Skip to main content
  Back to Faculty

Nicole Robitaille

Associate Professor & Distinguished Research & Teaching Fellow of Marketing
Contact:
Academic:
Social:

Overview

Nicole Robitaille is an Associate Professor and Distinguished Teaching and Research Fellow of Marketing at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. As a behavioral scientist, her research lies at the intersection of consumer behavior and decision making, with a focus on improving consumer welfare, marketing, and public policy. She uses both laboratory and field experiments to investigate questions across a variety of domains including financial, health and sustainable behaviors.

 

Download Full CV ​ Download Image ​

Appointment Type

Tenure/Tenure-Track

Academic Area

  • Marketing

Interest Topics

  • Behaviour & Psychology
  • Behavioural Economics
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Decision Making
  • Government & Policy
  • Marketing
  • Social Impact & Sustainability
  • Well-Being

Faculty Details

Profile

Full Bio

Nicole Robitaille is an Associate Professor and Distinguished Teaching and Research Fellow of Marketing at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. As a behavioral scientist, her research lies at the intersection of consumer behavior and decision making, with a focus on improving consumer welfare, marketing, and public policy. She uses both laboratory and field experiments to investigate questions across a variety of domains including financial, health and sustainable behaviors.

Her work has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Management Science, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and has been presented at numerous international conferences.

Beyond academia, Nicole has served as an advisor to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, the Government of Canada’s Behavioural Insights Unit, and the Ontario Government’s Behavioural Insights Unit, where she was Chief Researcher. Her work on increasing organ donation with the Ontario Government was awarded a Financial Times 2023 Responsible Business Education Award, and the Ontario Government’s prestigious Amethyst Award for Outstanding Achievement.

At Smith, Nicole has taught undergraduate, professional master’s, and doctoral-level courses in marketing, market research, and consumer behavior. She earned her PhD in Marketing from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, her MSc in Marketing from Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, and her BSc in Psychology from Concordia University.

Academic Degrees

PhD | Marketing (2014)
University of Toronto, Canada

MSc | Marketing (2008)
BSc | Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience) (2006)
Concordia University, Canada

Academic Experience

Smith School of Business | Queen's University
Associate Professor (2024 - Present)
Distinguished Teaching and Research Fellow of Marketing (2024 - Present)
Assistant Professor (2014-2024)

 

Publications

Journal Publications

Amaral, C., Kolsarici, C., Ikonen, I., & Robitaille, N. (forthcoming). AI-Driven Behavioral Nudges for Organizations: An Integrative System for Sustainable Resource Management, Marketing Science.

Zeng, Y., Jan, C. T., Zhao, M., & Robitaille, N. (2025). More done, more drained: Being further along in a mundane experience feels worse. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 129(2), 244–265. 

Ashworth, L., Rath, S., & Robitaille, N. (2025; alphabetical equal contribution). Gifts that keep on giving: Reflected appraisals from gifts and their role in identity and choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 118, 1–11.

Mutluoglu, A., Ashworth, L., & Robitaille, N. (2024). Looking a gift horse in the mouth: Suspicion of large gift expenditures undermines gift appreciation. Psychology and Marketing, 41(6), 1333– 1345.

Robitaille, N., House, J., & Mazar, N. (2021; first two authors contributed equally). Effectiveness of planning prompts on organizations’ likelihood to file their overdue taxes: A multi-wave field experiment, Management Science, 67(7), 4327–4340.

Robitaille, N., Mazar, N., Tsai, C.I., Haviv, A.M., & Hardy, E. (2021). Increasing organ donor registrations with behavioral interventions: A large-scale field experiment, Journal of Marketing, 85(3), 168–183. 

