The NSE Centre for Behavioral Science was established in March 2020. at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad with a grant from the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. The first-of-its-kind in a management institution in India, the CBS aims to build a cross-disciplinary platform for conducting and disseminating research grounded in neuro-scientific and behavioral knowledge across diverse fields of management including but not limited to finance, economics, marketing, organizational behavior and human resource management.
Behavioral science tools have been advancing over the years and could unearth deep-rooted behavioral patterns and biases. Insights from such research could shed new light on our understanding and help shape policies that could spread the benefits to a wider section of the population. With academic rigor and experimental-based research, the CBS aims to produce meaningful decision-making insights that could benefit industry leaders and policy makers in drawing fresh perspectives and outlooks.
With the CBS, the Institute aims to lead the way with applied research to improve management practices across sectors of finance, health, public policy, marketing, economics, organizational behavior and human resource management as well as making pathbreaking contributions to academia in these areas. The centre would like to engage in rigorous but relevant research and looks to connect with interested researchers in academia and practitioners in industry.
The CBS is equipped with an EEG system, Eye Tracker, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). The laboratory is designed to explore the applicability of behavioral science theories in marketing, finance, and economics for generating and disseminating ideas around these themes.
Ghosh,R.K., Sanghvi, R., Sahay,A. (2023). Consumer Preference for Nutrition Front-of-Pack-Label Formats in India: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experimental Survey. Food Quality & Preference, Vol. 111.
Global policy discourse emphasizes placing front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPLs) on packaged foods, but debates continue to rage on the appropriate format. There are two key types of label formats, summary and informative. In developing countries, with mixed to low levels of education, it is advised that FOPLs need to be easily identifiable, understandable, and can influence purchase decisions. In this context, we tested the suitability of five FOPL formats in India through a randomized experimental design survey. Respondents were allocated to different groups representing the FOPLs and controls. A 15-treatment and 1 control cell between-subjects design was used for the study. Surveys were conducted on the field through face-to-face interactions with a total of 20,564 participants from all over India across regions, genders, age groups, and education levels. The results, which were validated using sub-sample tests, suggest that summary formats of Health Star Ratings and Warning Labels ranked higher on ease of identification and understanding and were also able to influence purchase intentions as compared to informative labels such as Multiple Traffic Lights, monochrome Guideline Daily Amounts, and Nutriscore. Our analysis reveals that summary FOPLs are more useful in influencing healthier food choices as compared to informative FOPL formats. The study's insights can help regulators design a policy that empowers consumers and nudges food brands toward healthier product reformulations.
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Bhattacharya,P., Rampal, J. (2024). Contests Within and Between Groups: Theory and Experiment. Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 145, 467-492.
We examine behavior in a two-stage group contest where intra-group contests are followed by an inter-group contest. Rewards accrue to the winning group, with winners of the intra-group contest within that group receiving a greater reward. The model generates a discouragement effect, where losers from the first stage exert less effort in the second stage than winners. In contrast to the related literature, we show that a prior win may be disadvantageous, generating lower profits for first stage winners as compared to losers. We consider exogenous asymmetry between groups arising from a biased group contest success function. Although the asymmetry occurs in the second stage, its effect plays out in the first stage, with higher intra-group conflict in the advantaged group. Experimental results support the qualitative predictions of the model. However, losers from the first stage bear a higher burden of the group contribution than the theoretical prediction.
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Mukhopadhyay, S., Vijayalakshmi, A., & Jain, S. P. (2023). Understanding consumers in-store behavior: The dual role of episode-specific motive adjustment and motive selection. Journal of Retailing, 99(3), 460-479.
Understanding purchase motivations is vital but challenging due to their unobservable, concomitant, and dynamic nature. Recent research has proposed frameworks to examine their impact on choice by treating motivations as latent states. This study contributes to this line of research by introducing the notion of “episode-specific motive adjustment,” that accounts for variations in consumers' willingness to pursue specific motives during a shopping trip. Utilizing this concept, the study uncovers valuable insights into how different types of purchase motivations influence consumer product interactions and choices. Analyzing a comprehensive dataset from multiple Indian cities, the research contributes to a theoretical understanding of and practical applications for businesses seeking to comprehend and influence consumer behavior. Theoretically, we show that consumers display diverse patterns of in-store product engagement behavior as they adjust the intensity of instrumental and experiential motives across purchase episodes. Furthermore, we illustrate that the relationship between willingness to pursue a motive (motive intensity) and the likelihood of making a choice follows distinct functional patterns. We highlight the significance of considering individual-level heterogeneity and dynamic behavioral patterns to enhance consumer experiences and purchase decisions. Practically, this research identifies the key drivers that influence motive intensity in stores, providing managers with insights to optimize store layouts and effectively influence consumer purchase motives that align with their business objectives. Emphasis is placed on context-specific strategies, as the impact of these drivers varies with purchase context.
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Vasudevan, E. V. (2023). Some gains are riskier than others: Volatility changes and the disposition effect. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 214, 68-81.
The author examines whether investors revise their beliefs about a stock's risk due to an increase in the stock's volatility. This revision makes loss-averse investors more willing to sell a riskier stock with a paper gain as the likelihood of having to sell it at a loss later increases. An analysis of a large Finnish dataset on the holdings and trades of individual investors yields empirical support for this prediction: a one standard deviation increase in volatility is associated with an 11% increase in the disposition effect. The effect primarily emerges from investors' increased propensity to sell stocks with small paper gains
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Roy, S., Mishra, A. S., & Bailey, A. A. (2023). Celebrity co‐creator or celebrity endorser? Exploring mediating and moderating factors in Marcom decision. Psychology & Marketing, 41(4), 802-818.
The present research delves into the concept of celebrity co‐creation from the consumer behavior perspective. It explores the impact of the degree of a celebrity's involvement with a brand (celebrity as an endorser vs. celebrity as a co‐creator) on consumers' advertisement and brand‐based evaluations (Study 1) and purchase behavior (Study 2). The research subsequently incorporates the mediating effects of consumers' perceived risk (Study 3) and the moderating effect of celebrity expertise (Study 4) in the relationships. Three of the four studies were controlled experiments among nonstudent samples (combined n = 486), while one was a field study. Major findings indicate that a celebrity co‐creator is more effective than a celebrity endorser, but both cases of celebrity presence are more effective than the control (Studies 1 and 2). This effect is observed to be mediated by the consumers' perceived risk (Study 3) and moderated by the celebrity's expertise (Study 4). The present research provides a new direction to value co‐creation research from the communications perspective and adds to the literature on celebrity endorsements.
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Jain, S., Desai, N., Pingali, V., & Tripathy, A. (2023). Choosing Beyond Compliance Over Dormancy: Corporate Response to India's Mandatory CSR Expenditure Law. Management and Organization Review 19(3), 594-623.
