New Publications in JBR, Psychology & Marketing on Mental Time Travel

*** from Jennifer B. Barhorst, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marketing ***

Journal of Business Research

I am pleased to share my newest first-author publication in the Journal of Business Research titled Transcending Reality: Introducing Mental Time Travel Experiences and their Ability to Influence Brand Outcomes.

I am particularly proud of this publication as my co-authors and I are introducing a brand-new concept to the experiential marketing discipline – the Mental Time Travel Experience or MTTE.

In this study, I divert from a primary focus on technologically-enhanced realities (such as AR/VR/XR) to the realities that we all experience in our minds. I posit that marketers should not overlook such realities as humans spend most of their time transitioning between thoughts of the past, present, and future and that marketing stimuli can be used to elicit mental time travel experiences. As such, and in addition to introducing MTTEs, we examine the factors that influence the elicitation of MTTEs (using four forms of stimuli: AR, 360-website, YouTube video, and static image from one commercially-available marketing campaign – Chanel No. 5) and the influence of mental time travel to the past on key behavioral intentions (word-of-mouth, loyalty, purchase intent) along with the boundary condition of a state of immersion.

Psychology & Marketing

Our second publication appears in Psychology & Marketing – A-ABDC, SJR Q1 (open access via this link) out of the mental time travel research we conducted. This one explores episodic memory’s effect on mental time travel to the past, mental time travel to the past’s effect on behavioral intentions, and the moderating effects of cognitive load and immersion on these relationships.

We used two commercially available campaigns in this research that were executed around Christmas time during the pandemic – Chanel No. 5 and Toys R Us – and conducted both studies online.

I must say that I am grateful to work in a department and school that values research and to be surrounded by esteemed colleagues who inspire me.

I hope you enjoy reading and that your mental time travels take you to some place nice this summer.