal of Consumer Research (2009-present) Reviewer, the Association for Consumer Research (2010, 2009) Reviewer, the Society for Consumer Psychology (2010) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION Association for Consumer Research (ACR) American Marketing Association (AMA) Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP) Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM) SELECTED GRADUATE COURSEWORK Consumer Behavior I (1) Consumer Behavior I (2) Consumer Behavior II Empirical Modeling I Gita V. Johar Eric J. Johnson Michele T. Pham Rajeev Kohli 5

6 Empirical Modeling II Asim M. Ansari Bridging Behavioral Decision Research & Marketing Science Ran Kivetz Microeconomic Analysis I Chiappori P. A. Microeconomic Analysis II MacLeod B. W. and Bolton P. Marketing Decisions & Methods Don Lehmann Analytical Modeling Oded Koenigsberg Research Methods Gita V. Johar Introduction to Econometrics I Vytlacil E. J. Introduction to Econometrics II Onatski A. I. Bayesian Modeling and Computation Asim M. Ansari Experimental Design & Analysis for Behavioral Research Michel T. Pham Optimization Rajeev Kohli Applied Multivariate Statistics Kamel Jedidi Stochastic Processes Gerardo H. del-valle Dynamic Programming Alp Muharremoglu REFERENCES Ran Kivetz Oded Netzer Philip H. Geier, Jr. Professor of Marketing Associate Professor of Marketing Columbia Business School, Columbia University Columbia Business School, Columbia University 3022 Broadway, New York, NY Broadway, New York, NY Tel: (212) Fax: (212) Tel: (212) Fax: (212) rk566@columbia.edu on2110@columbia.edu Jonathan Levav Class of 1967 Associate Professor of Business Columbia Business School, Columbia University 3022 Broadway, New York, NY Tel: (212) Fax: (212) jl2351@columbia.edu 6

7 ABSTRACTS Complicating Choice, with Oded Netzer and Ran Kivetz A great deal of research in consumer decision-making and social-cognition has explored consumers attempts to simplify choices by bolstering their tentative choice candidate and/or denigrating the other alternatives. The present research investigates a diametrically opposed process, whereby consumers complicate their decisions. The authors demonstrate that, in order to complicate their choices, consumers increase choice conflict by over-weighing small disadvantages of superior alternatives, converging overall evaluations of alternatives, reversing the ordinal value of attributes, and even choosing less preferred alternatives. Further, the results from five studies support a unifying theoretical framework, namely the effort-compatibility principle. Specifically, it is argued that consumers strive for compatibility between the effort they anticipate and the effort that they actually exert. When a certain decision seems more difficult than initially expected, a simplifying process ensues. However, when the decision feels easier to resolve than was anticipated (e.g., when consumers face an important, yet easy choice), consumers artificially increase their effort. Rejectable Choice Sets: How Seemingly Irrelevant No-Choice Options Affect Consumer Decision Processes, with Jeffrey R. Parker To date, research relating to the effects of no-choice options on choice has primarily examined the conditions that foster choice deferral, thus focusing on the frequency with which the no-choice option is selected. In this paper, the authors argue that even if the no-choice option is not selected, its mere presence in the choice set may alter consumers choices. Accordingly, this paper investigates how decision processes and preferences change when consumers have a no-choice option versus when they are forced to choose from a given choice set. It is proposed that the inclusion of a no-choice option in a choice set affects preferences by leading consumers to determine not only which alternative is best, but which, if any, are acceptable (i.e., meet the consumer s minimum needs). Accordingly, the authors demonstrate that the inclusion of a nochoice option in the set (i) leads to more alternative- (vs. attribute-) based information processing, (ii) increases the importance of attributes that are more meaningful when alternatives are evaluated one by one (i.e., enriched attributes), and (iii) increases the importance of attributes levels that are closer to the consumer s minimum needs (thresholds). Creating the Illusion of Choice through Selective Information Search and Retrieval, with Ran Kivetz and Oded Netzer The manner in which consumers search for new information and the manner in which existing information is retrieved from memory, is an important, consequential facet of the decision making process. It has been well documented that consumers selectively search and attend to external information as well as selectively access and retrieve existing information from memory in a manner that reduces the conflict in choice. As Kunda (1990) states: [people] search memory for 7

8 those beliefs and rules that could support their desired conclusion. Such behavior enables consumers to make easy, confident, and justifiable choices. In this paper, we explore a diametrically opposed behavior. In particular, we argue that consumers motivation to engage in a diligent decision process, may lead them to artificially enhance the conflict in choice. First, we demonstrate that when faced with important yet easy decisions, consumers distort the information that they recall about the alternatives, in a manner that intensifies their experience of choice conflict. This biased and selective retrieval is temporal, and occurs only prior to choice. Once the decision is made and the need for conflict disappears, consumers memory improves and the distortions attenuate. Further, we demonstrate that this complicating behavior is also apparent in the manner by which consumers search for new information. Specifically, we find that consumers agonize over important yet seemingly easy decisions by engaging in extensive information search. Such tactics enable consumers to feel that a diligent process of choice was performed and essentially help them create an illusion of choice. Accordingly, we find such conflict enhancement behaviors to be more pronounced among consumers who are intrinsically motivated to work hard (i.e., subscribe to a "protestant ethic"). Guessing What You Want, Knowing What You Need: How No-Choice Options Influence Preference Formation, Consistency, and Persistency, with Jeffrey R. Parker Recent findings suggest that the inclusion of a no-choice option in the choice set triggers a more evaluative (as opposed to comparative) type of judgment, and leads consumers to focus more on their needs (see Parker and Schrift, under review). In this paper, the authors argue that this increased focus on one s needs leads consumers to form a more stable preference structure. Accordingly, the authors show, in a series of studies, that the addition of a no-choice option increases preference consistency, and also causes consumers to persist in their chosen course of action. 8