This article examines whether firms engaged in high levels of voluntary CSR (corporate social responsibility) alter their strategic choices in response to detrimental public policy – specifically India's Companies Act (2013) that mandates qualifying firms to spend 2% of their three-year average net profits on CSR. Drawing on the concept of organizational dormancy, we argue that firm capabilities, political awareness, exposure to political pluralism, and ownership identity may explain choice heterogeneity among these firms. Our key and non-intuitive finding is that even in the absence of discretionary choice in determining optimal CSR expenditure, firms are less likely to choose dormancy and instead embrace and even surpass the stipulations of the law in their CSR contributions. Also, politically aware firms are more likely to opt for dormancy over compliance. Managerial and policy implications are discussed.
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Mohapatra, S., Roy, S., Upadhyay, A., & Kumar, A. (2024). Circular value creation through environmental entrepreneurship initiatives: A case‐based exploration. Business Strategy and the Environment. Advance online publication.
The present study builds on the domain of circular economy and its subdomain circular value creation to explore the entrepreneurial process of a small business in India. It aims to find how circular entrepreneurship as a process may unfold and how it may lead to value creation at different levels. The case study method is used to address the research objectives and a case study of a small entrepreneur based in India is selected for the same purpose. The analysis of the case and within case patterns (three subcases) illustrates circular entrepreneurship as a process with motivation, action and value creation as three main stages. The motivation of the entrepreneur leads to several actions related to business processes that are aimed at circular value creation. Subsequently, this leads to value creation at multiple levels such as the economy, business and society. Hence, the findings support the circular economy concept and its role in the creation of value at the small business level. The findings support the theoretical tenets of circular value creation and circular entrepreneurship using an interpretive approach.
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Vijayalakshmi, A., & Lin, M. H. (2023). One‐click at a time: Empowering mothers for their adolescent children's educational expenditures through social media usage. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 47(3), 1112-1125.
Mothers play a significant role in deciding their adolescents' educational expenditures. They increasingly rely on the Internet for information search and building online support networks to enhance their confidence. Thus, we use the psychological empowerment theory in this study to examine the association between social media use and educational expenditures. Through two studies, we show how a mother's use of social media (active/passive use) significantly impacts adolescent children's educational expenses via dimensions of psychological empowerment. We further demonstrate that the two dimensions of psychological empowerment differentially drive this relationship: intrapersonal (relying on the self) and Interactional (leveraging the community) empowerment. We discover that active (passive) social media use increases mother' intrapersonal (interactional) empowerment. We also find that cross‐cultural differences play a role in psychological empowerment's effect on educational expenditures, where intrapersonal empowerment is vital in the United States, and interactional empowerment is more relevant in India. Our key contributions to literature are three‐fold: we establish the relationship between a mother's social media use and educational expenditures for their adolescent children, identify predictors of different dimensions of psychological empowerment, and present evidence for cross‐cultural differences in the empowering role of social media.
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Babbar, K., & Dev, P. (2023). Period products during the pandemic: The impact of lockdown on period products usage. Applied Economics. Advance Online Publication.
This paper estimates the impact of the government-mandated intensity of the lockdown across various zones on the period product consumption for menstruating women in India. We have used the national-level panel data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) database across 510 districts of India, along with the lockdown zones data. Our study uses a robust strategy to exploit the temporal (non-lockdown vs. during lockdown) and spatial (across red, orange, and green zones) variation by using difference-in-difference estimates by exploring the impact of lockdown policy on period product expenditure over households from January 2020 to December 2020. Our results show a reduction of 16% in period products consumption in red zone districts compared to the green zone districts. When restricting attention to rural districts only, this reduction was 25%. Travel restrictions on consumers combined with restrictions on movements of goods led to severe shortages in period products. There is a strong need to start interventions to improve the period products usage and create robust infrastructure to ensure deliveries, especially during emergencies.
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Vijayalakshmi, A., Lin, M. H. J., & Kordrostami, M. (2023). The impact of temperature sensations on donation intentions: Exploring the role of need for affiliation and empathy. Business Ethics and Leadership, 7(3), 97-107.
The research presented in this paper delves into the fascinating realm of how temperature, both physical and psychological, can influence human behavior, specifically in the context of charitable donations. It offers valuable insights into the intricate relationship between our sensory experiences and our motivations to engage in prosocial acts. Throughout the four comprehensive studies conducted, the authors shed light on the intricate dance between temperature and our innate need for social warmth and connection. They explore how feeling physically cold or being primed with cold imagery can trigger a desire for social affiliation and empathy, ultimately leading individuals to engage in charitable acts, such as donations. The studies provide robust evidence that when individuals experience the discomfort of cold, whether through physical touch or psychological priming, they are more inclined to seek remedies to rectify their feelings of loneliness and social isolation. This leads to a heightened desire for social connectedness, which, in turn, fosters increased levels of empathy and a greater likelihood of making charitable donations. In essence, the act of donation becomes a compensatory mechanism to counterbalance the perceived social deficit caused by feeling cold. Moreover, the research extends beyond the laboratory setting by conducting a field study in a coffee shop, demonstrating the generalizability of the findings. It reveals that the link between temperature, empathy, and charitable acts holds true in real-world scenarios. These findings offer valuable implications for social marketing and public service announcement campaigns, suggesting that the timing and context of these messages should be carefully considered. In conclusion, this research provides a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between temperature, social warmth, and charitable behavior. It highlights the significance of considering individuals’ psychological states when designing campaigns or interventions aimed at promoting prosocial actions. Ultimately, it emphasizes the power of empathy and social connectedness in driving positive social change.
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Roy, S., & Singh, P. (2023). The olfactory experience (in retail) scale: Construction, validation and generalization. Journal of Service Management, 34(3), 403-432.
Purpose: Measurement scales for sensory experience in retailing exist for sight, touch and sound. In the present study, the authors aim to develop the olfactory experience (OEX) scale in the context of retailing.
Methodology: Based on literature review and six studies that follow standard scale development protocols (combined n = 1,203), the authors develop and validate a three-dimensional OEX scale. The scale is further validated in the final study in a different market set-up than the first five.
Findings: The authors found the three dimensions of OEX as (scent) company, congeniality and congruity. The OEX scale is found to be generalizable and valid across different cultural and market set-ups. In addition, the OEX (i.e. the scale) was found to effect psychological and behavioral outcomes of the consumer in a significant manner.
Research Limitations/Implications: The present study contributes to the domain of sensory experience in retailing with the OEX scale and provides three new dimensions of OEX for the academicians to further explore.
Practical Implications: The OEX scale provides a ready to use tool for the retailer to gauge the level of OEX in the store and to predict consumer attitudes and behavior.
