Research

We explore how the motivation to protect oneself against social threats (e.g., disapproval from peers) can override peoples’ innate motivation to protect themselves against physical threats (e.g., COVID-19), and its implications for theory and policy.

THE PAPER:

Schiro, Julie L.* and H. Lauren Min* (2020), “Social distancing & mask-wearing in response to COVID-19: how conflicting physical and social threats compete to influence behavior,” data collection. *equal authorship

—Press, UCD Business Impact Podcast, Episode 9, “The Politics of the Mask,” available on Spotify and www.ucd.ie/quinn/podcast/

When it comes to brands, what makes for viral content? Across two papers, one of which draws on 100,000 Facebook posts from brands, we take a fresh look.

THE PAPERS:

Schiro, Julie L.* and H. Lauren Min* (2020), “What Makes Content Viral in the Prosocial Domain? The Surprising Power of Sadness,” manuscript in preparation. *equal authorship

—Finalist, 2020 Society for Consumer Psychology Best Competitive Paper Award

Schiro, Julie L. (2020), “What makes online content viral? A critical review,” conceptualization.

We outline best practices in digital marketing, from going viral to targeting, for social marketers eager to make an impact online. We focus on a notoriously non-digital domain – food safety communications – as a template for breaking into the digital space.

THE PAPERS:

Schiro, Julie L., Liran Christine Shan, Mimi Tatlow-Golden, Chenguang Li, and Patrick Wall (2020), “#Healthy: smart digital food safety and nutrition communication strategies – a critical commentary,” npj Science of Food, 4(14), 1-11. Download PDF

Shan, Liran Christine*, Julie L. Schiro*, Kai Zhong, and Patrick Wall (2020), “The Benefits of Smartphone Games in Communicating Food Safety and Nutrition,” npj Science of Food, 4(2), 1-4.*equal authorship Download PDF

Do conservatives and liberals approach search and social media differently? Across two papers, we find that the answer is an emphatic “yes.”

THE PAPERS:

Camurden, Efe and Julie L. Schiro (2020), “The effect of political ideology on consumer search behavior, and its implications for branding and search marketing,” Reject (with encouraged resubmission) at the Journal of Interactive Marketing.

Camurden, Efe and Julie L. Schiro (2020), “The effect of political ideology on social media engagement,” data collection.

Instead of being scary or depressing, many social marketers are being funny. Across two papers, we investigate whether humor can “sell” good behaviors as well as their scary and sad counterparts.

THE PAPERS:

Schiro, Julie L. (2020), “Using Humor to ‘Sell’ Good Life Choices,” Manuscript in Progress.

McGraw, A. P., Julie L. Schiro, and Philip M. Fernbach (2015), “Not a Problem: A Downside of Humorous Appeals,” Journal of Marketing Behavior, 1 (2), 187-208. Download PDF

Nudging people towards better judgments

We explore how the motivation to protect oneself against social threats (e.g., disapproval from peers) can override peoples’ innate motivation to protect themselves against physical threats (e.g., COVID-19), and its implications for theory and policy.

When it comes to brands, what makes for viral content? Across two papers, one of which draws on 100,000 Facebook posts from brands, we take a fresh look.

We outline best practices in digital marketing, from going viral to targeting, for social marketers eager to make an impact online. We focus on a notoriously non-digital domain – food safety communications – as a template for breaking into the digital space.

Do conservatives and liberals approach search and social media differently? Across two papers, we find that the answer is an emphatic “yes.”

Instead of being scary or depressing, many social marketers are being funny. Across two papers, we investigate whether humor can “sell” good behaviors as well as their scary and sad counterparts.