Marketing

Zoom link: https://hec-fr.zoom.us/j/93361239228

Speaker: 
Rajesh Chandy
Professor of Marketing - London Business School (UK)

Title:
Can Selling Make You More Resilient? Experimental Evidence from India
- Iris Steenkamp - Assistant Professor, Bocconi University
- Gaurav Mehta - CEO, Dharma Life, Noida, New Delhi, India
- Rajesh Chandy - Professor of Marketing and Tony and Maureen Wheeler Chair in Entrepreneurship, London Business School,
- Om Narasimhan - Professor of Management, London School of Economics.

Abstract:
Communities all over the world frequently confront sudden, disruptive challenges
that underscore the importance of resilience, i.e., the capacity to recover from hardships.
In response, numerous programs have been deployed by governments, NGOs,
and businesses to offer aid to the most vulnerable. Nonetheless, the uptake of such
programs by those eligible, particularly among the disadvantaged, remains strikingly
low.
Our research, conducted through a randomized controlled trial with 1,048 women in
rural India during the COVID-19 pandemic, investigates a marketing-driven approach
to enhancing resilience and encouraging greater engagement with relief programs. We
highlight the potential role of marketing employment (specifically, sales employment)
as a means to improve personal resilience among individuals during periods of crisis.
Specifically, we show that sales jobs can yield increases in personal connections with
informed and influential individuals. Such connections in turn increase economic and
psychological resilience by improving access to support programs. Importantly, the
positive impact of sales jobs on resilience is particularly large among those from the
most marginalized communities.
This investigation offers a novel perspective on the causal relationship between marketing
employment and resilience. It emphasizes the unique potential of marketing roles
to catalyze personal growth and societal engagement, suggesting that those engaged in
specific marketing roles in their professional lives may experience substantial benefits
that permeate into and enhance their personal lives.

Zoom link: https://hec-fr.zoom.us/j/98890209728

Speaker: 
Eugenia Wu
Associate Professor of Marketing - University of Pittsburgh (USA)

Title:
When and Why Bundling Two Material Goods Makes an Experience
Eugenia Wu, University of Pittsburgh (ecwu@pitt.edu)
Sarah G. Moore, University of Alberta (sgmoore1@ualberta.ca) 
Peggy J. Liu, University of Pittsburgh (peggy.liu@pitt.edu)
Daniella Kupor, Boston University (dkupor@bu.edu)

Abstract:
Although experiential purchases often provide better outcomes to consumers and companies than material purchases, little is known about how companies might increase experiential perceptions of material goods, and what implications this might have for consumer behavior. The authors introduce a novel approach to increasing experiential perceptions: Bundling together products that are moderate in complementarity—for instance, a coffee mug and a folding chair. Eleven pre-registered experiments show that bundling moderate-complementarity products offers companies a unique advantage: Bundling moderate-complementarity products prompts consumers to view the products as relatively more experiential compared to their non-bundled components, whereas bundling low-complementarity and high-complementarity products does not. This perceptual shift occurs because bundling moderate-complementarity products increases contextualization—the degree to which consumers consider the setting in which the products are used rather than the products themselves—and changes consumer behavior in various ways that can benefit firms (e.g., by increasing consumers’ likelihood of sharing information about the products with others; by increasing purchase likelihood when seeking an experience). Altogether, this research offers theoretical contributions to the bundling, material-experiential, and thematic relations literatures and offers practical implications for companies interested in obtaining the advantages of heightened experiential perceptions for material goods.

Zoom link: https://hec-fr.zoom.us/j/93802327523

Eesha Sharma - Associate Professor, Academic Affairs, Fowler College of Business - Marketing Department - San Diego (USA).
 

Title: Prioritizing Emotional Well-Being is Socially Penalized

Abstract: As emotional wellness initiatives expand alongside the established physical wellness movement, individuals are increasingly encouraged to prioritize both physical and emotional needs. Yet, do people judge these pursuits the same? Across seven studies (N = 4,959) including both archival data and tightly controlled experiments, we document a robust asymmetry in social judgment: Prioritizing emotional well-being is more socially penalized than prioritizing physical well-being—even when the trade-offs and consequences are held constant. This effect emerges across 30 contexts, from celebrities canceling public appearances, to everyday social interactions, to evaluations on popular online fora. Moreover, this social penalty is not reducible to mere mental health stigma. Instead, it stems from a belief that neglecting emotional well-being is less costly than neglecting physical well-being, making emotional prioritization seem less appropriate. This perception holds above and beyond ambiguity, severity, and ease of compartmentalization. Underscoring the driving role of perceived decision cost, a brief chatbot intervention designed to increase awareness of the costs of neglecting emotional well-being successfully reduced the penalty, suggesting a promising avenue for raising awareness and shifting social norms. Beyond enriching knowledge about the stigmas associated with emotional well-being, these findings reveal a cultural contradiction at the heart of modern wellness discourse: While society urges individuals to take care of their emotional well-being, it penalizes them when they do. By surfacing and explaining this asymmetry, and identifying a path to mitigate it, this work calls for a reevaluation of how we define, communicate, and support well-being—both socially and structurally.