Robert Meyer

Robert Meyer is the Frederick H. Ecker/MetLife Insurance Professor and CoDirector of Wharton's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.  He is a noted scholar whose research focuses on consumer decision analysis, sales response modeling, and decision making under uncertainty. Professor Meyer's work has appeared in a wide variety of professional journals and books, including the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Marketing Science, Management Science, and Risk Analysis. He is currently the editorinchief of the Journ_al _of Marketing Research, and an associate editor for the Journal of Marketing.   He has previously served as coeditor of Marketing Letters, and associate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, JMR, and Marketing Science.  He has also served on the editorial review board of several major journals.

As codirector of Wharton's Risk center, some of Professor Meyer's recent research has focused on how individuals decide to invest in mitigation against lowprobability, highconsequence, events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and financial losses. Using a blend of field studies and laboratory simulations Professor Meyer and his colleagues have been able to show that failures of  preparation that often precede catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, Sandy, and the 2008/09 housing and equities collapse are consistent with a number of hardwired biases in how people respond to risk. This includes a tendency for people to fail to learn as much as they should from nearmisses, and underinvest in instruments whose value can only be realized in the long run. One of the goals of the risk center is to aid the private and public sectors in developing strategies that allow these biases to be overcome.

At Wharton Professor Meyer has served as chair of the Marketing Department and  Vice Dean of Wharton's doctoral programs. His teaching interests include courses in New Product Management, Research Methods, and Marketing Strategy, which he has taught at the MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral levels. He is also an active participant in a number of Wharton's executive education programs.

Professor Meyer joined the marketing faculty in 1990 after spending eight years on the faculty of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and two years at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at CarnegieMellon University. He also has served as a visiting professor in the school of economics at the University of Sydney. He received his PhD in Transportation Geography from the University of Iowa in 1980.  In addition to his Wharton position Professor Meyer is an associate of the Center for Research on Environmental Decision Making at Columbia University.

Narayan Jankiraman, Robert Meyer, Andrea C. Morales (Working), Spillover Effects: How Consumers Respond to Unexpected Changes in Price and Quality.

Abstract: This article examines how unexpected changes in the marketing mix of one product in a retail setting can influence demand for other, unrelated items. Results from two laboratory studies show that spillover effects can occur in response to both positive and negative changes in either the price or quality of a product, such that positive changes increase total spending on other items and negative changes reduce it. The results also demonstrate that an attributional process underlies these effects, indicating that consumers experience specific affective responses directed at the retailer that lead them either to reward or punish the retailer accordingly.

Robert Meyer, Shengui Zhao, Jin Han (Working), The Enhancement Bias in Consumer Decisions to Adopt and Utilize Product Innovations.

Abstract: The ability of consumers to anticipate the value they will draw from new product generations that expand the capabilities of incumbent goods is explored. Drawing on previous research in affective forecasting, the work explores a hypothesis that consumers will frequently overestimate the benefits they envision drawing from new added product features and underestimate the learning costs required to realize those benefits. This hypothesis is tested using a computer simulation in which subjects are trained to play a Pacmanlike arcade game where icons are moved over a screen by different forms of tactile controls. Respondents are then given the option to play a series of games for money with an incumbent game platform or pay to play with an alternative version that offer either expanded (Experiments 1 and 2) or simplified (Experiment 3) sets of controls. As hypothesized, subjects displayed an upwardlybiased valuation of the new sets of controls as measured by actual versus forecasted usage rates and performance gains. Yet, when given the opportunity to be paid to trade down to a more efficient device in exchange, few accepted. We thus observe a paradox where the presence of forecasting mistakes in product adoptions does little to induce regret in ownership.

Robert Meyer, N. Janakiramanand, A. Morales (Under Review), The Mental Accounting of Price Shocks: The Effect of Unexpected Price Changes on CrossCategory Purchase Patterns.

