By: Sarah Rojas, Senior, Marketing, and Digital and Social Media Business Applications.
Meet Professor Lalwani
Professor Lalwani has been a respected Associate Professor of Marketing for the Kelley School of Business for nine years. He contributes substantially to the Marketing Department’s dedication to being a thought leader in diversity. Over the course of his life, Professor Lalwani has lived in four different countries: India, Philippines, Singapore, and now in the United States for the last 20 years. His nomadic life has led him to appreciate and respect all different cultures. He incorporates this attitude into his lectures by bringing in past experiences that relate to his course material and his research.
Cultural Diversity
Professor Lalwani’s research focuses heavily on how diverse cultures interact with the economy. More specifically, he compares consumer behavior in Individualistic and Collectivistic cultures. For those who are unfamiliar with those terms or may need a refresher, Individualism stresses the importance of individual goals and is motivated by personal rewards and benefits. Collectivism focuses on group goals and what is the best for the collective and personal relationships. When discussing the findings of his research,Professor Lalwani emphasizes the diverse thinking processes of both the Asian (Collectivistic) and Western (Individualistic) cultures. He explains how Asian consumers are more likely to think holistically, meaning the whole is more than the sum of its parts. He has a unique perspective on this topic because he has lived in both Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. The diverse way of thinking in each of these cultures has a powerful effect on the consumer decision process and how each interacts with the economy.
Research on Coupon Usage
One of the many marketing-related behaviors that Professor Lalwani has studied is the extent to which people are likely to use coupons. Previous research has suggested that Asian cultures are expected to use coupons more because they are price sensitive or price conscious. Professor Lalwani’s research found that while it is true that Asian cultures are more likely to use coupons, being price sensitive is not the reason why. He discovered that Asian consumers self-regulate their behavior, meaning they are more controlled, less impulsive and long-term oriented. This allows them to be more persistent in working through the mandatory steps needed to use coupons. The process includes being on the lookout for coupons, clipping out the coupons, bringing the coupons to the store, and then ultimately remembering to hand the employee the coupon at the checkout counter.
Research on Socially Desirable Thinking
In another research paper he published, Professor Lalwani focuses on the extent of which people engage in socially desirable responding (SDR). SDR is a phenomenon that measures the level of bias in survey responses relating to diverse cultures. This research is impactful because it is a well-known fact that as professional marketers, surveys are used frequently to gather information. Professor Lalwani found that both Individualistic and Collectivistic cultures engage in desirable responding — the idea of wanting to present a better version of yourself to others. Asian cultures engage in Impression Management: a systematic tendency to distort your responses to appear more normatively appropriate. Collectivistic cultures have a strong desire to deceive others and will manifest this motive in surveys. Western cultures engage in Self Deceptive Enhancement: an idea that a human truly believes that they are better than others.
Examples of Socially Desirable Thinking
Collectivistic Culture
- A survey is conducted in a Collectivistic country where smoking is viewed as socially undesirable
- The people taking the survey will lie and say they smoke fewer cigarettes than they truly do
Individualistic Culture
- A survey conducted in an Individualist county – American classrooms
- The answers uncovered that more than 80 percent of the students surveyed believed they were in the top 10 percent of the class
- Rank was were based on measures of positive attributes such as intelligence, attractiveness, and kindness
- Most students truly believed they were better than most of their classmates.
Kelley’s Diversity
Professor Lalwani brings a diverse lens to the Kelley Marketing Department with his research and the ways in which he ties his experiences into his coursework. He studies humans from all over the globe and gives insight on how diverse human thinking can be depending on where you live.
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