About

Aparna Labroo is a leading Consumer Psychologist and Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Her expertise lies in leveraging psychological insights into emotions and motivation that drive consumer behavior. She specializes in judgment and decision-making, focusing on how feelings influence brand preferences and consumer choices, particularly in contexts involving self-control, trade-offs between immediate pleasure and long-term benefits, such as healthy choices, financial decisions, and pro-social actions including charitable giving. Her research aims to understand how feelings can be harnessed to help individuals achieve their goals and how these insights can be applied to create impactful interventions that influence consumer decisions and improve long-term outcomes.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Social Science
• Marketing
• Computer Science
• Social psychology
• Business
• World Wide Web
• Public relations
• Developmental psychology
• Economics
• Microeconomics
• Positive economics
• Advertising
• Law

Selected publications

• <scp>JCP</scp>: The next mile

  Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We are honored to serve as Editors of the Journal of Consumer Psychology (JCP), accepting the baton from Lauren Block, Jennifer Argo, and Tom Kramer and continuing down the path of excellence that they and their predecessors have forged for the journal. Prior editors sought to define the journal's scope (e.g., Block et al., 2020; Wyer & Shavitt, 2002), improve its operational efficiency (e.g., Maheswaran, 2006; Wyer & Shavitt, 2003), and introduce impact initiatives (e.g., Maheswaran, 2006), including alternative formats that support diverse research contributions (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2018). Their efforts, as well as those of prior editors, associate editors, reviewers, and authors, have helped make JCP the journal that it is today – a premier outlet for research that advances knowledge of consumer psychology. In our initial editorial, we share our thoughts about where the journal is now and the direction we plan to follow, acknowledging the need for us to address other important issues in future editorials. Because this initial editorial builds on the ideas and efforts of the incredible scholars who preceded us as editors, or describes distinctive features of the journal that we plan to continue, we borrow words and phrases from past editorials or the journal website, believing there are limited ways to describe similar perspectives and practices. We embrace the notion articulated most recently by our immediate predecessors that consumer psychology involves an understanding of the science underlying consumer behavior (Block et al., 2020). It encapsulates understanding consumers' thoughts, feelings, or behaviors as they interact with products, services, or ideas in the marketplace and beyond (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2007; Peter & Olson, 2017; Schiffman & Kanuk, 2000). We share previous editors' inclusive perspective of consumer psychology and echo their sentiments that while consumer psychological research needs to provide insights about consumers and consumption, it does not have to be constrained to the marketplace alone or be limited in terms of its relevance to a narrow set of stakeholders. While consumers make important decisions in retail settings, not all consumer decisions or consumption activities take place in stores. For example, how consumers process information could be of importance even if it does not directly translate into an observable outcome. In other contexts, the decision may occur at home, but could have downstream marketplace consequences. Ultimately, as long as the research provides insights about the psychology of consumption, whether or not these insights inform managerial practice, consumer welfare, or public policy, we believe it may be appropriate for JCP. Consistent with the journal's focus on consumers and the psychology of consumption, issues that are relevant to people in their role as consumers are also relevant to JCP. While the global pandemic may have receded, consumers still live in a world where many of their basic needs are unmet. Many live in poverty without food, shelter, or health care for their families. We are still fighting for justice and equality and to eradicate racism and discrimination of all forms, impacting consumers' efforts to belong, find companionship, and make responsible decisions. We are also in the throes of geopolitical conflicts, in the midst of climate change and on the cusp of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. As consumers grapple with the societal challenges facing them, the field of consumer psychology has opportunities to advance understanding of how consumers process and react to these challenges, and how each impacts them and their decisions. Although we encourage examinations of these topics, we also continue to welcome submissions that address the breadth of topics previously published in JCP. Following an inclusive perspective of consumer psychology, we believe that the topic, not method, should determine relevancy. While we expect experimental approaches to represent a significant majority of JCP submissions, as they have since the journal's inception, we are open to a wide range of methodologies, as long as they are well suited to address the research question. These could range from empirical analyses of secondary data to text mining and ethnographic approaches. Our perspective is that research needs to be valid and the contribution substantial. The Validity Network Schema (VNS; Brinberg & Brinberg, 2019; Brinberg & McGrath, 1985) provides a useful framework to assess validity. The VNS argues that validity is not only restricted to the methodological domain alone but also occurs at the conceptual stage. In stage 1, validity relates to assessing the “worth of specific goals/desiderata” and involves specifying the goals of the research and the conceptual relationships that will be studied. Stage 2 refers to the “doing” of the research where the researcher assesses how the empirical investigation will allow the researcher to make the sought-after inferences. Finally, in stage 3, validity represents “efforts to establish the credibility/generalizability/robustness of the empirical findings with respect to the elements, relations among the elements, and context in each research domain.” Assessments of contribution, involve consideration of the research's importance—that is, its potential to change beliefs (Lynch et al., 2012). However, importance of research can only be assessed in conjunction with its goal—is the goal to build theory or understand a phenomenon and the approach used a deductive or non-deductive approach? We ascribe to Lynch et al.'s (2012) perspective that beliefs can be updated in a variety of domains, including: “(a) construct-to-construct links; (b) construct-to-observable links; (c) observable-to-observable links; and (d) beliefs that some phenomenon ‘exists’ in the world.” While documenting or explaining construct-to-construct linkages using a hypothetico-deductive approach makes an important contribution, this is not the only way to alter beliefs. Beliefs can also be altered in other ways. Thus, efforts to maintain high standards of excellence are not well served by using identical criteria to evaluate research with different goals and approaches. Finally, to extend a quote about how good company enhances a journey, we are fortunate to be accompanied by the amazing scholars who accepted our invitations to join our team as we carry the baton for the next mile of JCP's journey. In addition to the associate editors and editorial review board members who graciously agreed to be in step with us, we are fortunate to have Sandy Osaki, the Managing Editor of JCP, continue as the anchor for the journal. Ultimately, the continued success of JCP will depend on a broader community of scholars to continue to submit interesting and rigorous articles that advance the science of consumer psychology. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Diversity Representations in Advertising: Enhancing Variety Perceptions and Brand Outcomes

