Kaitlin Woolley

Biography

Professor Kaitlin Woolley is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the SC Johnson Cornell College of Business. She studies the psychological processes underlying consumer motivation to understand what separates the goals consumers achieve from the goals they fail at. By uncovering new insights into the processes affecting goal pursuit, she develops and demonstrates the efficacy of interventions to increase consumers’ motivation.

Woolley’s research is published in top journals in marketing and psychology, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Science. Her work is regularly featured in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and NPR. Woolley has won several awards and honors for her research, including the Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science and the Young Scholar Award from the Marketing Science Institute.

At Johnson, Woolley connects with MBA students in teaching the core marketing course and an elective on customer insights. She earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in psychology from Cornell University. Her MBA and PhD are from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Selected Publications

• Giurge, Laura; Woolley, Kaitlin. "Working During Non-Standard Work Time Undermines Intrinsic Motivation"Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 170 (2022): 104134
• Sharif, Marissa; Woolley, Kaitlin. "Work-to-Unlock Rewards: Leveraging Goals in Reward Systems to Increase Consumer Persistence"Journal of Consumer Research. (forthcoming).
• Woolley, Kaitlin; Fishbach, Ayelet. "Motivating Personal Growth by Seeking Discomfort"Psychological Science. 33.4 (2022): 510-523
• Woolley, Kaitlin; Sharif, Marissa. "Down a Rabbit Hole: How Prior Consumption Shapes Future Media Consumption"Journal of Marketing Research. 59.3 (2022): 453-471
• Woolley, Kaitlin; Sharif, Marissa. "Incentives Increase Relative Positivity of Review Content and Enjoyment of Review Writing"Journal of Marketing Research. 58.3 (2021): 539-558
• Woolley, Kaitlin; Liu, Peggy. "How You Estimate Calories Matters: Calorie Estimation Reversals"Journal of Consumer Research. 48.1 (2021): 147-168
• Lopez, Jessica; Woolley, Kaitlin; McGill, Ann. "A preference for preference: Lack of subjective preference evokes dehumanization"Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 164 (2021): 52-67
• Sharif, Marissa; Woolley, Kaitlin. "The Effect of Categorization on Goal Progress Perceptions and Motivation"Journal of Consumer Research. 47.4 (2020): 608-630
• Woolley, Kaitlin; Risen, Jane. "Hiding from the Truth: When and How Cover Enables Information Avoidance"Journal of Consumer Research. 47.5 (2021): 675-697

Awards and Honors

• Early Career Award (2022) Society for Consumer Psychology
• Rising Star (2021) Association for Psychological Science
• MSI Young Scholars Award (2021) Marketing Science Institute
• Outstanding Reviewer Award (2020) Journal of Consumer Research
• Cornell Center for Social Sciences Faculty Fellowship (2021) Cornell University

Recent Courses

• NBA 6260 - Consumer Behavior
• NMI 5000 - Directed Reading & Research
• NCC 5030 - Marketing Management

Academic Degrees

• PhD Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, 2017
• MBA Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, 2017
• BA Cornell University, 2012

In the News

• May 03, 2022 Why You Should Think Twice About Wanting to Work on Weekends
• March 29, 2022 Leaving your comfort zone inspires motivation, growth
• March 18, 2021 Should you make your preferences clear? Study suggests yes