Faculty Research Showcase: Lisa Bolton

By Katherine Schreiner

Marketing and Business Administration Professor Lisa Bolton is another one of Smeal's faculty with a variety of research focusing on sustainability. Her research focuses on judgment and decision-making by managers and consumers when coming to new products and technology, pricing, marketing, and consumer welfare.

Professor Bolton's first research paper, The Prosocial Ambassador Effect: Adopting an Ambassador Role Increases Sustainable Behavior, introduces the prosocial ambassador effect to elicit prosocial behavior. They reveal how the ambassador role creates a collective identity, which creates prosocial behavior.

"While marketers believe ambassador programs can encourage prosocial behaviors among an ambassador’s social network," Professor Bolton explained. "Scholarly research has yet to examine how a prosocial ambassador role impacts the ambassador’s behavior."

Lisa Bolton's next work, Conspiracy Beliefs and Consumption: The Role of Scientific Literacy, explains how conspiracy theories can be risky for consumers, businesses, and society. It delves into the role of scientific literacy with conspiracies. This work is due to how conspiracy theories have become harmful, leading to decisions that could damage people or things.

Professor Bolton's last research piece, People, Peace, Prosperity, and the Planet: A Journey toward Sustainability Development in Consumer Research, talks about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Journal of Consumer Research sheds light on these initiatives.

For more information, reach out to Lisa Bolton at boltonle@psu.edu.