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Cait Poynor
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Office: 364 Mervis Hall
Cell Phone: 412-779-7280 (preferred)
Office Phone: 412-648-1576
E-mail: cpoynor@katz.pitt.edu
Degrees
PhD in Business Administration, Marketing, University of South Carolina, 2008
MBA, University of South Carolina, 2006
BA, English Literature, Wheaton College, 1999
Area
Marketing and Business Economics
Profile
Cait joined the Pitt faculty in 2008 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina. Her dissertation work focused on the questions, "How should retailers organize stores, and what difference does it make?" She finds that the way that retailers answer these questions can impact both consumers' sense of variety and the prices of chosen products, as well as the extent to which they learn while shopping. In addition, Cait and her coauthors have researched the ways in which consumers respond to varying assortment sizes. She has also conducted research on consumers' own categorization tendencies, studying the ways in which they may be motivated to categorize items differently in the interest of their own restriction or indulgence goals. New research explores topics including consumers' interest in participating in commercial and illegal sharing and consumer envy. Some of Cait's work is forthcoming at the Journal of Consumer Research. Professor Poynor was also awarded the prize for the best teaching in the Marketing major for the 2008-2009 academic year.
Prior to joining academia, Cait worked in marketing research and analytics in the commercial vehicle OEM, transportation consulting, and fragrance industries. Her work has appeared in both the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing Research.
Research Interest Areas
Assortment size and structure, self-regulation, sharing behaviors, envy
Publications
Poynor, Cait and Stacy Wood (forthcoming), "Smart Subcategories: How Assortment Formats Influence Consumer Learning and Satisfaction," Journal of Consumer Research. Expected June 2010.
Haws, Kelly and Cait Poynor (2008) , "Seize the Day! Encouraging Indulgence for the Hyperopic Consumer," Journal of Consumer Research, December, 680-691.
Poynor, Cait and Kelly Haws (2009), "Lines in the Sand: Implementation Intentions, Categorization, and Choice in Pursuit of Self-Control Goals," Journal of Consumer Research, February.
Diehl, Kristin and Cait Poynor (2010), "Great Expectations?! Assortment Size, Expectations and Satisfaction," forthcoming at the Journal of Marketing Research
Working Papers
Poynor, Cait and Randy Rose, "Yours, Mine and Ours: An Investigation of Consumers' Propensity to Participate in Commercial Sharing Systems,"
Poynor, Cait and Kristin Diehl, "The Psychology of Category Design: How Product Groupings Influence Consumer Information Processing, Assortment Perceptions and Choice,"
Wood, Stacy L., Cait Poynor and Tanya Chartrand, "Individual Susceptibility to Priming Effects,"
Awards and Honors
Best Teaching in the Marketing Major, 2008-2009
W. Pierce Liles Outstanding Doctoral Student Award, University of South Carolina, 2008
Doctoral Research Award, Marketing Department, University of South Carolina, 2007-2008.
Special Research Grant winner, University of South Carolina, 2007-2008
Marketing Science Institute, Alden G. Clayton Dissertation Proposal Competition, Honorable Mention, 2007
George M. Reeves Memorial Fellow, University of South Carolina, 2007
Centennial Fellow Finalist, University of South Carolina, 2007
Marketing Science Institute Research Grant #4-1342 (2005), Primary Investigator, "The Psychology of Category Design: How Product Groupings Influence Consumer Decision-Making, Price Sensitivity, and Brand Strength." (with Kristin Diehl).
AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 2005
MSI - JCP Research Competition on "Product Assortment and Variety-Seeking in Consumer Choice," Honorable Mention (with Kristin Diehl), April 2004
Moore School Fellow, University of South Carolina, 2003-2008
