Jackie Silverman

Assistant Professor, Marketing University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Silverman's research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology.

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Spotlight

1 min

March Madness: Experts comment on picking underdogs, prop bets and economic benefits

Why do people pick underdogs when filling out their brackets for the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments? How do people consume March Madness? How does the tournament benefit host cities and teams economically? University of Delaware experts have the answers. The following UD faculty members can provide their expertise for journalists working on stories about the tournaments. Jackie Silverman, assistant professor of marketing: Why people might have chosen underdogs still hanging around in their brackets, John Allgood, instructor of sport management: How people consume March Madness (streaming vs. cable TV) and how major collegiate sports events can help brand individual schools. Contact UD media relations to reach him. Tim DeSchriver, associate professor of sport management: Sports gambling (including prop bets) and advertising targets. Matthew Robinson, professor of sport management: Economic benefits of the host city. Matt McGranaghan, assistant professor of marketing: Consumer attention span during commercial breaks. To reach these experts directly and set up interviews, visit the expert profiles below and click on the contact button.

Jackie SilvermanTim DeSchriverMatthew RobinsonMatthew McGranaghan

2 min

Holiday shopping season set to begin with questions about Black Friday, consumer behavior

Is Black Friday still a thing? Online sales have been outpacing brick-and-mortar sales for years, resulting in shorter lines and less of a frenzy at stores on the day after Thanksgiving. Many stores have also gone online with deals to compliment in-person shopping. University of Delaware experts can comment on this and other topics related to the holiday shopping season and gift-buying behavior. Andong Cheng: Can provide tips on what to prepare for during this unique holiday shopping season. Her research focuses on defining and identifying the picky consumer segment, and explores how pickiness impacts other judgments and decisions. She advises consumers to consider the phenomenon of double mental discounting, where shoppers experience a “mental accounting phenomenon” when offered promotional credit. Jackie Silverman: Research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. According to Silverman, there are many potential benefits of online shopping for consumers, including some unconventional approaches to gift giving this season. Philip Gable: Can talk about the science behind the art of gift-giving that goes beyond the material exchange — emotional nuances that also can be applied to charitable work and philanthropy. He says that significance contributes to the happiness we experience in gift-giving. Matthew McGranaghan: Studies the economics of consumer attention and the indirect effects of marketing interventions. He explains that there is a difference in how businesses are innovating and utilizing online retail methods to connect with consumers this holiday season. Bintong Chen: Can discuss the systematic nature of supply chain issues. He recommends shoppers use major retailers like Amazon and Walmart, whose companies use their own shipping fleets to minimize disruptions. Caroline Swift: Examines supply chain transparency and the interactions between regulation and business performance.

Jackie SilvermanMatthew McGranaghanBintong ChenPhilip Gable

1 min

March Madness underdogs: People are riskier in gambles, forecasts made later in a sequence

New research suggests that those who get hit with the annual case of March Madness are more likely to take a chance on lower seeds for matchups they happen to fill out within their brackets later on, rather than first. Jackie Silverman, assistant professor of marketing, co-authored a study in Management Science that found people are more risk seeking (more likely to predict a relatively improbable outcome) in their later forecasts and are thus more likely to make an incorrect prediction for them. For instance, individuals were more likely to bet that an “underdog” team will win in a sports tournament for predictions they made third, versus first, in a series of forecasts. There can be negative consequences for this "prediction order effect"; by choosing the less likely option in these later predictions, people face greater chances of being wrong, which can reduce earnings and happiness. These results are likely to extend beyond gambling to other cases where people must make multiple forecasts, including decisions made by investors (who must make several predictions of how stocks will perform) and managers (who must forecast potential employees' performance before making hiring decisions). To arrange an interview with Silverman, visit her profile and click on the contact button or send a message to our media relations team.

Jackie Silverman
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Biography

Jackie Silverman joined the University of Delaware in 2019 after earning her doctorate in marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She currently teaches Introduction to Marketing (BUAD 301).

Her research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. In particular, she studies the judgments and consequences of repeated behaviors, prosocial actions, memory and experiential choices.

Dr. Silverman received her bachelor of science in economics and environmental science from the University of Michigan in 2011. She previously taught high school science for two years on the west side of Chicago, Illinois.

Industry Expertise

Research
Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Prosocial Actions
Consumer Psychology
Marketing
Decision Making
Judgement

Media Appearances

Broken Records: When Streaks End, Consumer Behavior Gets ‘A Little Crazy’

Leeds School of Business  online

2023-04-20

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to keep a streak alive—like language lessons on Duolingo, steps on a Fitbit or correct guesses on Wordle? How about the guy in a bar whose daily workout streak was in danger of breaking, so he retired to a back room and did pushups for seven minutes before ordering another round?

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Black Friday 2022 outlook: Cloudy with a chance of solid sales

Newswise  online

2022-11-24

Analysts are split on projections for this year's Black Friday. Markdowns could bring a solid haul for consumers and a stronger-than-expected economy may lead to a successful day for retailers. But the consensus seems to be that the biggest shopping day of the season could go either way. For example, there are concerns that price slashes will be on the stockpile of leftovers that didn't sell earlier this year. And what about that whole supply chain bottleneck thing?

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Why setting time limits for TikTok or YouTube may backfire

The Washington Post  online

2023-03-10

If you want to cut back on how much time you watch YouTube or scroll Instagram, you might use those apps’ features to nudge you to stop after more than, say, an hour a day. It seems like common sense. But new research found that app time limits such as these can backfire.

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Articles

On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions

Journal of Consumer Research

2023

New technologies increasingly enable consumers to track their behaviors over time, making them more aware of their “streaks”—behaviors performed consecutively three or more times—than ever before. Our research explores how these logged streaks affect consumers’ decisions to engage in the same behavior subsequently. In seven studies, we find that intact streaks highlighted via behavioral logs increase consumers’ subsequent engagement in that behavior, relative to when broken streaks are highlighted.

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Not Starting From the Bottom: Consumers Emphasize Rank Position and Neglect List Length When Evaluating Ranked Products

SSRN

2023

How do people use ranking information when evaluating products? In eight pre-registered experiments, we find a persistent preference for products ranked within shorter (vs. longer) lists. For instance, participants rated a product ranked 2nd on a list of 8 products more positively and chose it more often compared to a product ranked 4th on a list of 16 products, despite the products having the same relative position within their respective lists (25th percentile).

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Does Setting a Time Limit Affect Time Spent?

SSRN

2023

New technologies have made it easier than ever before to consume content online. Consumers spend hours browsing social media, playing games, and watching videos. To aid in consumers’ time management, many companies (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) have recently introduced the option to set a “time limit” on their platforms. These features ask consumers to select an amount of time after which they would like to receive an alert. But while giving consumers this option may be well intended, how does it actually impact time spent?

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Accomplishments

AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow

2018

Ph.D. Research Fellowship

2016 and 2017

Jay Baker Retailing Center, The Wharton School

Mack Institute Research Fellowship

2018

The Wharton School

Education

University of Michigan

BS

Economics and Environmental Science

2011

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

PhD

Marketing

2019

Northwestern University

Certification for Secondary Science Education

2012

Event Appearances

Not Starting from the Bottom: Consumers Emphasize Rank Position and Neglect List Length when Evaluating Ranked Products

Association for Consumer Research  Denver, CO

Harder Than You Think: Misconceptions about Logging Food with Photos versus Text

Journal of the Association of Consumer Research Webinar  Virtual

The Prediction Order Effect: People Are More Likely to Choose Improbable Outcomes in Later Predictions

Society for Judgment and Decision Making  Virtual

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