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Rutgers professor co-authors book on consumer psychology

Ashwani Monga, provost and executive vice chancellor of Rutgers University—Newark, is a marketing expert. – Photo by Rutgers.edu

Ashwani Monga, provost and executive vice chancellor of Rutgers University—Newark and Rajesh Bagchi of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University are both professors of marketing and published their first book, “Becoming a Consumer Psychologist.

Monga said the book is designed to help students interested in the field learn more about it. The book focuses on how to apply to schools, necessary courses to take as well as applications of consumer psychology in non-academic areas, according to its description on Amazon.

“The book is about how to become a consumer psychologist. We felt that it is important to write about it because while anyone aspiring to become a consumer psychologist could contact a couple of people they know, they may not receive the broad perspective that we offer in this book,” Monga said. “We discuss how many consumer psychologists work under different business titles in the consumer goods industry, advertising agencies, marketing research companies, consulting firms, not-for-profits and public policy. People all over the world are trying to gain insights into consumers' thoughts, feelings and behavior.” 

More than a course of a year, the two wrote the book and reached out to several other professionals in the field, Monga said.

“The final step was to approach 23 other consumer psychologists from varied fields, including academia, marketing research, advertising, consulting and social marketing. Their insights helped us provide a much broader perspective than we could have provided on our own,” Monga said.

Monga said his interactions with students helped inspire him to write the book. 

“I have always enjoyed chatting with students about careers in consumer psychology and have been a bit concerned about the lack of information out there about this wonderful field,” Monga said. 

Christina Chronister, who works with the academic publishing company Routledge, said she contacted Monga first about getting the book published.

“In a conversation with another of my consumer authors, I mentioned that I was on the hunt for an author to do a ‘becoming’ book, and what I was looking for in an author. He immediately noted Ashwani,” Chronister said. “I wrote to Ashwani out of the blue, and the rest is history. Ashwani brought in Rajesh, who of course had won the Early Career Award from SCP (Society of Consumer Psychology) not too long prior, and I was delighted to have him join.”

Bagchi said he and Monga have known each other for more than a decade, after meeting at a conference while Bagchi was working on his doctoral studies. 

“(Monga) was very kind to me and became a friend and mentor immediately. He taught me many things about the field of consumer psychology,” Bagchi said

Bagchi said he hopes to inspire students to enter the field of consumer psychology. 

“I can speak for myself (but I am sure Ashwani will also agree with this) that nothing gives us greater pleasure than to interact with students and mentor them about our wonderful field,” Bagchi said. 


Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said, "Society of Counseling Psychology."


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