Mehdi T. Hossain

man smiling wearing a light grey suit jacket and white shirt
  • Associate Professor
  • Marketing
  • Phone: 401.874.2269
  • Email: hossainm@uri.edu
  • Office Location: 215, Ballentine

Biography

CV

Professor Hossain’s primary research interest includes consumer decision making. Specifically, he is interested in understanding how mental accounting, and differences in people’s cognitive styles, influence marketplace decisions. In addition, Hossain studies the influence factors of consumers’ morality in the marketplace. In one of his projects, he examined how people’s thinking style and the type of the charitable cause (humanitarian vs. environmental) interact to facilitate donor’s giving intentions. Another project examines how priming the concept of money influences variety seeking. A consistent finding is that money priming significantly increases variety seeking behavior across decision contexts.

Hossain’s current research projects include a study on the psychological underpinnings of panic buying during the COVID-19 outbreak which is supported through the National Science Foundation. He is also involved in interdisciplinary projects with Neuroscience, with a desire to improve validity of academic research in marketing, where he aims to study brain functions in specific decision contexts and triangulate with behavioral studies. He is a believer of “slow science.”

Mehdi Hossain’s research has been published in academic journals including Journal of Consumer Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing and Marketing Letters. He has reviewed manuscripts for several academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied and Journal of Business Research. His teaching interests include courses such as Consumer Behavior and Marketing Management. In the future, he wishes to teach courses on Neuromarketing.

Hossain earned his PhD in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2014, and an M.S.S (2008) and B.S.S (2006) degrees in Economics from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The love of his life is his daughter Raaya. Although he enjoys every aspect of his job, he make conscious efforts everyday not to miss out on his time with his daughter due to work-related engagements.

Teaching
PhD: Seminar in Marketing: Consumer Behavior.
DBA: Social Ethics and Evidence-Based Management.
MBA: Marketing Strategy.
Undergraduate: Principles of Marketing.

Research

Mental accounting, and cognitive style’s influence on decision making.

Selected Publications

Publications:

Nagpal, Anish, Khare , Adwait and Mehdi T. Hossain (2024), “Continued Goal Pursuit in Time

Bound Goals,” Marketing Letters, 1-13.

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Leger, Rosemary (2022). A Multi-group Longitudinal Experiment on the Effectiveness of Communication Framing(s) in Reducing Vaccine Hesitancy. Society for Consumer Psychology.

Hossain, Mehdi Tanzeeb and Jonathan Ross Gilbert (2021), “Satisfactory listening: The differential role of salesperson communication in (co)creating value for B2B buyers,” Industrial Marketing Management, Volume 98 (October), 222-240. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.08.010.)
Link for Free Access

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Zhiyong Yang (2019), “Outwitting the Rational Mind: How Effortful Thinking Influences Price Cognition,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 32(3), 280-96.

Hossain, Mehdi T. (2018), “How Cognitive Style Influences the Mental Accounting System: Role of Analytic versus Holistic Thinking,” Journal of Consumer Research , 45(3), 615-32.

Hossain, Mehdi T., and Lawrence B. Chonko (2018), “Relational communication and illusionary loyalty: Moderating role of self-construal.” Industrial Marketing Management, 69 (February), 221-234.

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Ritesh Saini (2015), “Free Indulgences: Enhanced Zero-Price Effect for Hedonic Options,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32 (4), 457-460.

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Ritesh Saini (2014), “Suckers in the Morning, Skeptics in the Evening: Time-of-Day Effects on Consumers’ Vigilance Against Manipulation,” Marketing Letters, 25(2), 109-121.

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Zhiyong Yang, “Effect of Thinking Style on Donation: Moderating Role of Cause Type”, competitive paper (published extended abstract), Association for Consumer Research Conference, Baltimore, MD, October 2014.

Hossain, Mehdi T. and Ritesh Saini, “Cognitive Motivation and Its Impact on Price Cognition”, competitive paper (published extended abstract), Association for Consumer Research Conference, Chicago, IL, October 2013.

Grants and awards

Hossain, Mehdi T., “The Psychological Underpinnings of Panic Buying During the Covid-19 Outbreak and How to Mitigate Them,” National Science Foundation ($135,825.00).

Media Mentions

Best Credit Cards for Groceries
What is Mental Accounting
URI professor goes inside the mind of a COVID-19 panic buyer, (2020, RI NPR)
Five Questions with Mehdi Hossain, (2020, Providence Business News)
Strategies for Saving Money During Labor Day Shopping, (2017, Wallethub)
2018’s Most Prestigious & Most Exclusive Credit Cards, (2018, Wallethub)
Ask the Experts: Tips for Filling Up Your Rewards Tank, (2020, Wallethub)