Originality/value: The study is the first to develop a scale for OEX in retailing or for that matter in consumer behavior.
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Khan, S. J., Badghish, S., Kaur, P., Sharma, R., & Dhir, A. (2023). What motivates the purchasing of green apparel products? A systematic review and future research agenda. Business Strategy and the Environment, 32(7), 4183-4201.
The contemporary business landscape is witnessing an ever‐increasing concern for environmental sustainability, which has also surfaced in the apparel industry through the introduction of green apparel. Whether the adoption of green apparel is as a result of growing external pressures on firms to adopt green practices or due to deliberate strategies to incorporate sustainable orientation in the making of products, it remains a topical subject—making a comprehensive account of the existing academic literature indispensable. Furthermore, while academic research on green apparel is undoubtedly at an all‐time high, the literature is largely disjointed, necessitating a robust synthesis of the exiting literature to illuminate the existing shortcomings and to provide direction to the future research efforts. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to gauge the existing literary work in this field and to identify research gaps. After the critical review of 90 selected studies, four major themes were extracted: consumer apparel purchase, circular economy, consumer awareness, and barriers. After we identified theme‐based critical knowledge gaps in the existing literature, we posed corresponding research questions that provide avenues for future research. The study also constructed a framework with significant practical and theoretical implications. Researchers can obtain a comprehensive understanding of the broader contours of this academic field and, with our meticulously tabulated gaps and potential research questions, explore new dimensions and broaden the horizons of this field.
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Adrija Majumdar, Pranav Singh
There is ambiguity regarding whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a boon or bane for the IT services industry. On the one hand, it has created opportunities, especially with the growth of collaborative technologies. On the other hand, many firms have reduced their IT budgets owing to the ongoing recession. This study explores how IT firms have assessed the risk of the pandemic in the early days and informed capital market participants. In addition, it examines the impact of such online disclosures on information asymmetry.
The authors analysed annual reports of publicly listed firms in the USA filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission website in 2020 and examined whether the disclosure scenario of technology firms was different from that of the other industries. Moreover, the risk sentiment of COVID-19-related disclosures was assessed by employing text analytics. Information asymmetry was measured using the bid–ask spread.
Overall, it was found that IT services firms were less likely to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in their annual reports. Interestingly, it was observed that technology firms that chose to communicate about the pandemic had a lower incidence of words related to risks. Furthermore, communicating about COVID-19 in annual reports calms investors and improves the information asymmetry situation about the firm. Variation in the severity of the pandemic and the responses of state governments was controlled for by employing state-fixed effects in the empirical models.
The authors inform the literature on corporate disclosures and technology and highlight the importance of effectively communicating about the pandemic.
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Ankur Kapoor, Arvind Sahay, Nandini C. Singh, V.S. Chandrasekhar Pammi, Prantosh Banerjee
The Limited Foresight Equilibrium (LFE) for this model. An LFE specifies how limited-foresight players' strategies and beliefs about opponents' foresight evolve as they move through the stages of the game. I show the existence of LFE and describe its other properties. I show that in LFE limited-foresight players follow simple heuristics for beliefs and actions. As applications, LFE is shown to rationalize experimental findings on Sequential Bargaining and the Centipede game.
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Jeevant Rampal
Using two experiments, this paper demonstrates that expert players of sequential- move games best respond to their opponents’ backward-induction ability. In particular, I show that these experts take advantage of inexperienced opponents’ weakness in backward induction. I find this when the expert is explicitly told that her opponent is inexperienced, but also when she infers the opponent’s weakness from the opponent’s preceding performance. I demonstrate that other-regarding preferences have no role in these findings. I find that a novel model of limited foresight and uncertainty about the opponent’s foresight fits the data better than Level-k or Quantal Response models.
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Joshy Jacob, Pradeep K.P.
It is important to assess the level of financial market valuation relative to fundamentals through suitable indicators. One of the widely employed indicators of market valuation is the cyclically adjusted PE ratio (CAPE). The research project intends to develop and maintain a frequently updated database of CAPE for the Indian market, as a barometer of market valuation. It is intended to provide guidance for financial market practitioners, including fund managers and traders to monitor the aggregate market valuation levels.
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Amit Karna, Shamim Mondal, Viswanath Pingali
The authors of the paper look at how foreign firms and domestic firms react differently to policy uncertainty, in an emerging economy context. Further, the authors investigate how older foreign firms adapt to policy uncertainty better than the newer entrants. The study uses data from pharmaceutical sales in cardiovascular segment in India from January 2011 to May 2016. We use fixed effects panel data regression to measure market reaction of foreign firms and domestic firms when faced with policy uncertainty. While domestic and foreign firms react similarly when faced with anticipated policy changes, foreign firms react more adversely when faced with policy uncertainty. Foreign firms, which are earlier entrants respond less adversely than the newer entrants. The paper adds to the literature on firm response to policy uncertainty. It provides insights to the managers on facing policy uncertainty, and lessons to the policy makers on the impact of policy uncertainty.
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Jeevant Rampal
This paper models a scenario where finite perfect-information games are distorted in two ways. First, each player can have different possible levels of foresight, where foresight is a particular number of future stages that the player can observe/understand from each of her moves. In particular, each player's foresight is allowed to be “limited” or insufficient to observe the entire game from each move. Second, there is uncertainty about each opponent's foresight. I define the Limited Foresight Equilibrium (LFE) for this model. An LFE specifies how limited-foresight players' strategies and beliefs about opponents' foresight evolve as they move through the stages of the game. I show the existence of LFE and describe its other properties. I show that in LFE limited-foresight players follow simple heuristics for beliefs and actions. As applications, LFE is shown to rationalize experimental findings on Sequential Bargaining and the Centipede game.
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Avijit Bansal, Balagopal Gopalakrishnan, Joshy Jacob, Pranjal Srivastava
The authors examine how the market valuation of firms varies on account of their operational fragility that makes them vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the data on plant location that uniquely identifies the vulnerability of firms to operational disruptions, the authors find that firms with plants located in zones susceptible to higher infections earn significantly lower returns. For firms with high operational fragility, the marginal value of financial flexibility and operating flexibility is higher. The adverse impact of the operational fragility is lower for firms affiliated with the larger business groups. The paper identifies unique channels associated with the pandemic that impact firm value.
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Avijit Bansal, Joshy Jacob
Recent experimental studies illustrate the influence of price path, particularly the ‘non-straight’ price path, on several aspects of investor decision-making. The paper employs an empirical proxy for price path based on convexity and demonstrates that price convexity significantly impacts the selling decisions with transaction-level data. The authors find that a price path that is likely to signal a favourable (unfavourable) price movement in the future lowers (heightens) the selling propensity of traders in stocks. The findings suggest that likely expectations about future price movement, as could be inferred from the experienced price path, significantly influence the trading decisions of retail traders.
