Shelle Santana

Dr. Shellene (Shelle) Santana is a Marketing professor at Bentley University and was previously a faculty member at the Harvard Business School. Her research centers on behavioral pricing and the psychology of money. For example, she studies how consumers respond to novel pricing strategies such as drip pricing and pay what you want offers as well as how consumers perceive, spend, and save differently when interacting with currency in different forms (e.g., cash, foreign currency, credit cards, loyalty points). Dr. Santana has taught both Principles of Marketing and Branding courses in undergraduate, graduate, executive, and custom programs. Her research has been published in top academic journals such as Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Retailing. She also co-authored a chapter on Consumer Financial Protection Legislation in Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance. Her work has been cited or featured in media publications such as CBSnews.com, CNBC.com, Harvard Business Review, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.

Prior to her career in academia, Dr. Santana spent 14 years at American Express, where she held a variety of positions in the Global Commercial Services division, including Sales Planning, Head of U.S. Commercial Card Marketing and Customer Experience, and ultimately Head of U.S. Corporate Card Marketing and Global Product Strategy. In recognition of her contributions to the company, Dr. Santana was inducted into the American Express Hall of Fame in 2006 and was also named to the YWCA Academy of Women Leaders in 2007.

Dr. Santana earned her Ph.D. in Marketing from the Stern School of Business at New York University. She also holds an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, as well as a B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is on the Board of Directors at BOA Technology and Marelli Holdings, Inc.

Education

• PhD NYU Stern School of Business
• MPhil NYU Stern School of Business
• MBA Duke University Fuqua School of Business
• BS Cornell University

Teaching Interests

Professor Santana's teaching interests include Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy, Consumer Behavior, and Brand Strategy, and Brand Loyalty.

Research Interests

Broadly speaking, I am interested in how consumers make decisions in consumption contexts. More specifically, I explore how consumers respond to pricing information in the marketplace--how prices affect how we think, feel, and behave. In addition, I have a stream of research on the psychology of money. In this work I examine how consumers perceive, spend, and save currency in various forms such as cash, cards, and loyalty points.

Publications

Journal Articles

• Xia, L., Wang, F., Santana, S. (2021). Nostalgia: Triggers and Its Role on New Product Purchase Intentions. Journal of Business Research, (135) 183-194.
• Santana, S., Morwitz, V. G. (2021). The Role of Gender in Pay-What-You-Want Contexts. Journal of Marketing Research.
• Santana, S., Thomas, M., Morwitz, V. G. (2020). The Impact of Numbers Throughout the Customer Journey. Journal of Retailing.
• Santana, S., Dallas, S., Morwitz, V. G. (2020). Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing. Marketing Science.
• Raghubir, P., Morwitz, V. G., Santana, S. (2012). Europoly Money: How Do Tourists Convert Foreign Currencies to Make Spending Decisions?. Journal of Retailing.