Research

Consumers often make purchase decisions based on their feelings towards the product, and their motivation to acquire or consume it. These feelings and motivations reflect not just the preferences a person has for a product or the benefits that s/he seeks, but also the effort that the person expends on the process and the level of enjoyment derived from it. My research is inspired by an interest in such affect-laden and goal-driven processes in consumer behavior.

Most of the current research on affect or goals is based on a static framework that only considers single instances of behavior or judgment. My research provides insights into the dynamics that arise when a consumer displays different patterns of behavior or judgment about a product/experience at different points in time. Such differences may arise due to several factors. First, people do not have the same goals at every point in the decision process. Rather, their goals evolve and change as they come into conflict with other goals that may emerge later in the process. Second, people may not feel the same way about their behavior over time. Their emotions may decay at different rates. This can lead to interesting effects in terms of how people cope with the emotions experienced during or after a product or advertising experience. Third, people’s judgments and behavior during the course of an experience may be affected by the presence or absence of situational or social cues. These cues may modify the way people consume the experience. My work attempts to shed light on dynamic effects in phenomena observed in a number of domains related to both individual and shared consumption.