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UF MBA Faculty Spotlights

Faculty Spotlight:

Joseph W. Alba

Distinguished Professor & Chair, Department of Management

"My research largely examines how consumer decisions are influenced by the top-down influence of their own product knowledge and by the bottom-up influence of product-related stimuli in the purchase environment. My colleagues and I have shown that knowledge, while often an asset, is not a panacea. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing because it can bias perceptions and lead to inappropriate product judgments, even when information is plentiful and unambiguous. We have also shown that judgment can be distorted by a variety of misleading product cues and, moreover, that even a great deal of knowledge may provide little protection for the consumer. Thus, although "buyer beware" is good advice, human frailty may limit consumers' ability to follow it."

Joe Alba's Faculty Profile

Education

Ph. D. in Experimental Psychology, Temple University, 1981
B. A. in Psychology, State University of New York - Albany, 1976

Awards & Honors

Joseph W. Alba is a multiple recipient of the UF MBA Teacher of the Year Award, and his Ph.D. students have won several Ferber JCR Dissertation Awards and John Howard AMA Dissertation Awards. He is a recipient of both the Journal of Marketing MSI/Paul Root Award and the AMA Louis Stern Award, has twice been the recipient of the Journal of Consumer Research Outstanding Article Award, and has twice been a finalist for the Journal of Marketing Research O'Dell Award. He is a past president of the Association of Consumer Research and a former associate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. Alba currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and Marketing Letters. In addition, he has received the JCR Outstanding Reviewer Award twice. He is an elected member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Beta Gamma Sigma academic societies and is a Fellow of both the Society for Consumer Psychology and the American Psychological Association. Joe Alba has received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for Consumer Psychology, was named a Research Foundation Professor by the University of Florida, and recently received the 2008 Paul D. Converse Award for contributions to the field of marketing.

Research Interests

Consumer Behavior, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Pricing, Brand Equity

Publications

Professor Alba's research focuses on consumer knowledge, decision making, brand equity, product design, and pricing. He has published in a variety of journals, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Letters, Psychological Bulletin, Journal of Experimental Psychology, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, Memory & Cognition, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Harvard Business Review.