Research Notes: Mita Sujan

Mita Sujan’s paper “Temporal mindsets and self-regulation: The motivation and implementation of self-regulatory behaviors” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. The paper, co-authored with Denise Buhrau (PhD ’10), focuses on implementation of self-regulation. Using data from Tulane University’s 10,000-steps-a-day fitness program, the authors argue that individuals with low consideration of future consequences (CFC) are more motivated to act when messages provide specific recommendations with the necessary contextual details for personalization (“when,” “where” and “with whom") that make planning accessible and easy. The study is part of a larger line of research aimed at better understanding failures of self-regulation, which Sujan says are at the core of the nation’s obesity and debt epidemics and which result in substantial costs to the economy. Sujan is the Malcolm Woldenberg Chair of Marketing at Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business.