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Balagopal Gopalakrishnan, Joshy Jacob, Sanket Mohapatra
The COVID-19-induced disruptions and the consequent government responses stretched the financial resources of firms. Recent studies document an increase in debt financing by firms during the pandemic. Using firm-level data from 61 countries, the authors deepen the understanding of the impact of the pandemic by examining the variation in loan and bond financing attributable to COVID-19-specific factors. Indicative of heightened precautionary needs, firms with higher pandemic exposure and those located in countries with stringent lockdowns have a higher propensity to raise debt. Furthermore, firms in industries less amenable to remote working also have a higher propensity to raise debt, but face higher financing costs compared to their peers. Reflective of opportunistic investment motives, firms that hold a relatively positive outlook have a greater likelihood of raising loan financing. The findings draw attention to the role of real-side factors and managerial motives that drive debt financing during a distress episode.
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Nilesh Gupta, Anil V Mishra, Joshy Jacob
The authors examine the influence of Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) characteristics of fund returns on investment flows with a cross-country data of equity mutual funds. The authors find that a larger CPT value of the style-adjusted past returns is associated with higher fund flows in the subsequent quarter. The impact is greater for retail-oriented funds, relatively younger funds, and those with higher active share. While funds that score high on the CPT value attract incremental fund flows, they earn a lower alpha than their peers in the following year. The sensitivity of fund flows to the CPT characteristics is higher in countries with greater individualism and short-term orientation. The results are robust to several additional tests and hold across various subsamples of our data. The findings imply that investors have misplaced expectations about the future performance of funds that show higher CPT values and the fund managers cater to these investor preferences.
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Joshy Jacob, Nilesh Gupta, Balagopal Gopalakrishnan
The paper examines the investment decisions of Indian equity mutual funds during various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic with monthly portfolio holdings. The authors find that funds favoured firms with lower risk, higher financial flexibility, and larger size during the early months of the pandemic. The preference for relatively low-risk firms, which reverses later, suggests a reallocation towards safer assets. Funds also preferred growth firms to value firms as the latter with greater invested capital are more vulnerable to the shock. Institutional investors also favoured group-affiliated firms throughout, reflecting their lower crisis vulnerability. The authors find that the stocks preferred by funds during the pandemic outperform others in the long run. The paper brings out key firm characteristics that impact mutual fund asset allocation during extreme uncertainty.
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Joshy Jacob, K P Pradeep, Jayanth Rama Varma
The authors study the characteristics of Quality factor (QMJ) in India, which is the second largest emerging market. Dimensions of quality factor are impacted by the weaker enforcement of corporate governance norms in emerging markets. Diversion of revenues by promoters would result in poor profitability, while tunneling of profits would result in lower payout and lower growth. Therefore, investors are likely to attach greater significance to the quality dimensions in stock pricing. Consistent with this hypothesis, the Quality factor is even more important for asset pricing in India than in developed markets. The QMJ factor earns a four factor alpha of 0.92% per month, significantly outperforming the other widely employed factors, market, size, value and momentum factors. A long-only Quality factor earns an alpha of 0.69% per month. The alpha of quality factors is highly significant, judged by the thresholds recommended by Harvey, Liu, and Zhu (2016). The key drivers of the alpha are profitability and payout, which are both consistent with the tunnelling hypothesis. Besides the alpha, the low portfolio churn, lower risk, shorter drawdowns, and viability of long-only strategies restricted to large capitalization stocks suggest that portfolios tilted towards high-quality stocks are highly attractive to institutional and retail investors.
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Kunal Apastamb, Yash Chakarvarty, Arvind Sahay
The disposition effect, identified by Shefrin & Statman (1984) is a robustly studied bias in behavioral finance. It states that the individuals hold the losing stocks for a long time and they sell the winning stocks early. According to the standard economic theories – like the expected value model, the rational investor will maximize the gains by selling off the losers and holding the gainers. But investors do not trade so optimally. A robust conclusion about the effect was found when Odean (1998) studied the trading pattern of 10,000 traders. The author calculates the Propensity of Gains Realized and the Propensity of Losses Realized to understand the pattern. It is compared with paper losses and paper gains. It clearly established the disposition effect.
There have been studies to explain the reasons behind the bias. The mean reversal hypothesis, prospect theory, and the realization utility hypothesis are some of the main reasons cited. Moving ahead in the individual differences causing the disposition effect, the study by Thornton (2021) discusses the effect of weather on mood and that mediates the disposition effect. Apart from the weather, other exogenous variables like air pollution, which are not technically related to trading also affect investment decisions. Li et al. (2021) find that air pollution increases the disposition effect. It significantly caused trading inefficiency.
This study extends an interesting observation in the literature. The disposition effect reverses while a person is in a negative mood. This is studied at a macro level by Thornton (2021). This study proposes an EEG experiment for robust conclusions and argues that there would be only a partial reversal of the disposition effect.
Research Question: Does a negative utility burst reverse the disposition effect only partially?
Yash Chakarvarty, Arvind Sahay
Advertising that reaches consumers outside of their homes is referred to as out-of-home (OOH) advertising, sometimes referred to as outdoor advertising. These ads are a part of an above-the-line marketing plan that is mostly untargeted and has a broad audience. Traditionally, this covers every type of signage, such as bus shelters, seats, and billboards. The majority of advertisements that you encounter outside of your home (that aren't on your mobile device!) are OOH ads. Some of the categories that fall under the umbrella of out-of-home advertising are billboards, transit, steel furniture, and place-based. Due to the fact that cognitive load is lower in the morning and higher in the evening, this study employs electroencephalography (EEG) to determine whether or not increased mental effort affects billboard visibility in the evening. We all spend time outside, and with the proliferation of digital advertising, it can be challenging to make sure that your message is conveyed effectively at times.
Out-of-home advertising (OOH) provides a solution to this problem, and it is now merging with digital improvements to become an extremely effective tool for advertisers and marketers. Being a part of the out-of-home advertising arena right now is unquestionably one of the most exciting times ever. Over the course of the past years, there has been a consistent level of demand for OOH advertisements. Even still, as we go into a new decade, the advertising industry is justifiably thrilled about what the next few years have in store for traditional forms of marketing. Because of the convergence of technological developments with the time-honored advantages of conventional forms of advertising, the world of out-of-home (OOH) advertising has become virtually indispensable to the majority of marketing and advertising professionals. To understand whether the outdoor media content consumption (actual retention) is need-based. Therefore, what are the distinct needs one has during the day, which result in various levels of attention?