Additional Publications

Robitaille, N. (2023, February 6). Collaboration is the key to impact. AACSB Insights. https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/articles/2023/02/collaboration-is-the-key-to-impact

Mazar, N., Robitaille, N., & House, J. (2021, February 22). Do behavioral nudges work on organizations? Harvard Business Review (website). https://hbr.org/2021/02/do-behavioralnudges-work-on-organizations

Robitaille, N., Mazar, N., & House, J. (2021, June 7). Are repeat nudges effective? For tardy tax filers, it seems so. Behavioral Scientist. https://behavioralscientist.org/are-repeat-nudgeseffective-for-tardy-tax-filers-it-seems-so/

Robitaille, N. (2019, May 1). A little nudge goes a long way in increasing organ donor registrations. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/a-little-nudge-goes-a-long-way-in-increasingorgan-donor-registrations-115051

Textbook Contributions

Robitaille, N. (2023). As I see it: The motivation process. In M. R. Solomon, K. J. Main, K. White, D. W. Dahl, & B. Simpson (Eds.), Consumer behaviour: Buying, having, being (9th ed.). Pearson.

Book Chapters

Robitaille, N., House, J., & Mazar, N. (2024). Horizontally scaling of planning prompt interventions to help tax compliance in canada. In D. Soman (Ed.), What Works, What Doesn’t (and When): Case Studies in Applied Behavioral Science (pp. 229–248). University of Toronto Press.

Selected Media Coverage

CBC Radio, CityNews, CTV, The Financial Times, The Globe and Mail, Global News, The National Post, Smith Business Insight

Select Working Papers

Priolo, G., Stablum, F., Vacondio, M., D’Ambrogio, S., Caserotti, M., Conte, B., De Roni, P., Du Plooy, H., Grillo, V. D., Mastromatteo, L. Y., Tedaldi, E., Toscano, F., Aguilar-Armijo, J., Ghomroudi, P. A., Al Rai, A., Alexa, L., Andersen, M. H., Andersson, P. A., Barakat, K. A., Rubaltelli, E. The robustness of mental accounting: A global perspective, under 2nd round review.

Robitaille, N., Plassmann, H., Mazar, N., & Linder, A. (first three authors contributed equally, reverse alphabetical). The affective cost of spending: Neuroeconomic and experimental evidence on the pain of paying, revising for 2nd round review.

Chen, Y., Ovchinnikov, A., & Robitaille, N. Does size matter for loyalty points redemptions?, in progress.

Rath, S., Ashworth, L., & Robitaille, N., Pangs from persuasion: When recommendations undermine consumers' social worth, in progress.

Rath, S., Ashworth, L., & Robitaille, N., Friend or firm: When friendliness reduces comfort perceptions during sales interactions, in progress.

Teaching

Instructor

Market and Industry Research & Analysis (Major Project)
Master of Management Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Queen’s University
2023, 2024, 2026

Consumer Behavior II
Marketing MSc and PhD, Queen’s University
2021, 2023, 2025

Marketing II
Commerce Undergraduate, Queen’s University
2022, 2026

Intro to Marketing
Commerce Undergraduate, Queen’s University
2015-2017, 2019, 2021-2023

Psychology Special Directed Lab Course
Undergraduate, Queen’s University  
2017

PhD Student Supervision

  • Tara Rezvan, Queen’s University (co-advisor), Current

PhD Committees

  • Zheng Xu, Marketing, Queen’s University, Current
  • Aybike Mutluoglu, Marketing, Queen’s University, 2024
  • Yang Chen, Analytics, Queen’s University, 2023
  • Suzanne Rath, Marketing, Queen’s University, 2019

MSc Student Supervision

  • Daniel Zebian, Queen’s University, 2024
  • Emma Vanlerberghe, Queen’s University, 2023
  • Donella Plastik, Queen’s University, 2019
  • Alyssa Whalen, Queen’s University, 2018

Research

Interests

Behavioral science, judgment and decision making, consumer wellbeing, public policy

Presentations

Conference Presentations (*presenter)

Beyond pampering: How engaging in self-care shapes social perceptions
The Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Chicago, IL (2026).
Association for Consumer Research, Washington, DC (2025).

Bridging minds and machines: Harnessing AI and behavioral nudging for sustainable resource management 
Society For Judgement and Decision Making, Denver, CO (2025).*
MSOM special SIG Conference, London, United Kingdom (2025).
ISMS Marketing Science Conference, Sydney, Australia (2024).
Behavioral Decision Research in Management, Chicago, IL (2024).*
Behavioral Insights into Business for Social Good Conference, Vancouver, BC (2024).*
Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research Conference, Toronto, ON (2024).*
AMA Marketing and Public Policy Conference, Arlington, VA (2023).
European Marketing Academy Annual Conference, Odense, Denmark (2023).
Marketing Dynamics Conference, Atlanta, GA (2022).

The robustness of mental accounting: A global perspective
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Denver, CO (2025).
Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making Conference, Lucca, Italy (2025). Society for Consumer Psychology, Las Vegas, NV (2025).

Do irrelevant prices matter?  
Association for Consumer Research, Washington, DC (2025).
Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research Conference, Waterloo, ON (2019).

Can five minutes change financial behaviour? Testing a brief, behaviourally informed debt intervention. 
BIG Difference BC, virtual (2025). 
Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research Conference, Toronto, ON (2025).*
EduFin25: International Conference on Financial Education, Milan, Italy. (2025)

How relative task completion affects mundane experience
Society for Judgement and Decision Making, New York, NY (2024).
Association for Consumer Research, Berlin, Germany (2016).

Poor perspective takers = Bad decision makers?
Association for Consumer Research, Paris, France (2024).

Effect of bookmarks and e-newsletter inserts in promoting comprehensive eye exams in young children
Canadian Ophthalmological Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON (2024).

The advantage of feminine brand cues: Female brands are perceived as more sustainable      
Association for Consumer Research, Seattle, WA (2023).
Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research Conference, Toronto, ON (2023).

Does size matter for loyalty point redemptions? 
INFORMS MSOM Conference, Montreal, QC (2023).
POMS Conference, Orlando, FL (2023).
Empirical & Theoretical Symposium for Canadian Marketing Strategy, Kingston, ON (2023).     
INFORMS Annual Meeting, hybrid virtual and Anaheim, CA (2021).

Why recipients don’t appreciate expensive gifts: The role of suspicion 
Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research Conference, Toronto, ON (2022).            
Association for Consumer Research Conference, virtual (2021).

Fending off failure: How choosing the lesser evil eradicates the negative consequences of goal failure
Behavioral Insights into Business for Social Good Conference, Vancouver, BC (2022).*
Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference, Montreal, QC (2021).
15th Annual International Conference on Psychology, Athens, Greece (2021).
Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research Conference, virtual (2021). 

Perceived persuasion conveys a threat to consumers’ social worth
Association for Consumer Research Conference, Atlanta, GA (2019). 
Association for Consumer Research, Dallas, TX (2018).

Nudging to increase organ and tissue donor registrations
Behavioural Insights into Business for Social Good, Vancouver, BC (2019).*
Behavioral Decision Research in Management, Toronto, ON (2016).*
Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research Conference, London, ON (2016).*
Behavioral Science and Policy Association Conference, Washington, DC (2016).*
Society for Consumer Psychology, St. Pete Beach, FL (2016).*
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Chicago, IL (2015).*      
Association for Consumer Research, New Orleans, LA (2015).* 
La Londe Marketing Conference, La Londe, France (2015).

Implementation intentions: How to nudge organizations to pay their overdue taxes
International Congress of Applied Psychology, Montreal, QC (2018).*
Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research Conference, Kingston, ON (2017). 
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Chicago, IL (2015).
Academy of Management, Vancouver, BC (2015).

Gifting an identity
Society for Consumer Psychology, Dallas, TX (2018).
Association for Consumer Research, Berlin, Germany (2016).
Ivey Symposium on Consumer Behavior, London, ON (2016).

Friend or firm: When friendliness reduces comfort perceptions during sales interactions 
Association for Consumer Research, San Diego, CA (2017).
Ivey Symposium on Consumer Behavior, London, ON (2017).
Association for Consumer Research, Berlin, Germany (2016). 
Brand and Brand Relationships Conference, Toronto, ON (2016).       

The origin of the pain of paying: Evidence from fMRI and behavioral experiments
European Conference of the Society of Consumer Psychology, Vienna, Austria (2015).
La Londe Marketing Conference, La Londe, France (2015).
Annual Meeting of the Society for NeuroEconomics, Miami, FL (2014).
Behavioral Decision Research in Management, London, UK (2014).
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Minneapolis, MN (2012).
Society for Consumer Psychology, Florence, Italy (2012).
Association for Consumer Research, St. Louis, MO (2011).*

Removing consumers’ license to misbehave
Association for Consumer Research, Baltimore, MD (2014).*
Society for Consumer Psychology, Las Vegas, NV (2012).*
Ivey Symposium on Consumer Behavior, London, ON (2012).*
Society for Judgment and Decision Making, Seattle, WA (2011).*

The effects of product display organization on consumers’ visual attention to attributes
Society for Consumer Psychology, San Diego, CA (2009).*

Consolidation of implicit and explicit learning in a biconditional grammar task 
Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA (2006).  