Abstract: A rarely challenged tenet of economic theory is that as long as consumers do not face liquidity constraints, goods satisfying different fundamental needs not should exhibit significant crossprice elasticities. Mental accounting, however, provides a theoretical mechanism by which this assumption may be violated when the posted prices of goods unexpectedly depart from historical or expected levels. Specifically, expected price shocks may alter the illusory liquidity of consumers, such that unanticipated price increases suppress consumers’ tendencies to purchase discretionary goods, while unanticipated price decreases enhance it. This hypothesis is tested using data from a computerized groceryshopping simulation in which subjects are faced with the problem of minimizing the cost of keeping a home stocked with twelve different grocery items over a multiperiod horizon. After an acclimation period where subjects are allowed to develop expectations for the usual prices of these goods, they are exposed to two extreme priceshock events: one where a required item is priced dramatically above its regular retail price, and another dramatically below. The data support the core spillover hypothesis, with highprice shocks suppressing average outofcategory buying and lowprice shocks inflating it. The data also show, however, that the mechanism that induces these effects differs between positive and negative shocks. The primary driver of the suppression of average sales given unexpected price increases is dramatically increased smalldeal sensitivity; subjects are loathe to buy goods sold at regular retail prices, but are more apt to buy goods offered for sale at small discounts. On the other hand, unexpected price decreases appear to induce a simpler illusory wealth effect, with buying increased but without any change in smalldeal sensitivity. An additional surprising finding is that the spillover effect proves robust to several variables that are hypothesized to limit its boundaries. Specifically, the strength of the spillover effect was not modified by variation in whether or not consumers had a standing inventory of a good at home (a surrogate for whether its purchase is more likely to be seen as discretionary), the base price to which the price shock is applied, and previous exposures to price shocks. A discussion of the implications of the work for research in mental accounting and pricing is provided.

Narayan Janakiraman, Robert Meyer, Stephen Hoch (Working), The Psychology of Consumer Decisions to Continue or Abandon Waits from Invisible Service Queues.

Abstract: We examine the process by which consumers make sequential decisions whether to continue or abandon waits for service. We focus on the case of invisible queues, where consumers cannot observe their location in a queue as it progresses, only the passage of time. Our hypothesis is that stayorrenege decisions will frequently suboptimal, marked by a tendency to prematurely abandon waits from distributions for which it is never optimal to renege (e.g., uniform waits) but excessively persist given distributions that have optimal early reneging windows. We propose a competinghazards theory that models ongoing stayorrenege decisions as a blend of two opposing influences: the escalating displeasure of waiting and the opposing desire to complete a wait that has been initiated. Among the theoretical predictions that emerge from this theory is that reneging rates will display an inverted Ushape function over time, with consumers being most prone to renege near the midpoint of waits. Reneging is also hypothesized to be affected by a number of normativelyirrelevant moderators, such as the initial number of alternative queues and the amount of physical activity that is engaged in during a wait. Evidence supporting these hypotheses is provided by four experimental studies in which respondents have the goal to complete as many downloads as possible from a hypothetical website within a finite time window, where there is a continuous opportunity to abandon a wait to begin a new one.

Robert Meyer (Under Review), The Psychology of Dynamic Product Maintenance.

Abstract: The processes that underlie consumer decisions to invest in the maintenance of a durable good over time are examined. The work centers on a hypotheses that consumers make decisions about whether to repair or replace a good that has suffered a decrease in performance through a process that assesses the value of repair actions relative to two points of reference: the normal rate at which the performance of goods declines as they age (ageindexing), and how the timing and cost of the repair compares to parallel norms for repair expenditures (expenditure indexing). We show how these heuristics can be represented by a cognitive algebra that models maintenance decisions as a series of myopic utilitymaximization problems. This process yields outcomes that can approximate those that would emerge from an optimal dynamic maintenance policy in some cases, but significantly depart from optimality in others. The algebra is then used to generate a series of predictions about how maintenance decisions may depart from normative benchmarks that are tested in a dynamic computerpet ownership simulation. Actual maintenance behavior is characterized by a number of biases that are consistent with theoretical predictions, including a seemingly contradictory tendency to undermaintain and prematurely replace goods of superior value when they were acquired, yet be overly reluctant to part with and overmaintain inferior goods. A discussion of the implications of the work for understanding realworld biases in product care and maintenance behavior is offered.

