Affiliation

Utpal Dholakia is a Professor of Management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Primary Research Focus

Financial decision making by consumers and investors, marketing strategy for small and medium-sized businesses, online marketing issues, and relational aspects of consumer behavior.

Contribution

Utpal Dholakia works in the area of motivational psychology of consumers and studies online marketing issues such as virtual communities and online auctions. He has shown how diversity perceptions and expressive freedom in online peer-to-peer problem solving communities influence the relationship with and future intentions towards the brand.

Exemplary paper:

Almeida, S.O.; Dholakia, U.M.; Hernandez, J.M.; Mazzon, A.M.: The Mixed Effects of Participant Diversity and Expressive Freedom in Online Peer-to-Peer Problem Solving Communities, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28 (3), August 2014, 196-209.

The paper is available here.

Education

Professor Dholakia received his Master’s degree in psychology, and his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Michigan, a Master’s degree in operations research from the Ohio State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Bombay.

Publications

Professor Dholakia has published his research in journals such as Journal of Marketing Research, Organization Science, Psychological Science, and Harvard Business Review, among others.

Awards

Professor Dholakia is a member of MENSA. He won several awards for his scientific work, such as the Journal of Interactive Marketing Best Paper Award, or the Park Award from the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Misc.

Professor Dholakia serves as Editorial Board Member at the journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology and others. He consults with firms in financial services, high-tech, energy, and health-care industries and is well cited in the press.