PUBLICATION
PUBLICATION
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Abstract. Recently, gender-ambiguous (non-binary) voices have been added to voice assistants to combat gender stereotypes and foster inclusion. However, if people react negatively to such voices, these laudable efforts may be counterproductive. In five preregistered studies (N = 3,684) we find that people do react negatively, rating products described by narrators with gender-ambiguous voices less favorably than when they are described by clearly male or female narrators. This is due to the voices creating a feeling of unease related to difficulty understanding the gender of the narrator, what we call social disfluency, that spills over to affect evaluations of the products being described. These effects are best explained by low familiarity with voices that sound ambiguous. Thus, initial negative reactions can be overcome with more exposure.
Link to Journal | Open Science
Media coverage: Il Sole 24 Ore
Working Papers
Working Papers
How Perceptual Disfluency Affects Consumer Choices
with Kurt Munz (Bocconi University)
Best Presentation Award at 8th Mediterranean Symposium for Consumer Behavior Research Conference, ie Business School (2022)
Abstract. Marketing materials often create difficulties for consumers through elements like unconventional fonts or distracting background images, leading to perceptual disfluency—a sense of difficulty encoding information. During choices, consumers can mistake perceptual disfluency for choice difficulty, a feeling of indecision. Building on this idea, eleven preregistered experiments (N = 9,042) show that, when making choices, perceptual disfluency can lead consumers to rely on information that feels more intuitively appealing to them, such as a familiar brand, a preferred country of origin, or a recommendation, rather than on information they must carefully consider, like numerical product specifications. Differing from the effect of perceptual disfluency in other situations, during choices, this effect occurs because consumers process information less deeply, engaging in relatively more intuitive and less analytical processing. Perceived time pressure amplifies the effect on choices. In contrast, it does not occur when consumers do not mistake perceptual disfluency for choice difficulty, as when prompted to consider the actual reason for the disfluency or when not making a choice.
KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken: How Abbreviated Brand Names Can Reduce Consumer Support
with Kurt Munz (Bocconi University)
Abstract. Brands are among a firm’s most valuable marketing assets, making brand name selection a critical strategic decision. One common naming strategy involves abbreviating brand names—for example, “KFC” for “Kentucky Fried Chicken” or “NASA” for “National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” Despite its prevalence, the effects of abbreviated brands on consumer perceptions and support remain underexplored. While managers often assume that abbreviations enhance brand appeal, results from six studies—including an archival analysis of nearly 700 top U.S. brands, a Facebook field study, and four pre-registered experiments using both real and fictional brands—reveal that abbreviated brand names can reduce consumer support. This occurs because abbreviations violate expected morphology, disrupting word structure and triggering disfluency or difficulty in understanding and generating meaningful information from an abbreviated word. However, this negative effect is attenuated when abbreviated brand names come along with conceptually fluent cues, and using fluent abbreviations. Abbreviated names can also be advantageous in disfavored product categories, where they help obscure negative associations. This research contributes to psycholinguistic theory in marketing and the emerging field of brand linguistics by highlighting the overlooked role of morphological structure in brand naming.
CONFERENCES AND TALKS
CONFERENCES AND TALKS
How Perceptual Disfluency Affects Consumer Choices
European Marketing Academy Conference, Madrid, Spain (2025)
Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy, University of Tasmania, Australia (2024)
Melbourne School of Business and Economics, Melbourne University, Australia (2024)
AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium, Manchester Business School, UK (2024)
Adelaide Business School, Adelaide University, Australia (2023)
8th Mediterranean Symposium for Consumer Behavior Research Conference, IE Business School, Spain (2022)
Gender-Ambiguous Voices and Social Disfluency
Association of Consumer Research (ACR) Annual Conference, Seattle, USA (2023) (Presented by Kurt Munz)
European Association of Consumer Research (EACR) Annual Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2023) (Presented by Kurt Munz)
Society for Judgment and Decision-Making (SJDM) Annual Conference, Poster presentation (2022, online)
Historical Price Fluctuation and Purchase Decision: The Role of Our Perception
Monash Business School, Australia (2023)
HONORS AND AWARDS
HONORS AND AWARDS
2024 AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow
2024 Honorable mention by the Psychology of Technology dissertation award [Link]
2022 Best Presentation Award, 8th Mediterranean Consumer Behavior Symposium
2021 Bocconi Junior Research Grant (€10,000)
2019 Bocconi Dean’s Fellowship
2012 Elite Grant of Iran’s National Elites Foundation, Iran
2012 Graduated as ranked 1st, Marketing Department, University of Tehran, Iran
2010 University of Tehran’s Scholarship
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