CARBS Behavioural Research Group

To create a space (seminars, workshops, etc.) for interdisciplinary research focused on the design, application, and analysis of the experimental research methods for tackling societal problems.

The group will unite colleagues and postgraduate students from diverse subjects to foster interdisciplinary funding applications, research projects, and developmental opportunities.

The heart of the group’s mission is the core value of creating a positive environment that fosters interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary business and economics research. Centring around the methodology of experimental design, utilised across multiple business and economics disciplines, the group will first create a structure in which academics and postgraduate students can learn, upskill and discuss the latest developments in experimental designs.

Second, the group will build a critical mass where colleagues produce interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary funding bids and research projects.

Aims

cooperative applications to interdisciplinary grants and research consortia
organisation of international workshops and conferences
organise regular scientific seminars and short visiting periods for leading international scholars (journals’ editors)
public value events to disseminate behavioural insights to the community of policymakers, NGOs, businesses
ad-hoc mentoring program for students interested in behavioural research

We will create a fortnightly research group where members can:

present current projects
seek/provide feedback, and foster collaboration
discuss influential papers in high quality journals that use experimental research methodologies and identify their strengths and weaknesses
organise brainstorming sessions that would foster collaborations for tackling a particular identified societal problem and develop funding bid applications

We plan to collaborate with policymakers and business representatives to tackle their most pressing challenges through behavioural science.

The group has members that have been engaged in such research activities in the past. For example:

in collaboration with the Armenian Government and the United Nations interventions have been designed to increase the cervical cancer screening participation rate in Armenia
in collaboration with Tax Authorities in China interventions have been designed to increase tax compliance
in collaboration with the United Nations interventions have been designed to curb the demand for single-use plastic bags in supermarkets
in cooperation with local authorities in the Czech Republic, labour market outcomes generated by Rapid Re-Housing programs (homelessness reduction) have been assessed through RCT

Selected publications

Toivonen, T. et al., 2023. Creative jolts: exploring how entrepreneurs let go of ideas during creative revision. Academy of Management Journal 66 (3), pp.829-858. (10.5465/amj.2020.1054)
Dootson, P. et al., 2023. Reducing deviant consumer behaviour with service robot guardians. Journal of Services Marketing 37 (3), pp.276-286. (10.1108/JSM-11-2021-0400)
Han, X. et al., 2022. Persistence of investor sentiment and market mispricing. Financial Review 57 (3), pp.617-640. (10.1111/fire.12301)
Danbolt, J. , Eshraghi, A. and Lukas, M. 2022. Investment transparency and the disposition effect. European Financial Management 28 (3), pp.834-864. (10.1111/eufm.12329)
Geraci, A. et al., 2022. Broadband internet and social capital. Journal of Public Economics 206 104578. (10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104578)
Grubiak, K. P. et al., 2022. Taking the New Year’s resolution test seriously: eliciting individuals’ judgements about self-control and spontaneity. Behavioural Public Policy (10.1017/bpp.2021.41)
Farrell, C. , McKenna, D. and Wall, M. 2022. Setting the stage: scenic design and observers’ perceptions of the quality of public governance meetings. Public Management Review 24 (11), pp.1663-1681. (10.1080/14719037.2021.1909347)
Foxall, G. R. and Pinheiro, J. 2022. On the empirical psychology of success semantics for pragmatic representations. Philosophical Psychology 35 (6), pp.887-910. (10.1080/09515089.2021.2018414)
Antinyan, A. et al. 2021. Does the frequency of reminders matter for their effectiveness? A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 191 , pp.752-764. (10.1016/j.jebo.2021.09.023)
Bucciol, A. and Trucchi, S. 2021. Locus of control and saving: the role of saving motives. Journal of Economic Psychology 86 102413. (10.1016/j.joep.2021.102413)
Antinyan, A. , Bertoni, M. and Corazzini, L. 2021. Cervical cancer screening invitations in low and middle income countries: Evidence from Armenia. Social Science & Medicine 273 113739. (10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113739)
Pinzon, O. R. et al., 2021. Does excessive use of smartphones and apps make us more impulsive? An approach from behavioural economics. Heliyon 7 (2) e06104. (10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06104)
Entwistle, T. 2021. Why nudge sometimes fails: fatalism and the problem of behaviour change. Policy and Politics 49 (1), pp.87-103. (10.1332/030557320X15832072208458)
Corazzini, L. , Cotton, C. and Reggiani, T. 2020. Delegation and coordination with multiple threshold public goods: experimental evidence. Experimental Economics 23 (4), pp.1030-1068. (10.1007/s10683-019-09639-6)
Moldes, O. and Ku, L. 2020. Materialistic cues make us miserable: A meta‐analysis of the experimental evidence for the effects of materialism on individual and societal well‐being. Psychology and Marketing 37 (10), pp.1396-1419. (10.1002/mar.21387)
Sugden, R. , Wang, M. and Zizzo, D. J. 2019. Take it or leave it: experimental evidence on the effect of time-limited offers on consumer behaviour. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 168 , pp.1-23. (10.1016/j.jebo.2019.09.008)
Andrews, R. , Entwistle, T. and Guarneros-Meza, V. 2019. Local government size and political efficacy: do citizen panels make a difference?. International Journal of Public Administration 42 , pp.664-676. (10.1080/01900692.2018.1499774)
Syntetos, A. A. , Kholidasari, I. and Naim, M. M. 2016. The effects of integrating management judgement into OUT levels: in or out of context?. European Journal of Operational Research 249 (3), pp.853-863. (10.1016/j.ejor.2015.07.021)
Syntetos, A. , Nikolopoulos, K. and Boylan, J. E. 2010. Judging the judges through accuracy-implication metrics: the case of inventory forecasting. International Journal of Forecasting 26 (1), pp.134-143. (10.1016/j.ijforecast.2009.05.016)

The group is already actively engaged with Spark and Y-Lab in developing research proposals such as the qualitative evaluation of the UBI pilot in Wales and the expansion of the Spark Behavioural Lab (“lab-in-the-field” facility).