Research Interests

My research focuses on consumer well-being, vulnerability, emotions, and perceptions in various contexts, with a particular emphasis on consumer interactions with service environments in clinical, retail, and tourism settings. I am dedicated to conducting research projects that have both managerial and public policy implications, aiming to make a positive impact on consumer well-be-ing. I employ a combination of lab and field experiments, survey research, quantitative methods of analysis, and I am also interested in incorporating content analysis, particularly in analyzing large In-ternet datasets such as social media and corporate materials, to contribute to the field of marketing.

My research work can be categorized into three main streams. Firstly, I explore consumers' subjective perception of access to health services and its influence on their vulnerability, health-re-lated behaviors, and attitudes. Through scale development and a series of three studies, my coauthors and I have demonstrated that perceived access impacts perceived vulnerability, health-related behav-iors and attitudes (such as distrust in a health care system and health motivation), and consumers’ overall health. Our findings were published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. We have extended these theoretical findings to various contexts, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sec-ond paper published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs explores the role of perceived access to health care and pandemic fear in preventative COVID-19 behaviors and maintaining overall health, and mediating effects of consumer vulnerability and health system concerns. Additionally, we are currently in the process of collecting data for our first study examining the impact of U.S. abortion laws on consumers' subjective perceptions of access to healthcare and their overall health and well-being.

I would also like to expand consumer vulnerability research to the war and post-war contexts. For example, the current war in Ukraine made millions of people vulnerable whether they had to flee from their homes to other countries or to stay at home and to survive Russian missile attacks. Some people became internally displaced twice – in 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea and parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and now in 2022-2023. I would like to study how hedonic consump-tion helps internally displaced people and refugees cope with their vulnerability, specifically examin-ing the effects of the current war in Ukraine. For this project, I am currently designing and translating a questionnaire.

In my second research stream, I investigate how consumers process nutritional information presented with different formats of front-of-package (FOP) labels under different purchasing condi-tions. Through lab and field studies, I explore which type of FOP labels (symbol-based or text-based) enables consumers to identify the healthiest product more easily, how processing label information directly versus indirectly affects choices, and how consumer choices differ depending on the pres-ence or absence of diet-related diseases This manuscript is currently under preparation to submission to the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

My third research stream examines what communication messages are most effective in pro-moting sustainable hedonic products and services with a particular focus on anthropomorphic mes-sages in sustainable tourism communications. Drawing on relationship marketing theory, I propose that including anthropomorphic cues and positive emotional framing in sustainability communica-tions will increase positive consumer behavioral intentions through the perception of goal congru-ence and brand connectedness. This research contributes to the literature on sustainable communica-tions and anthropomorphism and has clear managerial implications. I am currently analyzing data from the second experimental study in this research stream.

In the future, I plan to extend my sustainability labeling research to other cultures, recogniz-ing that travel destinations primarily promote themselves internationally, and sustainable attitudes, norms, and practices vary across different cultures. Additionally, I aim to explore both the positive and negative effects of anthropomorphism on consumer well-being. While existing research has pre-dominantly focused on the positive consequences of anthropomorphism for businesses, I am inter-ested in investigating its impact on consumer happiness and potential psychological threats.

In sum, my research goal is to enhance our understanding of consumer vulnerability and emotions and perceptions that influence their well-being. Given the evolving landscape of online communication and social media, I am eager to incorporate these data in my research, explore further topics in this area, and collaborate with new colleagues. I am committed to maintaining my research momentum and aspire to become a productive researcher and a recognized scholar in the future.

Publications

Access to health services affects the well-being of millions of consumers. Although the topic of health-related access is regularly featured in popular and academic conversations, these conversations primarily concentrate on objective or situational access factors. This research focuses instead on consumers’ subjective perception of access to better appreciate how personally experienced service availability and ease of access jointly determine consumers’ access perceptions. The authors find that perceived access to health services (PAHS) offers insight into the relationships between access, perceived health vulnerability, and overall health. Through scale development and a series of three theory-testing studies, this work demonstrates the close link between PAHS and perceived vulnerability (Study 1), connects this relationship to overall health (Studies 1–3), and establishes behavioral changes associated with access-vulnerability concerns (Study 2). Moreover, Study 3 finds evidence for a “muting” effect of health system distrust on the relationship between PAHS and perceived vulnerability as well as an “amplifying” effect of health motivation on the relationship between perceived vulnerability and overall health. Together, these studies illustrate PAHS’s relevance for explaining consumer vulnerability and overall health.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic reduced real and perceived access to healthcare services, exacerbating pandemic fear, and thus influencing consumers' adoption of preventative health behaviors. Extending the EHBM, results from two studies show that perceived access to health services and pandemic fear impact an individual's general and COVID-preventative health behaviors. High perceived access reduces pandemic fear through its buffering effects on perceived health vulnerability and pandemic-related health system concern, especially with telehealth usage during the pandemic. While pandemic fear motivates COVID-19 vaccination, pandemic fear reduces personal preventative health behavior (e.g., healthy eating, exercising) and has little effect on personal COVID-preventative behaviors (e.g., wearing a mask, social distancing) when individuals perceive high pandemic-related control. Moreover, the fear-behavior link does not hold for preventative health visits; instead, perceived access directly promotes preventative visits and screening. This research informs public health stakeholders' communication, education, and resource allocation during health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research in Progress

Cook, Laurel Aynne, and Elvira Kizilova, “Direct and Indirect Processing Effects of Front-of-Package Labels,” target: Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (manuscript in preparation for submission).

Kizilova, Elvira, and Michael F. Walsh, “Critters and Creatures: Exploring the Role of Anthropomorphic Cues in Sustainable Tourism Messaging,” target: Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (manuscript in preparation to submission).

Emily C. Tanner and Elvira Kizilova, "Effects of Abortion Laws on Perceived Access to Health Care and Vulnerability," target Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (conceptual development).