Webinars
Why Equivalent Metrics Lead to Different Decisions
Managers rely on efficiency metrics to guide decisions across marketing, finance, and strategy, yet seemingly equivalent metrics can produce dramatically different judgments and choices.
This webinar explores new research showing how reciprocal efficiency ratios, such as ROAS (return on advertising spend) versus ACOS (advertising cost of sales), systematically influence willingness to incur costs, despite conveying mathematically identical information. More broadly, the session examines how the framing of quantitative information, including percentages versus dollar amounts, shapes managerial and consumer decision-making across contexts.
Attendees will gain insights into the psychology of metrics and learn how measurement and presentation choices can subtly influence business decisions, resource allocation, and strategic outcomes.
speaker
Professor Stijn van Osselaer is the S.C. Johnson Professor of Marketing at Cornell University. Professor van Osselaer works on a broad range of research topics including connecting customers with producers, groundedness, customer self-esteem, customer decision making, and research methods. His work has appeared in, e.g., the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of Marketing. Professor van Osselaer previously taught at Chicago Booth, London Business School, and Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). He has served as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Cornell, Department Chair at both RSM and Cornell, Associate Editor at various journals, and as Conference Chair and Member of the Board of Directors at the Association for Consumer Research.