University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
Shiri Melumad and Robert J. Meyer have been selected to receive the 2025 Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award for their article, “How Listening Versus Reading Alters Consumers’ Interpretations of News,” which appeared in the April 2025 issue (Volume 62, Issue 2) of Journal of Marketing Research.
The Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award recognizes the Journal of Marketing Research article published in the previous full calendar year that shows or demonstrates the most potential to contribute significantly to the practice of marketing research and research in marketing. All Journal of Marketing Research articles published in the the previous calendar year are eligible for the award. This year’s selection committee included Brett R. Gordon (Northwestern University), Rebecca K. Ratner (University of Maryland), and Kapil R. Tuli (Singapore Management University). The committee noted:
“This article examines a crucial question: What factors impact the degree to which consumers develop accurate versus biased interpretations of the news? Through a series of rigorous studies, the results show that listening to rather than reading a news story leads consumers to develop more biased perceptions of it. The findings suggest that consuming information by listening instead of reading can systematically skew interpretations toward more negative, risk-focused views of products and issues—potentially altering decisions about what to buy, trust, or avoid.
Given the ubiquity of modalities through which individuals consume news content worldwide, this article has potential to impact practitioners and scholars, including through further research on how different modalities impact the accuracy of consumers’ understanding of the news.”
Four other excellent articles were named finalists for the 2025 Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award:
- “Consumers Believe Legal Products Are Less Effective Than Illegal Products,” by Rachel Gershon, Alicea Lieberman, and Sydney E. Scott
- “Groceries or School Cafeterias: How Households Respond to School Nutrition Mandates,” by Mike Palazzolo, Zoey Hu, Kusum Ailawadi, and Adithya Pattabhiramaiah
- “Who Shares Fake News? Uncovering Insights from Social Media Users’ Post Histories,” by Verena Schoenmueller, Simon J. Blanchard, and Gita Venkataramani Johar
- “How Fatal School Shootings Impact a Community’s Consumption,” by Muzeeb Shaik, John P. Costello, Mike Palazzolo, Adithya Pattabhiramaiah, and Shrihari Sridhar
The authors will be honored at the 2026 AMA Summer Academic Conference in Denver, Colorado, on July 24–26, 2026, as well as the virtual portion of the conference on July 20.
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