Dhruvisha Dave, Yash Chakarvarty, Arvind Sahay
In any organization, there is a decrease in the workforce which happens not due to hiring replacements for people who leave the organization. Every day, employees make choices and perform actions that have an impact on your team and organization. The way any employee is treated and their interaction with one another can have a positive impact on their behavior or can put the organization at risk. Therefore, it is essential for businesses to comprehend why some employees leave and others stay in an increasingly competitive and fast-moving labor market in order to increase profitability and retain top talent. A fundamental component of corporate human resources is the study of organizational behavior, which encompasses fields of inquiry devoted to enhancing job happiness, job performance, and creativity. Employee engagement refers to an individual’s sense of emotional commitment to the employer and their place of employment. The success of the organization may be significantly impacted by larger levels of engagement, according to some studies.
The study aims to understand what employees value and the motivators which influence employees' perception. To envisage the key moderators which play a significant role in employee retention we have used a 32-channel EEG system. An electroencephalography or EEG looks for changes in the brain's electrical activity or brain waves. The scalp will be covered in electrodes, which are tiny metal discs with thin wires, during the process. The brain's activity generates minute electrical charges that are detected by the electrodes. Several factors, including productivity, income, performance and even employee retention are impacted by employee engagement. High levels of engagement enhance organizational performance and stakeholder value while encouraging talent retention, fostering customer loyalty, and improving customer satisfaction.
Atul Kumar, Amogh Kumbargeri, Sukriti Sekhri, Yash Chakarvarty, Arvind Sahay
Awe is a common self-transcendent emotion experienced in response to information-rich, complex, and novel stimuli such as waterfalls, powerful individuals, religious experiences, and art (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). A growing body of research has examined its effects on information processing (Griskevicius et al., 2010), thinking (Chirico et al., 2018), perceptions (Rudd et al., 2012), beliefs (Valdesolo & Graham, 2014), and behavior (Piff et al., 2015). However, no previous research has shown the effect of awe on the nature of consciousness. Our research expands the theoretical understanding of awe by showing that awe leads to a mindful consciousness, which in turn leads to the choice of healthy food items.
Mindfulness is a state of consciousness emphasizing a) non-elaborative present-centered awareness and b) openness towards and acceptance of all experiences in the present environment (Bishop et al., 2004). Prior research finds that awe leads to a focus on the present moment (Rudd et al., 2012), and a diminishment of self. Further, as awe leads to a greater need for accommodation, it enables the processing of information without using existing knowledge structures, thereby enhancing the openness to new knowledge (Shiota et al., 2007). Taken together, we argue that awe leads to a state of mindfulness as it leads to present-centered awareness and openness to all experiences. Further, as awe leads to a mindful state, we expect consumers to make mindful consumption choices. In the present research has two-fold goals. First, we aim to provide physiological evidence in support of the hypothesized effect of awe on mindfulness. Second, we aim to test the downstream consequences of awe on consumption choices.
Sukriti Sekhri, Arvind Sahay, Richa Nigam, Yash Chakarvarty
Introduction and Research Objectives
Imagine Tejas, who is browsing on an e-retail platform and comes across an advertisement for a new phone model. The advertisement has a picture of the phone, the brand name, and the words “Coming Soon!” in big, bold letters. Consider Seema, who is in a similar situation when she sees an ad for a sleek set of headphones, where the ad promises, “Coming this Week!”. Which of the two individuals would be more likely to pre-book the product or have higher purchase intentions?
We often see the use of such temporal framing (vague versus precise) in pre-launch communication about products and experiences. Would varying the temporal framing alter behaviorally and purchase intentions towards the product or experience? Specifically, how would these findings differ across product categories (utilitarian versus hedonic) and experience valences (positive, neutral, negative)? In this research project, we thus examine two broad research questions. First, whether a vague versus a precise date framing (precise near future versus precise-distant future) affects purchase intention differently for hedonic versus utilitarian products. Second, whether varying the date framing leads to different behavioral intentions towards experiences that are positive, negative, or neutral.
Temporal Distances - Vague versus Precise Framing
Extant research has examined the role of defined near versus far temporal distances, but not vague versus precise temporal distances in differing contexts. For instance, in a neurological study, it was found that when participants were asked to imagine adjectives for their near future selves (1 month from now) and adjectives for negative traits elicited more positive event-related potentials (ERPs) deflections than positive traits in the 500-800 ms interval (LPP) (Luo et al., 2013). In the distant future selves (3 years from now) condition, there were no significant differences between positive and negative traits in the same interval (Luo et al., 2013). Another recent study involved giving participants moral dilemmas based in the near versus distant future and asking them to choose between a self-interest serving an immoral choice versus a moral one. The researchers found that “human brains discount the decision utility of the moral outcomes that will occur in the distant future” (Yun et al., 2019).
Like the examples above, current research has compared objectively near versus objectively distant situations, but we will examine how psychological distance, i.e., the perceived distance, plays a role. Our study focuses on evaluating products and experiences based on vague versus precise time frames.
Hedonic versus Utilitarian Products
Hedonic products are considered fun, exciting, and enjoyable, while utilitarian products are functional, necessary, and practical (Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2000). For instance, a mineral water bottle is more likely to be considered utilitarian, while a chocolate bar is hedonic. Recent research suggests that hedonism is linked with a higher construal level (abstract mindset) while utilitarianism to a lower construal level (concrete mindset) (Scarpi, 2021). Our behavioral experiments suggest that a vague date is more likely to be perceived as farther off than a precise date, as its inherent uncertainty increases the psychological distance and construal level. Thus, we expect to find that a vague date (higher construal level) will have a better “fit” with hedonic products, while a precise date (lower construal level) will align better with utilitarian or functional products. This fit should exhibit in terms of greater interest and purchase intentions towards the products.
There are two schools of thought on the neurological impact of both product categories. On the one hand, a recent event-related potentials (ERPs) study has found that utilitarian products lead to a relatively larger N2 component which suggests greater attention in the initial cognitive stage (Shang et al., 2020). Utilitarian products also give rise to a relatively smaller LPC component than hedonic products, implying a smaller negative affective reaction at a later stage (Shang et al., 2020). On the other hand, there is contradictory evidence that suggests that both hedonic and utilitarian products elicit emotions, but in the case of utilitarian products, these are unconsciously generated without the individual being aware of them (Bettiga et al., 2020). In the case of hedonic products, however, consumers are aware of these feelings and thus are able to express them in self-reported measures. We will examine ERP measures to examine if there are differences in the impact of both product categories, specifically in affective reactions when the date framing is varied.
