معرفی
Barbara E. Kahn serves as the Patty and Jay H. Baker Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She previously held leadership roles including Director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center, Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute (MSI), Dean and Schein Professor of Marketing at the University of Miami, and Vice Dean of Wharton's undergraduate program.
Education:
- PhD, MBA, and MPhil from Columbia University
- BA from University of Rochester
Professor Kahn is an internationally recognized scholar specializing in retailing, variety-seeking behavior, brand loyalty, product assortment design, and consumer/patient decision-making. Her research examines how consumers balance repeated choices with variety-seeking, particularly in contexts of uncertainty. She investigates brand management strategies across medical and financial services, price promotions, and customization effects on customer relationships. Her work bridges theoretical consumer behavior with practical retail applications, analyzing how visual elements influence branding and purchasing decisions through eye-tracking methodologies and cognitive frameworks.
Her recent publications reveal strong thematic continuity in consumer choice architecture, with increasing focus on pandemic-driven retail disruption (2020-2025). The work spans foundational variety-seeking theory to contemporary applications in digital retailing, medical decision-making, and luxury branding. Key trends include the psychological mechanisms behind Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), self-regulatory goals in vice/virtue consumption, and visual marketing science.
Scientific Honors:
- Elected President of Association for Consumer Research (2006)
- Fellow of Society of Consumer Psychology (2016) and Association for Consumer Research (2016)
- Multiple Davidson Awards for Journal of Retailing publications
- Wharton 'Iron Prof' Competition winner (2015)
- World's Best B-School Professors recognition (2012)
Professor Kahn has secured substantial research funding including National Science Foundation grants ($315,000) for patient decision-making studies, Wharton-SMU Research Center grants (2003-2005), and Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research funding. She has advised doctoral candidates including Elizabeth Miller (SCP-SHETH Dissertation winner) and Satya Menon (John A. Howard Award recipient), serving on editorial boards of Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and Marketing Science.
