Manoj K. Thomas

Biography

Manoj Thomas is the Sabanci Professor of Management & Marketing and Associate Dean of NYC Initiatives. He oversees the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program, Cornell Executive MBA programs, and spearheads new initiatives in New York City.

A behavioral scientist and leading expert in behavioral pricing, Thomas studies how human psychology and marketing actions shape perceived economic value. His research demonstrates that economic value is psychologically constructed rather than objectively determined: a trailing 9 ($9.99 vs. $10.00), reframing "12 ounces" as "12 snack bags," or the shift from cash to seamless digital payments can fundamentally alter what consumers perceive a product to be worth. This work has established foundational insights into how numerical cognition, affective states, and price framing influence consumer decision-making.

More recently, Thomas has expanded his research to examine the role of moral intuitions in consumer behavior, investigating how sociomoral values, ideologies, and political identities influence everyday consumer choices, broader market dynamics, and social trends. His current research agenda spans behavioral pricing strategies, numerical cognition, moral foundations theory, and fair-market ideology.

Thomas has received the Apple Award and the Stephen Russell Family Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. He serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and has previously been associate editor for the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

He is the co-author of Why People (Don’t) Buy: GO and STOP Signals.

Selected Publications

• Sirwani, Deepak; Kumar, Srishti; Thomas, Manoj. "Overestimating Stars, Underestimating Numbers: The Hidden Impact of Rating Formats"Journal of Marketing Research. 62.5 (2025): 937-957
• Goenka, Shreyans; Sankar, Sen; Thomas, Manoj. "Moral Motives in Consumption"Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. 10.1 (2025): 1-10
• Goenka, Shreyans; Thomas, Manoj. "Moral Foundations Theory and Consumer Behavior"Journal of Consumer Psychology. 34.3 (2024): 383-547
• 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

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

• BANA 6260 - Consumer Behavior
• NCCE 5030 - Marketing Management

Academic Degrees

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