Products versus Experiences
There is evidence that our reactions towards products versus experiences may be different; thus, it is worth investigating whether temporal framing impacts intentions towards experiences differently. People may exhibit more risk aversion towards negative
experiences but greater risk-seeking behavior towards positive ones (Martin et al., 2016). We will thus examine our research question for everyday experiences, which differ in their degree of pleasantness (determined by a pre-test) and their emotional loading (valence: positive, neutral, negative). Specifically, the objective is to uncover whether lack of certain information (vague temporal framing) or precise information (precise temporal framing) alters reactions to and preferences for such experiences.
Moses, A., Sam, K.N. On Brain Plasticity.
Although the brain was once seen as a rather static organ, it is now clear that the organization of brain circuitry is constantly changing as a function of experience. These changes are referred to as brain plasticity, and they are associated with functional changes that include phenomena such as memory, addiction, and recovery of function (Kolb, Gibb, & Robinson, 2003). Research suggests that brain plasticity can help improve performance of individuals within any workplace (Merzenich, 2017); resilience; adaptability and cognitive functioning (Ballesteros, Voelcker-Rehage, & Bherer, 2018). Given the competitive work environment that organizations face and uncertainty associated with changing environmental conditions. It would help if the organization can help positively influence the brain plasticity of its managers.
Research in the field of plasticity has provided multiple drivers that impact brain plasticity. However, two drivers stand out namely mental training (Singer & Engert, 2019) and physical activity (Chodzko-Zajko, Kramer, & Poon, 2009). Both these drivers can be provided by organizations to their managers at little to no cost. However, the benefits that organizations can derive from them could be immense. However, research has also suggested that different types of training may have differential impacts on brain plasticity (Trautwein, Kanske, Böckler, & Singer, 2020). Therefore, in this study the author proposes to study the impact on these interventions on performance of employees.
Roy, S. The Effects of Celebrity Endorsements in Financial Services on Neural Mechanisms in the Consumers’ Minds.
A celebrity endorser is “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses the recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (McCracken, 1989, p.310). Overall, celebrity endorsement strategy has been found effective in enhancing consumers’ attention (Erdogan, Baker and Tagg, 2001); increasing brand recognition and recall (Misra and Beatty, 1990; Premeaux, 2009); increasing brand familiarity (Felix and Borges, 2014); and enhancing favourable brand evaluations (Keel and Natrajan, 2012; Fleck et al., 2012, Carrilat et al., 2013; Arsena et al., 2014; Felix and Borges, 2014).
Celebrities have been endorsing product brands for over hundred years (Erdogan, 1999) and a celebrity can play a number of roles (McCracken, 1989) in the endorsement process such as an expert, an actor or a testimonial provider, where the celebrity’s involvement with the brand/product acts as a differentiating factor across the modes of endorsements. In recent past, (Keel and Natrajan, 2012). In spite of this increase in celebrity endorsements in practice, research is still inconclusive on the exact effect of endorsement on the consumer. One of the reasons behind this may be the way responses to celebrity endorsements are recorded, that are majorly self-reported.
In this context, neuroscientists have found that hormones such as dopamine and phenylethylamine flood our brains when we see a familiar face, i.e. a celebrity. These hormones trigger positive emotional states that may encourage positive affect towards the promotional message brought to us by those faces (Mucha, 2005). From a researcher’s view, there is a need to determine which celebrity endorser would perform best and this need could be fulfilled if one can empirically test the secretion level of hormones associated with exposure to various celebrities (Fugate, 2007). It should be noted that a search of neuro and celebrity results in only one empirical study that investigates the celebrity endorsement phenomenon using neural imaging techniques. Based on the results of P300 event-related brain potentials, eye-tracking experiments and questionnaire research, the authors concluded that a famous female spokesperson would have a significant effect on the consumers in the case of FMCG advertising (Pileliene and Grigaliunaite, 2017). However, in the same study the authors pointed out several directions of future research such as, investigating the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers at the overall level and including different aspects of the celebrity characteristics.
The financial services sector had restrained from using celebrity endorsements till recent times. However, of late, globally there has been a trend of having celebrity endorsers in financial services such as banks, insurance and mutual funds. Notable celebrities such as Floyd Mayweathers and Paris Hilton in the western context and Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in India.
Given the premise, the present study aims to explore various aspects of the celebrity characteristics and the celebrity brand pairing to find out the effect of various situations where a celebrity is/may be used by financial services marketers on the brain activity of the consumer. At the present level, the six major questions that the study is aiming to address are:
The objective of the current research is to study the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in financial services marketing (for example celebrity congruency with the product brand; celebrity attractiveness; celebrity expertise) and their effect on the consumer’s mind. However, the study would focus on consumers who take their investment decisions on their own or without the help of any other human help (such as peers or advisors). There is ample research that explores the effects of similar factors on consumer’s self-reported measures. However, the present study aims to go beyond self-reported measures and examine the exact neural mechanisms (possibly P300) that may/may not influence the consumer.
Sam, K.N., Vijaylakshmi, A. Cross-Modal Correspondences for Low-Sugar Product Marketing: The Effect of Packaging Typeface
Cross-modal integration is a marketing tool that can be applied to the food industry to change perceived taste. It has previously been used to increase the perceived saltiness of low-sodium foods by associating them with salt-related odours (Thomas-Danguin et al., 2019). Another type of cross-modal correspondence involves visual-gustatory associations. Research has found that rounder typefaces (visual) are associated with sweet tastes (gustatory), while angular typefaces are associated with bitterness and sourness (Velasco et al., 2015), although results have been mixed.
Sugar reduction is an important public health goal. This study explores the effects of packaging typeface on perceived sweetness and purchase intentions of sugar-reduced foods. In a series of online surveys, participants will view products varying in the roundness/angularity of their packaging typefaces, and in sugar reduction (low sugar vs. regular). They will be asked to rate the perceived sweetness of the products, product attitude, and purchase intention. The study has implications for product design decisions for manufacturers of low-calorie foods.
Rampal, J., & Stragliotto, F. (2023). Heterogeneous agent quantal response equilibrium [Conference paper]. 18th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development. New Delhi.
In this paper we study a setting where players of a sequential-move game may have heterogeneous skill. Skill is captured by payoff responsiveness in quantal response models. Mckelvey and Palfrey (1998) provide the Quantal Response Equilibrium for extensive-form games (AQRE) where all players are assumed to have homogeneous skill. In this paper we extend the AQRE by modeling heterogeneous skill and uncertainty and belief-updating (BU) about opponents’ skills. First, we provide an equilibrium model incorporating skill-heterogeneity and uncertainty but not BU—this is called Heterogeneous AQRE (or HAQRE). Next, we incorporate naive disequilibrium belief-updating (BU) to define the HAQRE-BU. We show that these concepts exist, and in the context of finite perfect information games, they are unique, and they yield simple data applicability without fixed-point calculations. We use experimental data from a sequential-move game where players with different experience-levels interacted (Rampal (2020)) to show that modeling heterogeneity and belief updating about skills can each yield better data-fit in such settings.
