We present a new event-level predictor of comparative optimism: comparative optimism is larger for more socially undesirable events. A meta-analysis shows that event social undesirability predicts comparative optimism effect sizes reported in the literature, over and above the effects of other...

A theory of preferences was recently proposed on how consumers’ choices depend on both stable “inherent” likings and sensitivity to framing, task, and context effects (Simonson, 2008). Managers can employ this approach to overcome the contradictions exhibited so far in their treatment of...

Increasingly, user-generated product reviews serve as a valuable source of information for customers making product choices online. The existing literature typically incorporates the impact of product reviews on sales based on numeric variables representing the valence and volume of reviews. In...