Browsing by Author "Price, Michael K."
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Item Hide and See: Exploring the Role of Protective Regions and Clear Sightlines in Shaping Customer Behaviors(University of Alabama Libraries, 2025) Shults, Elissa Borchert; Robinson, Stacey G.; Reynolds, Kristy E.Various attributes in the retail environment, such as clear sightlines and regions of shelter and protection, can make a consumer feel safe and ultimately impact consumer outcomes such as shopping intentions, satisfaction, and repatronage intentions. The hypotheses presented in this dissertation are rooted in Prospect and Refuge Theory, a subset of evolutionary psychology focused on the positive effect of the presence of clear sightlines and the protective regions on consumer behavior outcomes. Theorized to be driven by an evolutionary desire to inhabit regions that offer safety from possible threats while still permitting faculty of sight, Prospect and Refuge Theory theorizes humans possess a biological preference for environments with unobstructed views, such as transparent window or clear lines of sight to the door, and areas of protection such as alcoves, booths, covered areas, and perimeters. This research explores how environments that offer clear sightlines and regions of protection generate greater feelings of psychological safety which increase satisfaction and purchase intentions for consumers. We find that clear sightlines into a store and the presence of regions of protection increase sense of safety which drives higher shopping intentions and other key customer outcomes. In addition, we also explore potential boundary conditions for these effects such as store type and information about products and services. Findings from this research support the goal of retailers and service providers to enhance in-store experiences and are applicable in a vast array of contexts including restaurant, retail, hospitality, and entertainment settings.Item Nonparametric Estimation and Inference in the Presence of Sample Selection Bias in Experimental Economics Studies(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Zhong, Huizhen; Henderson, Daniel J.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaExperimental economics studies usually involve self-selection behaviors. In this dissertation, we explore the use of nonparametric approaches to estimate the treatment effect in these studies in the presence of sample selection bias. The first chapter reviews the econometrics literature on nonparametric estimation of treatment effects under sample selection. Specifically, we focus on the Heckman (1979) two-step correction approach, its nonparametric extensions, and three bounding estimation approaches: Horowitz and Manski (2000), Lee (2009), and Behaghel et al. (2015). We also discuss the different estimands and the relative performance in these studies. The second chapter explores the treatment effect of a higher match ratio on an individual’s donation behavior based on evidence from a field experiment using multiple waves of email solicitations. Since donation decisions are observable only for email openers and opening rates differ between treatment and control groups, we apply the nonparametric bounding estimation approaches of Lee (2009) and Behaghel et al. (2015) to correct for selection bias when estimating the treatment effect. A higher match rate significantly increases an email opener’s likelihood to give and increases the donation amount for those who contributed to the fund in the past 24 months. The third chapter investigates whether randomized advertised show-up fees can be used as an exclusion restriction in the Heckman (1979) correction model to correct for bias caused by individuals’ self-selection into lab experiment studies. We control for the actual participation fee and study the impact of the advertised show-up fee on an individual’s participation decision, subject’s decision making, and the treatment effects in three well-studied lab experiment tasks. We estimate these impacts using nonparametric regressions. For the range of show-up fees in our study, we find no impact on an individual’s participation decision. Also, the advertised show-up fee does not affect the participant’s decision-making or the treatment effect in the tasks related to individuals' social preference and risk attitude. However, the advertised show-up fee impacts subjects’ strategic performance under a higher cognitive load. Therefore, caution should be made when we incorporate the randomized advertised show-up fee in the experiment design to correct for participation bias.Item Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity(National Academy of the Sciences, 2019) Brandon, Alec; List, John A.; Metcalfe, Robert D.; Price, Michael K.; Rundhammer, Florian; University of Chicago; Boston University; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; Georgia State UniversityThis study considers the response of household electricity consumption to social nudges during peak load events. Our investigation considers two social nudges. The first targets conservation during peak load events, while the second promotes aggregate conservation. Using data from a natural field experiment with 42,100 households, we find that both social nudges reduce peak load electricity consumption by 2 to 4% when implemented in isolation and by nearly 7% when implemented in combination. These findings suggest an important role for social nudges in the regulation of electricity markets and a limited role for crowd out effects.