Jenkins, Mason, Paul Fombelle, and Mary Steffel (forthcoming, published online 2025). “When Apology is Not the Best Policy: The Negative Impact of Apologies for Ambiguous Service Failures,” Journal of Consumer Research. Click Here for PDF.

• Marketing Science Institute Working Paper (2021)

• Best Paper in Service Science and Retailing Track, AMA Winter Conference (2020)

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, 9,008 views)

• Media Coverage: American Marketing Association Blog

O’Flaherty, Shibeal, Lizzie Martin, Syon Bhanot, Crystal Hall, Sebastian Jilke, Tyler Simko, and Mary Steffel (2024), “How Academics & Policymakers Can Collaborate Effectively: Lessons from Using Behavioral Science to Improve U.S. Federal Government Policies,” Behavioral Science and Policy, 10 (1), 35-42. Click Here for PDF.

Blunden, Hayley, and Mary Steffel (2023), “The Downside of Decision Delegation: When Transferring Decision Incurs Interpersonal Costs,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 176, 104251. Click Here for PDF.

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, 35,097 views), Let It Go! (Book), The Science of Letting Go (Webinar)

• Media Coverage: Business Talk (Podcast)

Barry Kappes, Heather, Mattie Toma, Rekha Balu, Nuole Chen, Rebecca Johnson, Jessica Leight, Saad Omer, Mary Steffel, Kris-Stella Trump, David Yokum, Russ Burnett, Elana Safran, Pompa Debroy (2023), “Using Communication to Boost Vaccination: Lessons for COVID-19 from Evaluations of Eight Large-scale Programs to Promote Routine Vaccinations,” Behavioral Science and Policy, 9 (1), 11-24. Click Here for PDF.

Sacarny, Adam, Elana Safran, Mary Steffel, Jacob R. Dunham, Orolo D. Abili, Lobat Mohajeri, Patricia Oh, Alan Sim, Robert E. Brutcher, and Christopher Spevak (2022), “Effect of Pharmacist E-mail Alerts on Concurrent Prescribing of Opioids and Benzodiazepines by Prescribers and Primary Care Managers: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA Health Forum, 3 (9), e223378. Click Here for PDF.

Steffel, Mary, Elanor F. Williams, and Stephan Carney (2022), “Empowering Patients to Engage with Health Decisions: Making Medical Choices Feel Easy Increases Patient Participation,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 7 (2), 154-63. Click Here for PDF.

Garcia-Rada, Ximena, Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams, and Michael Norton (2022), "Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others," Journal of Consumer Research, 48 (6), 970-90. Click Here for PDF.

• AMA-EBSCO-RRBM Annual Award for Responsible Research in Marketing (2025)

• Editor’s Pick April 2022

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, bestselling article, 10,057 views), The Conversation (5,052 views)

• Media Coverage: The Wall Street Journal, Journal of Consumer Research Blog

Steffel, Mary, and Elanor F. Williams (2021), “Do Our Choices Tell Us Who We Are? It Depends on How Easy or Difficult They Were to Make,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31 (4), 784-91. Click Here for PDF.

Wu, Ruomeng, Mary Steffel, and Sharon Shavitt (2021), “Buying Gifts for Multiple Recipients: How Culture Affects Whose Desires Are Prioritized," Journal of Business Research, 132, 10-20. Click Here for PDF.

Dellaert, Benedict, Suzanne Shu, Theo Arentze, Tom Baker, Kristin Diehl, Bas Donkers, Nathanael Fast, Gerald Haubl, Heidi Johnson, Uma Karmarkar, Harmen Oppewal, Bernd Schmitt, Juliana Schroeder, Stephen Spiller, and Mary Steffel (2020), “Consumer Decisions with Artificially Intelligent Voice Assistants,” Marketing Letters, 31, 335-47. Click Here for PDF.

Steffel, Mary, Elanor F. Williams, and David Tannenbaum (2019), “Does Changing Defaults Save Lives? Effects of Presumed Consent Organ Donation Policies,” Behavioral Science and Policy, 5 (1), 69-89. Click Here for PDF.

Steffel, Mary, and Elanor F. Williams (2018), “Delegating Decisions: Recruiting Others to Make Choices We Might Regret.” Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (5), 1015-32. Click Here for PDF.

• Research Translation: TEDx (322,682 views), Stand Up Science, Let It Go! (Book), The Science of Letting Go (Webinar)

Steffel, Mary, Elanor F. Williams, and Ruth Pogacar (2016), “Ethically Deployed Defaults: Transparency and Consumer Protection Through Disclosure and Preference Articulation.” Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (5), 865-80. Click Here for PDF.

• AMA-EBSCO Annual Award for Responsible Research (2020)

• Ronald Copeland Best Paper Award Finalist (2016)

• Transformative Consumer Research Grant Winner (2015)

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, 3,223 views), The Conversation (558,365 views, named one of “4 essential reads” in behavioral economics), Policy Shop Blog, Scholarly Insight Blog

Steffel, Mary, Elanor F. Williams, and Jaclyn Perrmann-Graham (2016), “Passing the Buck: Delegating Choices to Others to Avoid Responsibility and Blame.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 135, 32-44. Click Here for PDF.

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, 22,721 views), Quartz, NPR’s Academic Minute, The Science of Letting Go (Webinar Series), Let It Go! (Book)

• Media Coverage: Fast Company

Williams, Elanor F., and Mary Steffel (2014), “Legitimate Enablement or Unfair Embellishment?: Double Standards In The Use of Enhancing Products by Self and Others.” Journal of Consumer Research, 41 (2), 506-25. Click Here for PDF.

• Research Translation: The Los Angeles Times

• Media Coverage: TIME Business

Steffel, Mary, and Robyn LeBoeuf (2014), “Over-Individuation in Gift Giving: Shopping for Multiple Recipients Leads Givers to Choose Unique but Less Preferred Gifts.” Journal of Consumer Research, 40 (6), 1167-80. Click Here for PDF.

• Society for Consumer Psychology Dissertation Proposal Competition Winner (2011)

• Research Translation: Harvard Business Review (FT50, 22,721), The Conversation (41,261 views)

• Media Coverage: USA Today, NBC News, Today Show, TIME, Scientific American, New York Magazine, Kiplinger, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg View, Real Simple, HGTV Magazine, Women’s Health Magazine, Redbook Magazine, WalletHub, New England Public Radio, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, KGO San Francisco: Consumer Talk, Here We Are (Podcast), Main Street: Smart Spending, Yahoo! News, Daily Mail

Steffel, Mary, and Daniel M. Oppenheimer (2009), “Happy By What Standard? The Role Of Interpersonal And Intrapersonal Comparisons In Ratings Of Happiness,” Social Indicators Research, 92 (1), 69-80. Click Here for PDF.

• Research Translation: Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research

Pronin, Emily, John J. Fleming, and Mary Steffel (2008), “Value Revelations: Disclosure Is In The Eye Of The Beholder,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (4), 795-809. Click Here for PDF.

Johnson, Eric J., Mary Steffel, and Daniel G. Goldstein (July, 2005), “Making Better Decisions: From Measuring To Constructing Preferences,” Health Psychology, 24 (4 Suppl), S17-22. Click Here for PDF.

Elkin, Elena B., Mark E. Cowen, Daniel Cahill, Mary Steffel, and Michael W. Kattan (2004), “Preference Assessment Method Affects Decision Analytic Recommendations: A Prostate Cancer Treatment Example,” Medical Decision Making, 24 (5), 504-10. Click Here for PDF.