To investigate the potential returns of targeted mobile discounts, we design and implement a large-scale field experiment involving two competing movie theaters. In the experiment, we test different forms of targeting based on real-time consumer location and past consumer behavior. A novel...

This study examines brand dispersion — variance in brand ratings across consumers — and its role in the translation of brand assets into firm value. Dispersion captures the covert heterogeneity in evaluations of brands among consumers who like or dislike the brands, which would affect an...

This paper examines the mediating role of analyst recommendations in the effect of annual IT investment on annual abnormal stock returns. While the influence of IT on stock market value has been studied in prior literature, there is a need to better understand how stock market investors come to...

We empirically test an information economics based theory of social preferences in which ego utility and self-signaling can potentially crowd out the effect of consumption utility on choices. Two large-scale, randomized controlled field experiments involving a consumer good and charitable...

Advancements in Internet technologies have enabled firms to engage in contextual competitive targeting (CCT); that is, the targeted online advertising practice of contextually identifying and poaching prospective customers of competitors. On the basis of two field quasi-experiment studies...

Due to the highly voluminous, heterogeneous, and unstructured nature of global business news streaming at a fast pace, it has become increasingly difficult for marketing executives, corporate communications managers, and market analysts to make sense and track news media stories addressing the...

The sharing economy has radically reshaped marketing thought and practice. Prior research has yet to examine whether and how a platform-level buyer protection insurance (PPI) impacts the buyers and sellers in the sharing economy. We exploit a natural experiment of an unexpected system glitch...

Empowered by artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots are surging as new technologies with both business potentials and customer pushback. This study exploits field experiment data on over 6,200 customers who are randomized to receive highly structured outbound sales calls from chatbots or human...

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has opened up many unprecedented opportunities in revolutionizing the digital marketing field. In this study, we designed a DRL-based personalized targeting strategy. We show that it can address four important challenges in this area. 1) Sequential-decisions:...

As of the end of May 2020, 44 of the 51 U.S. states and District of Columbia have implemented shelter-in-place (SIP) policies at some point during the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Despite the widespread adoption of SIP policies, empirical researchers are unable to reconcile SIP...