Description: Under second review.

Robert Meyer and Shengui Zhao (Under Review), The Psychology of Intuitive Forecasts of New Product Utility.

Abstract: When faced with the decision to adopt a product or service innovation consumers often need to forecast the longrun utility it will provide relative to incumbent goods. In this paper we review recent psychological research on the ability of people to forecast their own future preferences and discuss its implications for new product adoption decisions. We identify and review evidence for four distinct ways in which new product valuations may depart from those that would be prescribed by normative economic theory: projection biases, telescoping, emotional myopia, and loss framing. One of the implications of these biases is a predicted tendency for consumers to systematically overvalue and overbuy technology—at least under some conditions. We conclude with a discussion of the opportunities—and risks—these biases pose for managers seeking new ways to encourage consumer adoption of novel products and services.

Robert Meyer, Jin Han, Shengui Zhao (Under Review), A Tale of Two Judgments: Biases in Prior Valuations and Subsequent Utilization of Novel Technological Product Attributes.

Abstract: We explore the degree to which consumers’ willingnesstopay for nextgeneration products is rationally consistent with levels of utilization of novel features displayed after adoption. Using data from an experiment that requires subjects to buy and then utilize successive generations of an arcade game, we find support for an overvaluation bias: respondents place a high value on the ability to acquire an enhanced game form, but then make limited use of its novel controls after adoption. The effect is shown to be robust to incentives that provide a monetary reward to accurate valuations, priming of forecasts of downstream usage, and allowing subjects brief periods of trial ownership. The bias is explained in terms of myopic buyingandutilization processes where a priori assessments of value do not anticipate future usage, and posthoc decisions about utilization do not feel obligated to past valuations.

Description: Under first review.

Robert Meyer (Under Review), The Psychology of PostPurchase Product Maintenance Decisions: On the Care and Feeding of Virtual Pets.

Robert Meyer, R. Tyagi, J. Walsh (Under Review), An Experimental Analysis of Dynamic Pricing in Markets with Uncertain Demand.

Description: Under first review.

Robert Meyer and J. Louviere (Working), Theory and Methods in the Behavioral Analysis of Migration Intentions: An Application to PostRetirement, Housing Decision.

Past Courses

MKTG212 DATA & ANLZ FOR MKTG DEC

Firms have access to detailed data of customers and past marketing actions. Such data may include instore and online customer transactions, customer surveys as well as prices and advertising. Using realworld applications from various industries, the goal of the course is to familiarize students with several types of managerial problems as well as data sources and techniques, commonly employed in making effective marketing decisions. The course would involve formulating critical managerial problems, developing relevant hypotheses, analyzing data and, most importantly, drawing inferences and telling convincing narratives, with a view of yielding actionable results.

MKTG611 MARKETING MANAGEMENT

This course addresses how to design and implement the best combination of marketing efforts to carry out a firm's strategy in its target markets. Specifically, this course seeks to develop the student's (1) understanding of how the firm can benefit by creating and delivering value to its customers, and stakeholders, and (2) skills in applying the analytical concepts and tools of marketing to such decisions as segmentation and targeting, branding, pricing, distribution, and promotion. The course uses lectures and case discussions, case writeups, student presentations, and a comprehensive final examination to achieve these objectives.

MKTG612 DYNAMIC MKTG STRATEGY

Building upon Marketing 611, the goal of this course is to develop skills in formulating and implementing marketing strategies for brands and businesses. The course will focus on issues such as the selection of which businesses and segments to compete in, how to allocate resources across businesses, segments, and elements of the marketing mix, as well as other significant strategic issues facing today's managers in a dynamic competitive environment. ,A central theme of the course is that the answer to these strategic problems varies over time depending on the stage of the product life cycle at which marketing decisions are being made. As such, the PLC serves as the central organizing vehicle of the course. We will explore such issues as how to design optimal strategies for the launch of new products and services that arise during the introductory phase, how to maximize the acceleration of revenue during the growth phase, how to sustain and extend profitability during the mature phase, and how to manage a business during the inevitable decline phase.