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Chadha, N., Pingali, V., & Sokol, D. D. (2023). Small firms and digital platforms.
We investigate strategies for small businesses using digital platforms for advertising and sales. We rely on primary data from a quantitative survey of small business startups and a few in-depth interviews of small business owners. We find that small firms prefer digital platforms for advertising and sales over conventional methods. As firms grow, while they continue to rely on digital advertising, their preference for conventional advertising (radio, television, etc.) increases. We find a strong correlation between the geographical spread of small firm sales, including exports, and their propensity to use digital platforms. We also find that small businesses multihome on both advertising and sales platforms. Multihoming occurs across established platforms and between established and nascent platforms. Our results enhance the understanding of how small firms rely on platforms and inform the policy debates on platform regulation.
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Dev, P., Tripathi, A., Aadya. The Effects of Networks on Female Empowerment.
We study how women's network structures affects their empowerment and agency in household decision making. In particular we see how connections between the husband's and wife's networks impact female empowerment outcomes. We first consider a theoretical model which takes into account the effect of networks on female decision making power within the household. We then use the Socioeconomic Profile of Rural India (SEPRI) data collected in 190 villages in India and which contains data on both social networks and empowerment. We measure the impact of networks in two ways - first via direct overlap where husband and wife both cite the same other household as a link and second via the average empowerment measures for households which are cited by the woman. We measure how these variables impact the woman's decision making power within the household. We find a strong correlation between network based overlap and empowerment. To establish causality, we use instruments for the average empowerment of the friends via the empowerment of their friends.
Sharma, R., & Gautam, V. (2023). New age digital media consumption: An exploratory study based in India (Working Paper No. 2023-07-31). Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
Digitalisation continually changes the way societies conceptualize the role of the state in regulation and supervision of markets. India is graduating from a command-and-control model of economic and regulatory oversight of traditional industries, to a light-touch one for new industries. However, such an approach requires considered assessments of user/consumer perceptions towards the government and industrial inventions and behavioral responses while they plan to engage in digital consumption of the three markets. Accordingly, a large survey of 2000 users and app-data of over 20.58 lakhs users was collected and analyzed to assess the perception and behavior of users of digital markets
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Dev, P., Nagarajan, H. K., & Tripathy, A. (2023, April 13). Neighborhood composition and jati homophily: Evidence from rural India [Seminar presentation paper]. Seminar in Applied Microeconomics - Virtual Assembly and Discussion.
This paper disentangles how physical proximity impacts network formation and homophily. We use the Rural Economic and Demographic Survey (REDS) conducted in 2006 which has data on social networks in 242 Indian villages. We have rich data on the jati affiliation as well as location of households such that we can identify consequent households situated on a street. We begin our analysis with a network formation model between households from two jati’s who first choose location and then links. The model results are empirically tested using three methodologies.We first run a dyadic regression to estimate the impact of jati, distance and time of entry into the village. Here we find Greater Probability of same jati links, lower link probability as distance increases and as time gap between the entry of the two households increases. Next, we consider clusters of same jati households and we find that as the household moves closer to the periphery of the cluster, its homophily decreases. Finally, we estimate the causal impact of physical proximity of same jati households on jati-based homophily by instrumenting physical proximity by the variables related to the age of the household in the village. We find that jati-based homophily increases as the number of immediate neighbors from the same jati increases.
Dev, P., Sreesai, M., Vijayalaksmi, A. Professional Penalties for Sexual Harassment Complainants: A Game Theoretic and Experimental Analysis
This paper aims to study the workplace penalties and discrimination against female sexual harassment complainants. Sexual harassment against women at the workplace is a significant deterrent to the progression of women’s careers. We study the impact of sexual harassment via a game theoretic model which shows that such complaints can have a professional cost and then via online survey experiments which show how these costs play out with human subjects. Our game theoretic model allows for both true and false complaints. We find that true complaints face professional costs due to the presence of low productivity workers choosing to file false complaints. The model also shows how professional costs are lower for complainant with greater credibility. Finally, we extend the model to allow harassers to choose whom to harass and we find that high productivity workers are likely to face the highest levels of harassment. Next, through three online survey experiments, we evaluate the material price women have to pay for filing a sexual harassment complaint in the organisation and if credibility helps lower these costs. Our results show that in comparison to another female candidate, a sexual harassment complainant is less likely to be hired into the team and is given a lower salary raise. At odds with the game theoretic model, we find that increasing the credibility of the complaint did not significantly impact these decisions indicating the possibility of bias against complainants. We do find that female respondents were more likely to propose a higher salary raise to the complainant and to hire her. Our findings suggest that just having due mechanisms in place is not going to be enough given the costs associated with reporting. Our results also suggest that having more female representation in the management might mitigate the costs of sexual harassment reporting and encourage more women to come forward.
Babbar, K., Dev, P. Reproductive Knowledge: The Shield Against Domestic Violence? Examining the Causal Link between Ovulatory Cycle Knowledge and Domestic Violence
While the link between knowledge as measured by formal education and domestic violence is well established, we explore the link between reproductive knowledge and domestic violence in this paper. We use data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) which collects data both on reproductive knowledge (in the form of ovulatory cycle knowledge) and domestic violence. To account for potential endogeneity via unobservable variables which drive both variables, we focus our attention on younger women and employ an empirical strategy that utilizes the variation in the reproductive knowledge of older women within the same cluster to obtain exogenous variation in the younger women’s reproductive knowledge. Our results show robust evidence that reproductive knowledge leads to significant decrease in sexual and emotional domestic violence. We explore the mechanisms and find evidence for both a direct mechanism where reproductive knowledge has a beneficial impact on reproductive outcomes and an indirect mechanism where reproductive knowledge leads to better relational empowerment. Our results are stronger for urban, educated women and those with educated, employed partners. Within caste groups, we see that our results hold across groups and with respect to wealth levels, we see that reproductive knowledge is protective against sexual violence in poorer households while being protective against emotional violence in richer households. The results underscore the importance of focusing on reproductive knowledge modules as a part of the broader educational curriculum.
Prof. Subhadip Roy
A celebrity endorser is “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses the recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (McCracken, 1989, p.310). Overall, celebrity endorsement strategy has been found effective in enhancing consumers’ attention (Erdogan, Baker and Tagg, 2001); increasing brand recognition and recall (Misra and Beatty, 1990; Premeaux, 2009); increasing brand familiarity (Felix and Borges, 2014); and enhancing favourable brand evaluations (Keel and Natrajan, 2012; Fleck et al., 2012, Carrilat et al., 2013; Arsena et al., 2014; Felix and Borges, 2014).
