Elizabeth Webb

Biography

Liz received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation focused on individual-level sequential risk-taking.

Her research broadly focuses on judgment and decision making, as well as behavioral economics. Specifically, her research looks at what drives consumers to engage in (or avoid) risk-taking; financial decision-making; and the effect of context on consumer preferences. In other works, she has examined how characteristics of user-generated content (e.g., product reviews) affect what products consumers choose, and how assortment size can change consumer decision processes.

Prior to getting her Ph.D., Liz worked as an economic consultant in antitrust litigation for several years. In this role, she provided complex data analysis and in-depth report writing for expert witness services. Before joing the faculty at CSU, she was an Assistant Professor at Columbia Business School.

Companies

• Assistant Professor Colorado State University (2019)
• Assistant Professor Columbia Business School (2014 — 2019)
• Teaching Assistant UCLA Anderson School of Management (2011 — 2014)
• PhD Researcher University of California, Los Angeles (2009 — 2014)
• Senior Analyst Compass Lexecon (2006 — 2009)

Education

• UCLA Anderson School of Management

  • Ph.D, Management (Marketing), December 2014
    • Dissertation: “Understanding Risk Preference and Perception in Sequential Choice”

• University of California, Berkeley

  • Bachelor of Arts in Economics, 2005

Research Interests

• Decision-making under risk and uncertainty
• Judgment and decision-making
• Context effects
• Mental accounting
• Intertemporal choice

Publications

Webb, Elizabeth C. and Suzanne B. Shu (2018), “The Effect of Perceived Similarity on Sequential Risk-Taking,” Journal of Marketing Research.10800

Webb, Elizabeth C. and Suzanne B. Shu (2017), “Is broad bracketing always better? How broad decision framing leads to more optimal preferences over repeated gambles,” Judgment and Decision Making, 12(4), pp. 382-395.

Manuscripts Under Review

• Sharif, Marissa A. and Elizabeth C. Webb, "Seemingly More Extreme: Large Choice Sets Shift People Towards More Extreme Options," under second-round review at Journal of Marketing Research.

Working Papers

• Webb, Elizabeth C. and Suzanne B. Shu, “Choice Bracketing and Construal Level Theory: The Effects of Problem Representation and Mental Representation on Sequential Risk-Taking."​
• Payne, John W., Shu, Suzanne B., Webb, Elizabeth C., and Namika Sagara, “Individual Heterogeneity in Loss Aversion and Its Impact on Social Security Claiming Decisions."
• Webb, Elizabeth C. and Itamar Simonson, “Using Reviews to Determine Preferences: How Variance in Customer-Generated Reviews Affects Choice.”
• Mrkva, Kellen, Webb, Elizabeth C., and Eric J. Johnson, "Search Now or Pay Later? Time Preferences Influence Credit Card Search and Choice."

Selected Work in Progress

• Limitations of the Wisdom of the Crowd: Identifying Errors and Biases in Individual Estimates. With William P. Cavendish.
• Prosocial Risk Outcomes and Risk Preference. With Vanessa C. Burbano.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Presentations

• Searching Fast and Slow: How Time Preferences Influence Credit Card Search and Choice. With Kellen Mrkva and Eric J. Johnson. Invited presentation at the Behavioral Approaches to Financial Decision Making Conference (Chicago Booth), Sep 24, 2020.
• Searching Fast and Slow: How Time Preferences Influence Credit Card Search and Choice. With Kellen Mrkva and Eric J. Johnson. Judgment and Decision Making Winter Symposium (Snowbird), Jan 18, 2020.
• Searching Fast and Slow: How Time Preferences Influence Credit Card Search and Choice. With Kellen Mrkva and Eric J. Johnson. Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM), Nov 18, 2019.
• The Effects of Earmarking on Psychological Spending and Pain of Payment. With Justin Pomerance, Nicholas Reinholtz, and Stephen A. Spiller. Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Oct 18, 2019.
• Using Reviews to Determine Preferences: How Variance in Customer-Generated Reviews Affects Choice. With Itamar Simonson. Judgment and Decision Making Winter Symposium (Snowbird), Jan 19, 2019.
• Choice Set Size in Context: How Assortment Size Affects Preferences for Extreme Options. With Marissa Sharif. Society of Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM), Nov 19, 2018.
• Using Reviews to Determine Preference: How Variance in Customer-Generated Reviews Affects Choice. Behavioral Decision Research in Management, Jun 9, 2018.
• Using Reviews to Determine Preference: How Variance in Customer-Generated Reviews Affects Choice. Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Oct 27, 2017.
• Working Paper Session: Judgment, Preference, and Choice. Moderator. Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP), Feb 17, 2017.
• The Role of Choice Set Size on Consumers’ Preferences for Unconventional Goods. With Marissa A. Sharif. Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Oct 28, 2016.
• Development of an Individual Measure of Loss Aversion. With John W. Payne, Suzanne B. Shu, and Namika Sagara. Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Oct 3, 2015.
• As Good as Spent: Earmarking Money Leads to a Sense of Spending. With Stephen A. Spiller. Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP), Mar 8, 2014.
• Choice Bracketing and Sequential Gambles: How Problem Representation Changes the Predictions of Prospect Theory. With Suzanne B. Shu. Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making (SPUDM), Aug 16, 2015.
• Choice Bracketing and Construal Level: The Effects of Problem Representation and Mental Representation on Sequential Risk-Taking. With Suzanne B. Shu. Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM), Nov 16, 2013.
• Where Does the Risk Go? Applying Dynamic Mental Accounting Rules to Risk-Taking Behavior. With Suzanne B. Shu. Behavioral Decision Research in Management (BDRM), Jun 29, 2012.
• Where Does the Risk Go? Applying Dynamic Mental Accounting Rules to Risk-Taking Behavior. With Suzanne B. Shu. Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM), Nov 7, 2011.