Dear All,

You are cordially invited to an onsite academic seminar to be delivered by Prof. Fengyan Cai on January 13 (Monday). Details could be found below.

Seminar Information

Time and Date: 10:30 -12:00, January 13, 2025 (Monday)

Venue: Room D504, Teaching Complex D Building
Speaker: Prof. Fengyan Cai (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

Topic: The Rank Length Effect

Zoom Access
Link: https://cuhk-edu-cn.zoom.us/j/7972197353?omn=95943498994

Meeting ID: 797 219 7353

About the Speaker

Fengyan Cai is a Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department at the Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She got her Ph.D. in Marketing from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2011. Her research focuses on consumer information processing, with applications in prosocial behavior, green marketing, psychological pricing, and digital marketing. She has published in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Psychological Science, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Fengyan Cai has received numerous awards for both research and teaching, including the ACR Best Paper Award, Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences First Prize, the SJTU Candlelight Award, and the Most Popular Undergraduate Teacher Award.

Abstract

Rank lists vary in the number of items ranked on the list (e.g., top 5 vs. top 20 movies on IMDb), that is, the rank length. Across ten studies, including both field and laboratory experiments, the authors examine the influence of rank length on evaluations, willingness to pay, and choice. They document a novel rank length effect: The same ranked items elicit more positive judgments when the rank length is longer (vs. shorter), although the differences in judgments between the ranked items are smaller. This effect is driven both by consumers’ tendency to narrowly focus on the rank list and by the manner in which they map the rank list onto their mental number line. The rank length effect extends to willingness to pay, and choice. The authors explore three different kinds of choice contexts, discuss implications, and offer suggestions for future research.

Best Regards,

School of Management and Economics

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen