ebzgr.github.io/research.html at master · ebzgr/ebzgr.github.io · GitHub

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	  <title>Research – Ebrahim Barzegary</title>

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		<h2 class="text-3xl font-bold mb-4">Research Philosophy</h2>
		<p class="text-lg">
				 My research philosophy is shaped by who I am — my curiosity, skill set, and motivations. I’m driven by learning, collaboration, novelty, and real-world impact. Rather than specializing in one narrow area, I enjoy exploring diverse topics, gaining new perspectives, and working in interdisciplinary teams to address meaningful problems in creative ways.<br><br>

	In my current role, I focus on a pressing challenge of our time: the unintended consequences of business optimizations on mental health, society, and the planet. As technologies like generative AI enable hyper-personalized marketing at virtually no cost, the potential for both positive impact and harm has grown dramatically.<br><br>

	To address this, we founded the Marketing for Betterment initiative — a research and technology-driven effort to rethink the role of marketing in today’s world. Our mission is to shift marketing toward a new equilibrium where individuals, businesses, society, and the planet can all thrive. We're building this future through collaboration with scientists, engineers, artists, and students.

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    <h2 class="text-3xl font-bold mb-4">Research Topics</h2>
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      My research spans multiple domains but is unified by a single motivation: rethinking marketing not just as a tool for persuasion, but as a means to serve. The path forward involves three key efforts: deepening our understanding of marketing’s impact, creating demand for responsibility through awareness, and developing technologies and scientific tools that empower individuals, the research community, and businesses to drive meaningful change.
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          Measurement and Attribution
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            Marketing is undoubtedly shaping individuals, society, and the planet — but understanding how it does so is not always straightforward. This research area focuses on identifying the right metrics to track these impacts, developing reliable methods to measure them, and designing techniques to attribute changes in those metrics to specific marketing interventions.
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          Marketing for Awareness
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            Marketing can be more than a tool for persuasion — it can also be a medium for awareness and healing. In this line of research, I explore how art, storytelling, and music can be used to craft powerful marketing messages that inspire reflection and transformation.<br><br>
            While traditional marketing often relies on urgency, repetition, or fear of missing out (FOMO) to drive action, our goal is different. We believe effective messaging can also emerge from novelty, a sense of empowerment, and emotional connection.
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          Tools, Technology and Standard Development
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            This area focuses on building tools and technologies to support more conscious marketing practices. It is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from computer science, information systems, and economics.<br><br>
            This realm includes building auditing and detection algorithms to identify harmful marketing activities across the 4Ps. We also aim to develop technologies that support scientific research in this area, helping to overcome one of the major barriers to research the effect of marketing on individual and societies.
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    <h2 class="text-3xl font-bold mb-8">Current Projects</h2>

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      Here are some of the projects I am working on
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          <span>Technology Tool: Shield of Eden</span>
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        Shield of Eden is a browser extension developed as part of the <em>Marketing for Betterment</em> initiative. It is designed to protect users from manipulative marketing practices while enabling a new wave of ethical, evidence-based research in digital environments.
<br><br>
At its core, the extension serves a dual purpose:

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          It functions as a personal shield, informing users about marketing optimizations occurring behind the scenes (such as dynamic pricing, nudging, or A/B-tested content), and gives them the ability to limit or undo certain interventions.
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          It also acts as a scientific research platform, offering a realistic, user-based experimental setting where researchers can test hypotheses, run A/B tests, and analyze anonymized behavioral data.
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        The project directly addresses a key challenge in the field of marketing research: the lack of access to real-world experimental data and environments. This platform provides researchers with ethically sourced, anonymized user data and tools to conduct robust causal analyses—paving the way for a new kind of marketing science that values individual and societal well-being alongside business outcomes.
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    <span>Auditing Firm-Optimized Marketing Policies</span>
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        This project introduces a new algorithmic approach to evaluate the unintended consequences of firm-side marketing optimizations. Companies routinely use A/B testing to fine-tune interventions—such as free trial durations, pricing schemes, or ad placements—with the goal of maximizing conversion or revenue. However, these optimizations can sometimes create hidden harm for consumers, particularly when short-term engagement metrics are misaligned with long-term outcomes like satisfaction, retention, or product fit.
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        Our method offers a way to audit these interventions using the same experimental data firms already collect. By combining treatment effect estimation with a custom recursive partitioning algorithm, we identify user segments where firm and consumer outcomes diverge—surfacing segments that benefit from optimization, and those who may be misled or underserved. The goal is to move beyond averages and uncover where and for whom value is being created, or extracted.
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        This research contributes a practical tool for businesses seeking more sustainable, fair, and consumer-aware marketing practices. It also opens the door to new regulatory and ethical conversations by offering a transparent mechanism for diagnosing harm in data-driven personalization.
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    <span>The Spillover of Framing on Societal Trust</span>
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        This project investigates how firm-optimized marketing tactics—particularly the use of strategic framing in promotions and product descriptions—can unintentionally influence societal trust. Framing is a powerful tool: companies routinely highlight positive features (“up to 50% off”) while downplaying limitations in fine print. While these tactics are effective in the short term, their cumulative effect on consumer beliefs and social behavior remains poorly understood.
<br><br>
        Our hypothesis is that repeated exposure to misleading or manipulative business framing not only reduces trust in firms, but may also lead individuals to lower their trust in others. This normative spillover can occur through two channels: first, by updating beliefs about what others are likely to do (“if businesses deceive, maybe people do too”), and second, by shifting internal norms about what is socially acceptable (“maybe it’s okay to bend the truth”). Both mechanisms could erode generalized trust—an essential public good.
<br><br>
        We combine insights from behavioral economics, social psychology, and marketing ethics to design experimental studies that test this spillover pathway. The goal is to uncover whether firm-level marketing practices, optimized for engagement, may unintentionally degrade the moral fabric that sustains social cooperation. This research contributes to an emerging dialogue on the societal externalities of business optimization, offering empirical grounding for more accountable and trust-preserving forms of marketing.
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        I am always looking for collaborating with researchers who share an interest in rethinking marketing. My work spans quantitative marketing, but I’m especially excited about interdisciplinary collaborations — including those from information systems, psychology, art, and literature. If you're exploring the human, societal, or technological dimensions of marketing, let’s connect.<br><br>
        <strong>If this resonates with your interests, feel free to  <a class="text-violet-500 underline hover:text-violet-900" href="mailto:ebzgry@email.com">contact me</a>.</strong>
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        We are actively seeking institutional partners for the Marketing for Betterment project. If your institution is interested in driving responsible and ethical marketing research, we’d love to connect.<br><br>
        We’re also looking for campuses where we can pilot our technology-based solutions, such as Shield of Eden, with student participants. This initial test phase is crucial for collecting insights and shaping better interventions.<br><br>
        <strong>If your institute might be interested in supporting or hosting this effort, please <a class="text-violet-500 underline hover:text-violet-900" href="mailto:ebzgry@email.com">reach out</a>.</strong>      </p>
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        <strong>For research students (PhD & Master):</strong><br>
        The intersection of marketing, well-being, and algorithmic decision-making is still underexplored — which makes it not only interesting and meaningful but also highly promising for building a long-term scientific journey. I have several research project ideas and would be happy to co-mentor research projects in this domain.<br><br>

        <strong>For all other students:</strong><br>
        If you’re a creative student interested in engineering, design, or just passionate about rethinking marketing, I’d love to hear from you. I'm always looking for student volunteers who want to contribute ideas, help with tech development, or participate in awareness and outreach campaigns.<br><br>

        <strong>If you're curious or inspired, don’t hesitate to <a class="text-violet-500 underline hover:text-violet-900" href="mailto:ebzgry@email.com">contact me</a>.</strong>
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  <p>Thank you for visiting — last updated on <span id="lastUpdated">June 30, 2025</span>.</p>
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