The Internet has evolved to become perhaps the most significant disruptive force influencing consumer behavior, marketing practice, and marketing education. Not surprisingly, numerous industry (Theoharis, 2018) and academic (Crittenden & Crittenden, 2015; Harrigan & Hulbert, 2011; Wind & Mahajan, 2001) sources have highlighted the digital challenge facing marketing practice and academia as educators struggle to maintain pace with the rapid technological changes influencing the marketing field. Regarding consumer behavior, Crittenden and Crittenden (2015) argue that "The 21st century is experiencing a communications revolution, and digital and social media marketing is changing the way consumers receive and use messages" (p. 71). To remain competitive, companies today require practitioners who are marketing, technologically, and analytically savvy (Grewal, Roggeveen, & Shankaranarayanan, 2015). Unfortunately, however, topics such as content marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and online audience development strategies are consistently undertaught at the university level (e.g., Frederiksen, 2015). In brief, an overhaul of the marketing curriculum is due. This article provides guidance for marketing educators by describing the successes and challenges of the development of a digital-first marketing program called the M-School. The challenge facing both industry and academia becomes especially apparent when considering the significant disruptions taking place over the past two decades with the emergence of digital pioneers such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Consumers today-particularly those digital natives (Prensky, 2001) born after 1995-communicate, shop, and access content in a technology-rich environment. This environment is defined by 24/7 access to online stores, services, and social media, illustrating what Sultan and Rohm (2005) refer to as the brand in the hand phenomenon. In response, some of the world's most prominent "traditional" companies (e.g., General Electric, Federal Express, IBM) have been reinvented as they disrupt their respective industries through digital-intensive business models and operations. IBM, for example, is positioning its Watson platform as a leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The risks to companies who do not adapt fast enough to the digital 798086J MDXXX10.

T his research examines how prepurchase information that reduces consumer uncertainty about a product or service can affect consumer decisions to reverse an initial product purchase or service enrollment decision. One belief commonly held by retailers is that provision of greater amounts of information before the purchase reduces decision reversals. We provide theory and evidence showing conditions under which uncertaintyreducing information provided before the purchase decision can actually increase the number of decision reversals. Predictions generated from an analytical model of consumer behavior incorporating behavioral theory of reference-dependence are complemented by empirical evidence from both a controlled behavioral experiment and econometric analysis of archival data. Combined, the theory and evidence suggest that managers should be aware that their information provision decisions taken to reduce decision reversals may actually increase them.

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Cues in the environment can prime consumer identities, increasing adoption of behaviors consistent with the primed identity and avoidance of behaviors consistent with alternate (nonprimed) identities. Although alternate-identity avoidance is common, three studies show that priming an identity (e.g., student) can also encourage consumers to approach alternate identities (e.g., friend). When two identities are relatively easy to balance (e.g., sufficient time for both student- and friend-related activities), participants approach alternate identities that are associated with the primed identity following a cognitive process of spreading activation. However, when identities are difficult to balance, participants approach alternate identities that are dissociated from the primed identity. We argue that this reversal occurs owing to a switch from a cognitive process to a motivational process akin to that seen in multiple-goal management. Under the motivational process, priming a focal identity inhibits (activates) associated (dissociated) identities because the two are seen as (non-)substitutable with each other. The motivational process under high balance difficulty relaxes when participants can self-affirm, causing response to instead mimic the cognitive process. The resulting integrative framework introduces identity-balance difficulty and its interaction with association into identity research, uniquely highlighting the importance of multiple-identity management with implications for research and practice.

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