As a child growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, I was always aware of my social status as a minority because people often made judgmental comments about my religious heritage, especially the fact that my parents practiced different faiths (Roman Catholic and Zoroastrian). But, as a teenager who immigrated with my family to Tucson, AZ, it was my ethnicity — Hispanic and Asian — that became socially salient. People were generally curious about my cultural background, and I struggled to answer their common question, “Where are you from?” because my identity was in transition.
Today I am very comfortable stating that I am from Tucson, AZ. I feel a deep sense of connection to both the place and the people, especially The University of Arizona, which has been a psychological home for me even when I lived elsewhere. And having lived and traveled all over the world, I am personally committed to forwarding world peace and interfaith understanding through social interaction. From time to time, I facilitate spiritual explorations for small groups of Tucsonans who are interested in worshipping and breaking bread with different faith communities in town.
- Consumer adoption of self-service technology
- Consumer decision-making and engagement
- Diversity in work teams
It was my work experience at Procter & Gamble as a product development engineer that led me to pursue graduate studies in organizational behavior and initially inspired my research on enhancing the performance of diverse teams. My other stream of research — on customer interactions in service delivery — blossomed during a survey methods course in graduate school. My research in both these domains continues to flourish, with each new study that I undertake generating more questions for me to explore. As part of our Consumers, Environment and Sustainability Initiative (CESI), I have just begun some exciting new research focused on better understanding consumer rituals and attitudes associated with the consumption of food, water and energy and consumers’ sense of social responsibility as it relates to their consumption of these resources. In summary, I continue to be intrigued by the human interactions that I study as part of my research, and I am especially energized by the opportunity to work with our outstanding graduate students, which I find to be a particularly rewarding experience.
- Principal Investigator, The effects of diversity and communication media on the relationship between conflict and cohesion in teams. Collaborators: Robert C. Giambatista, Rena Shifren, & Janna Crews.
- Principal Investigator, Digital coupons in food retailing. Collaborators: Jennifer Andrews, Charles Lawry, & Zeinou Toure.
- Principal Investigator, Consumer engagement in agritourism. Collaborators: Rena Shifren & Charles Lawry.
- Principal Investigator, Evidence of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic: Perceptions, expectations, and conflict in diverse teams.
- Consumer Behavior (RCSC 340)
- Introduction to Retailing (RCSC 214)
- Senior Capstone — Retail Consulting (RCSC 498)
Please contact Dr. Bhappu if you are unable to locate one of the publications listed below:
Giambatista, Robert C. & Bhappu, Anita D. Diversity’s harvest: Interactions of diversity sources and communication technologies on creative group performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, March 2010.
Zellmer-Bruhn, Mary E., Maloney, Mary M., Bhappu, Anita D., & Salvador, Rommel. When and how do differences matter? An exploration of perceived similarity in teams. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, November 2008.
Bhappu, Anita D. & Schultze, Ulrike. The role of relational and operational performance in B2B customers’ adoption of self-service technology. Journal of Service Research, May 2006.
Schultze, Ulrike & Bhappu, Anita D. Incorporating self-service technology into co-production designs. International Journal of E-Collaboration, October 2005.
Gutek, Barbara A., Cherry, Bennett, Bhappu, Anita D., Schneider, Sherry, & Woolf, Loren. Features of service relationships and encounters. Work and Occupations, August 2000.
Bhappu, Anita D. The Japanese family: An institutional logic for Japanese corporate networks and Japanese management. Academy of Management Review, April 2000.
Bhappu, Anita D., Griffith, Terri L., & Northcraft, Gregory B. Media effects and communication bias in diverse groups. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, June 1997.