A fascinating event in academic history was the Sokal Hoax. A physicist reacted to the idea that reality is completely socially constructed and determined he would get published in a cultural studies journal. Satirizing Academic Publishing Before we celebrate Sokal’s inter-disciplinarity it is worth noting that he was satirizing social studies. The text he sent…
A Defense Of Enlightenment Thinking
Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now is a wonderful book. Pinker’s work is precisely the sort of thing that we need more of. I.e. writing from knowledgeable people able to see the big picture. The big picture in Enlightenment Now is about the biggest picture one can have. It is a defense of enlightenment thinking. The Enlightenment:…
The Science Of Spotting BS
The authors clearly had a lot of fun writing their paper on the reception and detection of BS. They use the term “bullshit” more in the first few paragraphs than most people use their core term in the whole of any paper. That said, why not? It is an interesting and important topic. Do people…
Testing Psychic Powers
One of the most ‘interesting’ academic papers of recent times is Daryl Bem’s paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (a reputable journal) on psi. (Yes, psychic phenomenon, he was interested in testing psychic powers). He purported to show that people had the ability to ‘feel’ the future and so predict it better…
What Performance Outcomes Do Marketers Use?
A question I think should be asked more in academic marketing research is “how do we define performance?” Lots of people do analysis that aims to show what creates good performance. Still, there is surprisingly little attention paid to what good performance means. What performance outcomes do marketers use? What Performance Outcomes Do Marketers Use?…
The Impact Of Conformity And The Need For Uniqueness
Analytical models are fascinating ways to look at what happens in markets. They can look a bit odd from the outside. These models tend to have a ton of strong assumptions which might lead to questions about their value. They can, however, help us think through some commonly observed phenomenon in markets. What then can…
Improving Measurement With Big Data
The data being used by managers is becoming increasing messy. Unstructured data lacks the nice organization of traditional data. Of course, the profusion of such unstructured data (text, videos, music) makes analysis complex but also brings considerable opportunities. Big data brings big headaches and big possibilities. We have some advice on improving measurement with big…
Linking Biology To Behavior
Many people buy into the idea that we shouldn’t have the bright line between biology and psychology that we do. That said it is challenging to try linking biology and behavior. Here consumer behavior. Not least because we have few scholars who have enough knowledge of both domains. Hormones To Help Linking Biology To Behavior?…
The Endowment Effect For Renting And Borrowing
Charan Bagga, a former Phd student now a professor at Calgary, June Cotte, an Ivey colleague, and myself, have a recent paper in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science on the Endowment effect. Specifically what happens to the endowment effect when you rent or borrow. What then is the endowment effect for renting…
What Is Tobin’s Q Useful For?
I am not a fan of Tobin’s q (as it is currently used). I have a Marketing Science paper on the misuse of Tobin’s q in marketing. As such, I was fascinated to see a SSRN working paper with a very similar title in the field of finance/economics. The authors Robert Bartlett and Frank Partnoy,…
