The assistant professor of marketing’s research was published in the Journal of Business Research.
Prachi Gala, assistant professor of marketing in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, recently co-authored an article exploring how CEOs’ promotion focus relative to their prevention focus impacts firms’ advertising and R&D intensities and likelihood of getting involved in a marketing controversy.
In the Journal of Business Research article “Seeking pleasure or avoiding pain: Influence of CEO regulatory focus on firms’ advertising, R&D, and marketing controversies,” Gala and co-authors Saim Kashmiri, University of Mississippi, and Cameron D Nicol, Union University, explain that the impact of CEO regulatory focus is magnified when CEOs have higher power, when stock options comprise a small portion of CEOs’ compensation, and when firms operate in highly dynamic environments.
“Our results suggest,” write the authors, “that firms whose CEOs are predominantly pro- motion-focused tend to have higher levels of advertising and R&D intensities. On the other hand, firms led by such CEOs are also more likely to get involved in marketing controversies. The impact of a CEO’s regulatory focus is, on the whole, strengthened when the CEO has high power and low stock option-compensation ratio, and when the firm operates under high environmental dynamism.”
The Journal of Business Research (JBR) applies theory developed from business research to actual business situations. The JBR examines a wide variety of business decisions, processes and activities within the actual business setting.
Gala joined Elon’s faculty in 2018 after earning her doctorate in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the University of Mississippi. Her research interests lie in marketing strategy and marketing-finance interface. Prior to her academic career, Gala worked as a business technology analyst and as a marketing strategist.