MKTG613 STRATGIC MKTG SIMULATION

Building upon Marketing 611, Marketing 613 is an intensive immersion course designed to develop skills in formulating and implementing marketing strategies for brands and businesses. The central activity will be participation in a realistic integrative product management simulation named SABRE. In SABRE, students will form management teams that oversee all critical aspects of modern product management: the design and marketing of new products, advertising budgeting and design, sales force sizing and allocation, and production planning. As in the real world, teams will compete for profitability, and the success that each team has in achieving this goal will be a major driver of the class assessment. ,The SABRE simulation is used to convey the two foci of learning in the course: the changing nature of strategic problems and their optimal solutions as industries progress through the product life cycle, and exposure to the latest analytic tools for solving these problems. Specifically, SABRE management teams will receive training in both how to make optimal use of marketing research information to reduce uncertainty in product design and positioning, as well as decision support models to guide resource allocation.

MKTG777 MARKETING STR

This course views marketing as both a general management responsibility and an orientation of an organization that helps one to create, capture and sustain customer value. The focus is on the business unit and its network of channels, customer relationships, and alliances. Specifically, the course attempts to help develop knowledge and skills in the application of advanced marketing frameworks, concepts, and methods for making strategic choices at the business level.

MKTG890 ADVANCED STUDY PROJECT

The principal objectives of this course are to provide opportunities for undertaking an indepth study of a marketing problem and to develop the students' skills in evaluating research and designing marketing strategies for a variety of management situations. Selected projects can touch on any aspect of marketing as long as this entails the elements of problem structuring, data collection, data analysis, and report preparation. The course entails a considerable amount of independent work. (Strict librarytype research is not appropriate) Class sessions are used to monitor progress on the project and provide suggestions for the research design and data analysis. The last portion of the course often includes an oral presentation by each group to the rest of the class and project sponsors. Along with marketing, the projects integrate other elements of management such as finance, production, research and development, and human resources.

MKTG942 RESEARCH METHODS MKTG A

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental methodological issues that arise in experimental and quasiexperimental research. Illustrative examples are drawn from the behavioral sciences with a focus on the behavior of consumers and managers. Topics that are covered include: the development of research ideas; data collection and reliable measurement procedures; threats to validity; control procedures and experimental designs; and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on attaining a working knowledge of the use of regression methods for nonexperimental and quasiexperimental data and analysis of variance methods for experimental data. The primary deliverable for this course is a metaanalysis of a research problem of the students choosing that investigates the effects of research methods on empirical results.

MKTG943 RESEARCH METHODS MKTG B

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental methodological issues that arise in experimental and quasiexperimental research. Illustrative examples are drawn from the behavioral sciences with a focus on the behavior of consumers and managers. Topics that are covered include: the development of research ideas; data collection and reliable measurement procedures; threats to validity; control procedures and experimental designs; and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on attaining a working knowledge of the use of regression methods for nonexperimental and quasiexperimental data and analysis of variance methods for experimental data. The primary deliverable for this course is a metaanalysis of a research problem of the students choosing that investigates the effects of research methods on empirical results.

MKTG971 ADV TOPICS MKTG PART A

Taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department, this course investigates advanced topics in marketing. It is organized in a way that allows students to 1) gain depth in important areas of research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance their own research interests.

MKTG995 DISSERTATION

MKTG999 INDEPENDENT STUDY

Requires written permission of instructor and the department graduate adviser.

WH 299 WHUG RESEARCH SCHOLARS

This seminar takes place over two semesters and provides students with the skills to perform their own research under the guidance of a Wharton faculty member. At the conclusion of the fall semester, students will produce a thesis proposal including literature review, significance of the research, methodology, and exploratory data if relevant. Throughout the fall semester faculty guests from a range of disciplines will present on their research in class, highlighting aspects that are relevant to the work students are engaging in at that point. During the second semester, students will collect and analyze data and write up the results in close collaboration with their faculty mentor. At the end of the spring semester, each student will present their research in a video presentation. Throughout the course, students will work individually, in small groups, and under the mentorship of a Wharton faculty member. The goal is to becomes capable independent researchers who incorporate feedback and critical (self) analysis to take their research to the next level.