  Journal of Consumer Research · 2024-09-25 · 17 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract We present a novel business case for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) by showing that DEI representations in advertisements have important, and yet unestablished, implications for brands. We show that depicting observably diverse (e.g., in race, gender, or age) models in advertisements creates a perception that the brand offers greater product variety, even when the advertisement neither showcases nor directly suggests greater variety. This effect arises because people believe that observably different customers have more varied needs. Diversity representations, therefore, increase the perception that the brand offers greater product variety, presumably to meet the varied needs of its observably different customers. The findings are important because perceptions of variety improve brand impression, perceptions of a brand’s creativity, willingness to pay, willingness to use, and choice. The findings are particularly relevant for brands that offer limited variety, face resource constraints to diversify, and/or want to benefit from generating perceptions of large product variety while avoiding the drawbacks of managing large assortments.

  PublisherDOI

• Reaching for rigor and relevance: better marketing research for a better world

  Marketing Letters · 2022 · 25 citations

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Marketing
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Editorial: <i>Perspectives on Psychological Science</i> —A Key Journal to Foster the Quality of Research

  Perspectives on Psychological Science · 2022-01-01

  editorialOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sparking conversations: Editors’ Pick with commentaries and thematic article compilations

  Marketing Letters · 2022-02-15

  articleOpen access1st author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Introducing Marketing Letters’ data policy

  Marketing Letters · 2022-08-25 · 6 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Reconsidering prosocial behavior as intersocial: A literature review and a new perspective

  Consumer Psychology Review · 2022 · 26 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Computer Science
  • Psychology

  Abstract Research questions in the prosocial behavior literature focus on the pro aspect of prosocial behavior—that is, how to motivate actions that benefit others. These questions typically employ simplified decision contexts that neglect the intersocial aspect of prosocial behavior—that is, people are embedded in social networks and impacted by interactivity among two or more persons, entities, or societies. These intersocial influences have increased with technology access. Consumers now face richer choice tradeoffs, can access more information on causes, observe others' actions, and choose to make their own choices public. To ask questions that address the nature of prosocial behavior itself rather than consider it merely as another decision context to motivate human behavior in, we call for researchers to conceptualize prosocial behavior as intersocial . This approach can help capture the more realistic decision tradeoffs consumers face, as well as illuminate new research opportunities arising from considering technology‐enabled giving and socially hyperconnected consumers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Dirty Underbelly of Prosocial Behavior: Reconceptualizing Greater Good as an Ecosystem with Unintended Consequences

  Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2021 · 32 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Microeconomics

  This article is part of the issue “Consumer Psychology for the Greater Good”

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Acknowledgment

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2021-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Commentaries on “Abductive Theory Construction”

  Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2021-12-09 · 8 citations

  article

  Abstract This paper assembles five comments on Janiszewski and van Osselaer's (this issue) article that promotes abductive research as a way to generate new psychological theory. The review process began by asking those making comments to be part of collaborative communication between themselves and Janiszewski and van Osselaer. The five comments arising from that process provide well‐honed insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the abductive research. The first commentary, by Frank Kardes, offers convincing evidence showing that the techniques of abductive thinking are similar to other explorative techniques currently being successfully used in deductive research. Eileen Fischer sees abductive thinking as integral to inductive and qualitative thinking as it facilitates the generation of new constructs and remaps established ones. Stephen Spiller explores the implication of starting from interesting and paradoxical data rather than from established theory. The research challenge then requires a focus on strategic sampling of methods, responses, and critical constructs that confirm or limit a provisional theory. Aparna Labroo articulates the benefits of abductive thinking to help resolve complex practical problems, but warns against the proliferation of multiple findings that may be difficult to validate. Finally, Bublitz and Peracchio celebrate the value of abductive research to help resolve social issues and enable the fruitful merger of publishable research with personal social action.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Andreas Herrmann

  City of Hope

  11 shared

• Jan R. Landwehr

  Goethe University Frankfurt

  11 shared

• Angela Y. Lee

  Stanford University

  10 shared

• Anirban Mukhopadhyay

  City, University of London

  9 shared

• Patricia C. Ellison

  University of St. Gallen

  9 shared

• Sara Kim

  HKU-Pasteur Research Pole

  8 shared

• Anastasiya Pocheptsova

  University of South Carolina

  7 shared

• Derek D. Rucker

  Kellogg's (Canada)

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Business Administration

  University of California, Berkeley

  2005

• M.A., Business Administration

  University of California, Berkeley

  2000

• B.A., Economics

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1997

Awards & honors

• Society for Consumer Psychology Early Career Award (2011)
• Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar Award (2007)
• J. Keith Murnighan Outstanding Professor Award (2020, 2024)
• Chair’s Core Course Teaching Award (2021)