2006 RISK WORKSHOP   

Researching Risk Workshop Realizes Vision

Second Research in Risk Workshop Continues to Realize Its Vision

Marshall School of Business

University of Southern California

June 4-8, 2006

The second Research in Risk: Public Policy and Social Dimensions Workshop was held June 4 to 8 at the Marshall School of Business at USC. The Risk Workshop targets primarily Ph.D. students and new faculty members interested in pursuing research in the area of Risk and Public Policy. This year the group of co-sponsors included the Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group, the Marketing & Society Special Interest Group and the Society for Risk Analysis.  SRA was a new sponsor this year which demonstrates the importance and success of this forum as a means to educate new scholars in Risk and Public Policy.  We continued to build on the vision that leaders of the Marketing & Society SIG have had for many years.

Organizers for the Risk Workshop were Ingrid M. Martin, Professor of Marketing at California State University-Long Beach, David W. Stewart and Michael Kamins, Professors of Marketing at the University of Southern California . Thirty doctoral students, post-doctoral scholars, and assistant professors from 20 universities including schools in Australia , Canada , and the U.K. came together for this four-day intensive workshop.  Eight renowned scholars in the field of Risk Analysis presented their perspectives as well as interacted with attendees to guide the development of research proposals.  These scholars came from the fields of behavioral decision making, engineering, environmental and regulatory economics, consumer psychology, marketing as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In addition, to the invited scholars we included ten “resident scholars” from the field of marketing and public policy.  All scholars volunteered their time and the Workshop format gave participants the opportunity for personal interaction with the leading researchers in the field. As one participant stated, “This is a workshop that I’d recommend to any graduate students. The speakers were high level researchers who had a great deal of influence. It was nice to be ‘near the action’ of where research meets the applied.”

The objective of this bi-annual Risk Workshop is to introduce students to issues in marketing and public policy in an effort to fill a gap in their education.  Many doctoral programs do not offer courses in marketing and public policy, yet many students and new faculty have a keen interest in delving into the tough social issues through their research. The Workshop provides the opportunity for students to earn course credit while learning with faculty from different universities and different disciplines. This creates a foundation for students and faculty to collaborate with scholars in different fields as well as at different universities and federal regulatory agencies. The invited scholars came from top schools and research institutions with a public policy focus, including the AEI, Baruch, Carnegie Mellon, California State University-Long Beach , Dartmouth , FTC, Georgia State University , Indiana University, Oklahoma State University , University of Utah , University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , USC, and West Virginia University .

A valuable aspect of this venue is the interaction that takes place between the Resident Scholars who work with participants individually and in small groups to help develop their research ideas.  One student noted that “Interacting and discussing with scholars and faculty is the most beneficial aspect of the workshop. Their input and comments were very helpful in further developing our research ideas and carrying out a study. They could look at the same topic from different perspectives, which you were not as likely to be able to do.”  Attendees benefit from the personalized attention that they receive from the resident scholars who have developed a strong interest and focus in public policy issues.  The goal of the resident scholars is to encourage and nurture a strong interest in doctoral students and new faculty to focus on research in social issues. As one new scholar noted “As a new researcher being exposed to this early on, I believe will help me to establish a solid foundation from which to build and integrate my own thoughts and ideas in public policy research.”  An important final event of the Workshop is the development of a research proposal by each participant. The proposals were presented on the last day of the Workshop with feedback from all the attendees including the Resident faculty. Finally, the natural outcome from this process is to engage in research for doctoral dissertation to conference presentations and journal publications.  Future possible outlets that are encouraged include submissions to the annual Marketing & Public Policy and Society of Risk Analysis conferences and the Journal of Marketing and Public Policy, Risk Analysis and other venues.

Finally, the Second Research in Risk Workshop is the only multi-day doctoral and new faculty consortium in marketing that focuses specifically on public policy and social marketing issues. This workshop expanded the disciplines in an effort to broaden the perspectives that underlying public policy issues and social dimensions.  Scholars from the FTC, the AEI, and several universities expanded the perspective to include economists. Participants seemed to appreciate the opportunity to learn more about some of the most influential researchers in the various risk paradigms.  Some of the topics covered included nutrition, health communication, tobacco, environmental issues, disclosures, warnings, and energy labeling issues, obesity interventions, genetically modified foods and many other relevant topics with public policy significance. Participants’ comments suggest that the Workshop continues to meet its goals: “The mix of participants was great – it provided a multifaceted perspective, which only ads to the overall experiential value of the interaction. … I made connections with colleagues I will likely have for years to come… “The mix of presenters and topics was good since it can help to broaden our research areas while exposing us to more interesting areas of research that we probably never would think of…”