Research

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.”
Bernard Baruch.

Published research

Rodriguez, Alexandra, Torres, Patricia (2023) “The Roles of Trait Prudence and Desire in Consumer Self-Control and Temptations”
Journal of Consumer Marketing

Aguirre-Rodriguez, Alexandra, Bagozzi, Richard, and Torres, Patricia. (2021) “Beyond craving: Appetitive desire as a motivational antecedent of goal-directed action intentions”
Psychology and Marketing

Aguirre-Rodriguez, Alexandra, Boveda-Lambie, Adriana, Torres, Patricia and Montoya, Detra Y. (2021) “When Culturally Adaptive Service Behaviors Affect Customer Satisfaction in Shared Ethnicity Service Encounters”
Services Marketing Quarterly

Rodriguez, Alexandra, Torres, Patricia, and Tavallaei, Stella. (2021) “How an Ethnic Congruity Motive in Interpersonal Service Encounters Influences Hispanic Customer Service Satisfaction”
Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior

I am a scholar who investigates relevant and practical phenomena that leads to theoretical contributions and expands the understanding of consumer behavior. My research is mainly focused on consumer financial decision making, culture, branding and international marketing. These topics are of interest to me, mainly due to my culturally diverse background and previous professional experience within the banking industry.

Working closely with customers of many different cultures and analyzing their financial behavioral patterns had me often questioning why, more often than not, a high six figures income did not equate to a stable financial life? If not solely, or even mainly income, what else impacts personal financial decision making? How do self-motives impact financial behavior? How do perceptions regarding social mobility affect personal savings? My research pipeline, which centers mainly around financial decision making, aims to address some of these questions.

PAST AND CURRENT PROJECTS:

I primarily investigate the premise that the achievement of financial well-being is a function of three main contributors: self-motives (or motivation), personal beliefs about money and overall society and environmental cues (i.e. social and economic mobility). I am currently working on three research projects which aim to address a dimension of each of these contributors:

Me, myself and my future-self: How self-motives impact personal financial decision making (Dissertation topic).
The Dark side of Social and Economic Mobility: How Personal Beliefs Affect Consumers Financial Behavior.
Pleasure and Pain: The Role of Anticipatory Pleasure on Time of Consumption and Pain of Payment.

My dissertation research focuses on understanding how the self-concept, more specifically self-motives, impact personal financial decision making. By bridging self-concept and construal level theory, I have found that certain self-motives, when paired with specific levels of mental construal, significantly impacts personal financial decisions in different contexts (i.e. savings intentions and willingness to go into debt). This research makes significant contributions to the consumer behavior (CB) literature. More important however, are the implications for marketers and policy makers, as personal finances are a very relevant topic, considering the staggering levels of leverage in our economy. I am currently preparing the manuscript derived from my dissertation for submission to the Journal of Consumer Research.

Further, the manuscript regarding personal beliefs about money suggests that beliefs about social and economic mobility affects one’s financial self-efficacy, and this, in turn, influences consumer’s financial-related behavior. This research examines how personal beliefs about money, more specifically concerning broader phenomenon encompassing social justice and income distribution, impacts personal financial decision making. This paper was selected as Best Student Paper at the Association of Marketing Theory and Practice (AMTP) 2020 Conference.

Lastly, the paper concerning method of payment expands the literature by focusing on the anesthetic’s effects of time of consumption on pain of payment, and how this phenomenon impacts consumer’s method of payment preferences. The role of newer forms of payment (e.g.: Venmo, Zelle and Cash App) is also considered. This manuscript addresses the environmental cues aspect of personal finances decision making.

Another stream of research focuses on the consumer self-regulation domain. I had the pleasure to co-author a manuscript with Dr. Richard Bagozzi, entitled “Beyond craving: Appetitive desire as a motivational antecedent of goal-directed action intentions” (2021 – Psychology and Marketing), which sheds light on the influence of appetitive and volitive desire on intentions in consumer self-regulation. Within the culture and ethnicity spectrum, I have co-authored two manuscripts: “When Culturally Adaptive Service Behaviors Affect Customer Satisfaction is Shared Ethnicity Services Encounters” (2021 – Services Marketing Quarterly), that applies a service adaptation framework to examine the interplay of employee service adaptative behaviors, customer cultural factors and their influence on customer satisfaction. And “How Ethnic Congruity Motive in Interpersonal Service Encounters Influences Hispanic Customer Service Satisfaction” (2021 – Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior), which looks at how cultural ethnic identification affects Hispanic consumers’ felt power and service satisfaction in service encounters. Another co-authored paper entitled “The Roles of Trait Prudence and Desire in Consumer Self-Control and Temptations,” currently under final revisions (5th round of review) at the Journal of Consumer Marketing, examines the role of volitive desire in self-control toward temptations.

FUTURE RESEARCH:

Going forward, I want to explore some research projects I have started throughout my PhD journey, such as the possible adverse effects of mixed-income housing communities, and how role-models exposure impacts consumer’s financial behavior. My main research goal is to conduct rigorous research to investigate key components of the financial decision making process and provide marketers and policymakers with knowledge on how to foster a financially responsible mindset, especially to minorities and vulnerable consumers. Essentially, my goal is to advance research that will ultimately create relevant knowledge for the greater good.