PhD Defence Gizem Yalcin
In her dissertation 'Consumers in the Age of AI: Understanding Reactions Towards Algorithms and Humans in Marketing Research' Gizem adopted a nuanced perspective on consumers’ reactions towards algorithms and humans and introduced three contextual factors that impact consumers’ reactions. Specifically, it reveals how consumers’ reactions towards algorithms and humans depends on what the outcome of the decision is, who the consumer is and on what type of complexity the decision possesses. Gizem will defend her dissertation on Thursday, 12 May 2022 at 10:30. Her supervisors are Prof. Stefano Puntoni (RSM) and Dr. Anne-Kathrin Klesse (RSM). Other members of the Doctoral Committee are Prof. Christian Hildebrand (University of St. Gallen), Prof. Daan Stam (RSM), and Dr. Mirjam Tuk (RSM).
About Gizem Yalcin
Gizem Yalcin was born in Bursa on January 2, 1992. She completed her undergraduate studies (BSc) in Management at Bilkent University (summa cum laude) with a major in marketing & innovation and a minor in psychology. She graduated cum laude in 2017 from Erasmus University's research master (MPhil) program with a specialization in marketing. In 2017, she started her PhD studies in Marketing at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) at Erasmus University. During her PhD, she was a visiting graduate researcher at University of British Columbia (2018) and Cornell University (2019).
Gizem’s research mainly explores how consumers process and react to the information (e.g., recommendations, decision outcomes) provided by algorithms or humans. In addition to this line of inquiry, she studies prosocial behavior, and work on how consumers decide where to donate to and how to motivate consumers to make more effective donations. She employs a mix of methods to address her research questions, including lab/online panel studies, field experiments, secondary data analysis, content analysis, and meta-analysis.
Gizem has received many grants during her graduate studies, including the ERIM Achievement Grant (2015) and grant from the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management (2016). Additionally, she has received several awards during her studies including the Bruins Prize (2017), the Beattie Award (2019), Talent Placement Award (2020), and AMA Mathew Joseph Emerging Scholar Award (2021). In August 2022, Gizem will start working as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
Thesis Abstract
Today consumers are increasingly interacting with algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies instead of or in addition to humans. Holding everything else constant, would merely framing a decision (e.g., an application outcome made about a consumer, a personalized recommendation) as made by an algorithm or a human still change the way consumers react? The goal of this dissertation is to examine whether and why consumers react to algorithms and humans differently. Offering a counterpoint on the pervasive algorithms-are-bad rhetoric in contemporary marketing literature, this dissertation adopts a nuanced perspective on consumers’ reactions towards algorithms and humans and introduces three contextual factors that impact consumers’ reactions. Specifically, it reveals how consumers’ reactions towards algorithms and humans depends on what the outcome of the decision is (Chapter 2), who the consumer is (Chapter 3) and on what type of complexity the decision possesses (Chapter 4).
View photos of Gizem's PhD Defence
Photos: Chris Gorzeman / Capital Images