Celebrities have been endorsing product brands for over hundred years (Erdogan, 1999) and a celebrity can play a number of roles (McCracken, 1989) in the endorsement process such as an expert, an actor or a testimonial provider, where the celebrity’s involvement with the brand/product acts as a differentiating factor across the modes of endorsements. In recent past, (Keel and Natrajan, 2012). In spite of this increase in celebrity endorsements in practice, research is still inconclusive on the exact effect of endorsement on the consumer. One of the reasons behind this may be the way responses to celebrity endorsements are recorded, that are majorly self-reported.
In this context, neuroscientists have found that hormones such as dopamine and phenylethylamine flood our brains when we see a familiar face, i.e. a celebrity. These hormones trigger positive emotional states that may encourage positive affect towards the promotional message brought to us by those faces (Mucha, 2005). From a researcher’s view, there is a need to determine which celebrity endorser would perform best and this need could be fulfilled if one can empirically test the secretion level of hormones associated with exposure to various celebrities (Fugate, 2007). It should be noted that a search of neuro and celebrity results in only one empirical study that investigates the celebrity endorsement phenomenon using neural imaging techniques. Based on the results of P300 event-related brain potentials, eye-tracking experiments and questionnaire research, the authors concluded that a famous female spokesperson would have a significant effect on the consumers in the case of FMCG advertising (Pileliene and Grigaliunaite, 2017). However, in the same study the authors pointed out several directions of future research such as, investigating the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers at the overall level and including different aspects of the celebrity characteristics.
The financial services sector had restrained from using celebrity endorsements till recent times. However, of late, globally there has been a trend of having celebrity endorsers in financial services such as banks, insurance and mutual funds. Notable celebrities such as Floyd Mayweathers and Paris Hilton in the western context and Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in India.
Given the premise, the present study aims to explore various aspects of the celebrity characteristics and the celebrity brand pairing to find out the effect of various situations where a celebrity is/may be used by financial services marketers on the brain activity of the consumer. At the present level, the six major questions that the study is aiming to address are:
1. What would be the relative effect of a celebrity vis a vis a generic advertisement for a high-risk product (e.g. mutual fund) for consumers?
2. How would this effect be moderated by the congruent/incongruent celebrity-product combination?
3. Would physical attractiveness of the celebrity overrule the negative effect celebrity-product incongruency?
4. Would celebrity expertise overrule the negative effect celebrity-product incongruence?
5. Would primacy/recency of the endorser moderate this effect?
6. What would be the moderating effect of consumer characteristics in this process (if any)?
The objective of the current research is to study the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in financial services marketing (for example celebrity congruency with the product brand; celebrity attractiveness; celebrity expertise) and their effect on the consumer’s mind. However, the study would focus on consumers who take their investment decisions on their own or without the help of any other human help (such as peers or advisors). There is ample research that explores the effects of similar factors on consumer’s self-reported measures. However, the present study aims to go beyond self-reported measures and examine the exact neural mechanisms (possibly P300) that may/may not influence the consumer.
Prof. Aditya Moses
Although the brain was once seen as a rather static organ, it is now clear that the organization of brain circuitry is constantly changing as a function of experience. These changes are referred to as brain plasticity, and they are associated with functional changes that include phenomena such as memory, addiction, and recovery of function (Kolb, Gibb, & Robinson, 2003).Research suggests that brain plasticity can help improve performance of individuals within any workplace (Merzenich, 2017); resilience; adaptability and cognitive functioning (Ballesteros, Voelcker-Rehage, & Bherer, 2018). Given, the competitive work environment that organizations face and uncertainty associated with changing environmental conditions. It would help if the organization can help positively influence the brain plasticity of its managers.
Research in the field of plasticity has provided multiple drivers that impact brain plasticity. However, two drivers stand out namely mental training (Singer & Engert, 2019) and physical activity (Chodzko-Zajko, Kramer, & Poon, 2009). Both these drivers can be provided by organizations to their managers at little to no cost. However, the benefits that organizations can derive from them could be immense. However, research has also suggested that different types of training may have differential impacts on brain plasticity (Trautwein, Kanske, Böckler, & Singer, 2020). Therefore, in this study the author proposes to study the impact on these interventions on performance of employees.
Research Manager
Dr. Jartarkar is a Computer Engineer with a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from BITS Pilani Goa Campus. His research focuses on using computational methods and neuroimaging to gain deeper insights into consumer behavior, emotion, and decision-making. He has also studied visual perception under suppression and the effects of meditation on visual perception. During his doctoral research, Mayur conducted numerous studies using EEG and eye-tracking and designed various behavioral experiments. His research has been published in journals such as IEEE, Elsevier Journal for Brain Research, and ACM Conferences.
Mayur has qualified for competitive exams like GATE and UGC NET and received sponsorship from the Government of India for his doctoral research. He has also been part of the Erasmus+ sponsored research project "iBRAIN," aimed at enhancing higher education in Cognitive Neurosciences in Indian institutions. Mayur has two years of IT experience, two years of teaching experience, and over seven years of research experience in computational methods and EEG analysis. Dr. Jartarkar enjoys discussing life and its challenges and plays volleyball in his spare time. Mayur joined the centre in June 2024 and can be reached at mayurj@iima.ac.in.
Centre Coordinator
Varuna has over ten years of professional experience. Previously, she was working as Research Associate, Case & Report Writing at IIM Ahmedabad. Varuna began her journey with the Institute in 2012 as the Editorial Associate of ‘Alumnus’, the Tri-Annual Magazine for IIMA’s alumni. Varuna holds a B.A. in Psychology & English Literature, an M.A. in English Literature and a certificate in Journalism from St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad. Varuna joined the CBS as the Centre Coordinator in April 2023 and can be reached at coordinator-nsecbs@iima.ac.in.
Research Assistant
Vishwath holds a B. Tech Degree in Instrumentation & Control from NIT Trichy and an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Previously, Vishwath worked as an Associate in a
boutique investment banking firm and as a Manager in Reliance Industries. His research interests lie in stock market trading in equities and derivatives. Vishwath
joined the centre in January 2024 can be reached at svishwath@iima.ac.in.
Research Assistant
Ram holds a Master's Degree in Economics from XIM University and a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Central University, Rajasthan. Formerly, as a Research
Assistant at IIMA, he collaborated with Prof. Pritha Dev (IIMA) and Prof. Karan Babbar (JGU) on the project, ‘Women Safety Audit in Faridabad City,’ conducted in
association with the National Commission for Women (NCW). Ram is proficient in statistical data analysis and has leveraged tools like Stata and Python to derive
insights. He intends on pursuing a Ph.D. under the broad areas of Micro Economics and Industrial Organisation. Ram joined the centre in January 2024 and can be
reached at rampb@iima.ac.in.
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