Research Grants, 2006 Description

Huntsman Center for Research on Technological Competition,
1992 – 1994 (Total Funding: $15,000).

Principle investigator, 2002 Description

SMU/Wharton Research Grants, 20024 (3 years).
Funding: $33,000/year

2001 John D.C. Little Award for best paper in an INFORMS Journal, 2000, 2000 2001 Frank Bass Award for best article based on a doctoral dissertation, 2000 1994 Frank Bass Award for best article based on a doctoral dissertation, 1999 Description

Judged after five years

1994 O’Dell Award for best article in Journal of Marketing Research, 1999 Description

Judged after five years

Principle Investigator, 1989 Description

“Experimental Analysis of Consumer Buying Dynamics,”
National Science Foundation, 1989 (1 Year), Finding: $54,000

UCLA Chancellor’s Career Development Award, 1984 Eight UCLA Faculty Research Grants, 19821989, 1982 Associate Investigator (Principal Investigator: Dr. Irwin Levin), 1979 Description

“Behavioral Processes Underlying Transportation Model Choice,” U.S.D.O.T, July to November, 1979

Associate Investigator (Principal Investigator: Dr. Gerard Rushton), 1979 Description

“Elderly Migration,” Institute on Aging, August 1979 to present

Associate Investigator (Principal Investigators: Dr. L. Turner and Dr. J. Louviere), 1979 Description

“Housing Decision by the Elderly,” Administration on Aging, 22 October 1979

Certificate in Urban Transportation Planning, 1979 Description

Program administered by USDOT/UMTA)

USDOT/UMTA Fellowship 1978, 1978

Knowledge @ Wharton

What Ostriches Can Teach Us About Risk, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/07/2017 Why the Twittersphere Helped Donald Trump Win, Knowledge @ Wharton 02/03/2017 How the Immigration Ban Will Impact U.S. Businesses, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/31/2017 What Will the Orlando Shooting Mean for Gun Control?, Knowledge @ Wharton 06/15/2016 What Have the Past 30 Years Taught Us About Managing Risk?, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/17/2015 Managing Risks for the World’s Undersea Cable Network, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/02/2015 Europe’s Migrant Crisis: Balancing the Risks with Longterm Gains, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/10/2015 What the Charlie Hebdo Attack Means for Risk Assessment, Knowledge @ Wharton 01/09/2015 Managing the Real and Psychological Risks of the Ebola Epidemic, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/13/2014 Weighing the Risks in the Ebola Battle, Knowledge @ Wharton 08/06/2014 The Faulty ‘Mental Models’ That Lead to Poor Disaster Preparation, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/07/2014 Most Wanted: ‘Next Generation Thinking’ to Combat Cyber Crime, Knowledge @ Wharton 03/05/2014 A Tale of Two Storms: Rebuilding after the U.S. and Japanese Disasters, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/03/2013 Today’s Forecast for the Weather Business: Increased Revenues and a Focus on Innovation, Knowledge @ Wharton 04/10/2013 No Longer Simply ‘Chic,’ Cheap Is Now a Badge of Honor, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/28/2011 Ten Years After 9/11 — Risk Management in the Era of the Unthinkable, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/09/2011 Modeling Behavior: What Motivates People to Prepare, or Not Prepare, for Natural Disasters?, Knowledge @ Wharton 05/11/2011 The Upgraded Digital Divide: Are We Developing New Technologies Faster than Consumers Can Use Them?, Knowledge @ Wharton 10/05/2005 An Elusive Goal: Identifying New Products that Consumers Actually Want, Knowledge @ Wharton 12/15/2004 Retailers Expect Strong Holiday Shopping, Knowledge @ Wharton 11/05/2003 Which Customers Are Worth Keeping and Which Ones Aren’t? Managerial Uses of CLV, Knowledge @ Wharton 07/30/2003 No Crystal Ball – or Historical Precedent – Can Help Predict Consumer Confidence, Knowledge @ Wharton 09/26/2001