Manoj K. Thomas

Biography

Manoj Thomas is the Nakashimato Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean of NYC Initiatives. Thomas is a behavioral scientist who trains MBA students and executives to be customer-centric leaders and encourages them to build meaningful and purposeful connections with customers. His lectures on consumer insights are available online through eCornell's certificate program on Consumer Behavior. Thomas has received the Apple Award and the Stephen Russell Family Teaching Award for excellence in teaching.

An expert in numerical cognition and behavioral pricing, Thomas studies the psychological underpinnings of consumers’ purchasing decisions. His research characterizes interesting phenomena such as the left-digit effect and the price precision effect, illustrating how subtle numerical cues can impact consumer behavior. Additionally, his recent work examines the role of moral considerations in shopping choices, offering insights into the complex interplay between morality and economics in consumer behavior. Through his studies, Thomas provides a deeper understanding of consumer behavior.

He is the co-author of the book Why People (Don't) Buy: GO and STOP Signals. He is associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and was previously associate editor for the Journal of Marketing Research.

Selected Publications

• Thomas, Manoj; Ma, Yu; Gauri, Dinesh. "Food Craving Increases Unhealthy Food Purchases: A Study of SNAP Households"Journal of Marketing Research. 61.1 (2024): 49-69
• Thomas, Manoj. "Heuristic price theory: A model of pluralistic price evaluations"Consumer Psychology Review. 6.1 (2023): 75-91
• Monnier, Arnaud; Thomas, Manoj. "Experiential and Analytical Price Evaluations: How Experiential Product Description Affects Prices"Journal of Consumer Research. 49.4 (2022): 574-594
• Goenka, Shreyans; Thomas, Manoj. "Are Conservatives Less Likely Than Liberals to Accept Welfare? The Psychology of Welfare Politics"Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. 7.3 (2022): 305-315
• Kyung, Ellie; Thomas, Manoj; Krishna, Aradhna. "How Political Identity Influences COVID-19 Risk Perception: A Model of Identity-Based Risk Perception"Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. 7.3 (2022): 316-324
• Goenka, Shreyans; Thomas, Manoj. "The Malleable Morality of Conspicuous Consumption"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 118.3 (2020): 562-583
• Sokolova, Tatiana; Seenivasan, Satheesh; Thomas, Manoj. "The Left-Digit Bias: When and Why Are Consumers Penny Wise and Pound Foolish"Journal of Marketing Research. 57.4 (2020): 771-788
• Santana, Shelle; Thomas, Manoj; Morwitz, Vicki. "The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey"Journal of Retailing. 96.1 (2020): 138-154
• Thomas, Manoj; Kyung, Ellie. "Slider Scale or Text Box: How Response Format Shapes Responses"Journal of Consumer Research. 45.6 (2019): 1274-1293
• Chun, HaeEun Helen; Park, Joowon; Thomas, Manoj. "Cold Anticipated Regret versus Hot Experienced Regret: Why Consumers Fail to Regret Unhealthy Consumption"Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. 4.2 (2019): 125-135

Awards and Honors

• Outstanding Reviewer Award (2016) Journal of Consumer Research
• Stephen Russell Teaching Award (based on vote by students who graduated 5 years ago) (2016) Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
• Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching (based on vote by graduating MBA class) (2010)

Recent Courses

• NBAE 6400 - Behavioral Science for Marketing Decisions
• BANA 6260 - Consumer Behavior
• NCCB 5030 - Marketing
• NRE 5150 - PhD Seminar in Behavior Marketing

Academic Degrees

• PhD Stern School of Business, New York University, 2006
• MBA Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, 1994
• BEng National Institute of Technology, 1992