Chaired Symposia & Roundtables

Tsai, C., Lee, L., Hsee, C., Johar, G., Johnson, E., Lynch, J., Mazar, N., Mende, M., Menon, G., Robitaille, N., Scott, M., Sussman, A., Tormala, Z., Ulkumen, G., Yang, M., Segal, S., Yuen, W., & Wood., W. (2023). Roundtable Participant. Shaping Consumers’ Risk Perception and Risk Preference to Bridge Attitude-Behavior Gaps, Association for Consumer Research Conference, Seattle, WA.

Robitaille, N., & Mazar, N. (2016). Symposium Co-Chairs. The Greater Good: Behavioral Research with Social Value, Society for Consumer Psychology Conference, St. Pete Beach, FL.

Robitaille, N., & Mazar, N. (2015). Symposium Co-Chairs. The Greater Good: Behavioral Research with Social Value, Association for Consumer Research Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Robitaille, N. (2011). Symposium Chair. Spending Hurts? Examining the Antecedes and Consequences of the Pain of Paying, Association for Consumer Research Conference, St. Louis, MI.

Invited Talks

Gordan Lang School of Business, Guelph University, Marketing, 2026

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (virtual), 2025 

Social-Personality Seminar Series, Queen’s University, Psychology, 2024

Canada Revenue Agency (virtual), 2024

What Works, What Doesn’t (and When) Book Event (virtual), 2024

Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Healthier Consumption Research Unit, 2024 

BI-Org Partnership Event (University of Toronto), 2024

Women in Academia Panel (Queen’s University), 2024

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Marketing (virtual), 2023

Grenoble Ecole de Management, Marketing (virtual), 2023

BI-Org Partnership Student Chapter (University of Toronto, virtual), 2021

Better Marketing for a Better World Health and Wellbeing Forum, JM (virtual), 2021

Simon Business School, University of Rochester, Marketing (virtual), 2021

City of Kingston Economic Recovery Taskforce, 2021

Gordan Lang School of Business, Guelph University, Marketing, 2019

2nd Annual BEworks Summit for Behavioural Science in Business, 2019

Behavioral Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) Summer Research Retreat, UofT, 2019

FCAC National Research Symposium on Financial Literacy, 2018

Cognitive Neuroscience Seminar Series, Queen’s University, Psychology, 2018

Behavioral Insights in Canada: Building a BI Practice in Public Policy, UofT, 2018

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2017

Employment and Social Development Canada, Service Research Conference, 2016

University of Ottawa, 4th Canadian Workshop on Environmental Economics, 2016

Government of Canada, Behavioral Economics for the Public Sector Conference, 2016

SUNY Stony Brook, Marketing, 2013

Queen’s University, Marketing, 2013

Concordia University, Marketing, 2013

Iowa State University, Marketing, 2013

BE Works Consulting, 2013

University of Tübingen, Marketing, 2010

Awards

Honors, Fellowships & Awards

  • Distinguished Teaching and Research Fellowship, Smith School of Business, 2024-2028
  • AMA-EBSCO-RRBM Award for Responsible Research in Marketing, 2024
  • Gary L. Lilien ISMS-MSI Practice Prize Finalist, 2024
  • New Researcher Award, Smith School of Business, 2024
  • Financial Times 2023 Responsible Business Education Award Recipient, 2023
  • AMA/Marketing Science Institute/H. Paul Root Award Finalist, 2022
  • Designing a Career for the Marketing Academy (DCMA) Attendee, 2022
  • ACR/Sheth Doctoral Symposium Faculty Participant (virtual), 2021
  • Amethyst Award, Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU), Ontario Government, 2015
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Business Research, 2015
  • AMA Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow, University of Washington, 2012
  • fMRI Decision Neuroscience Workshop Fellow, University of Michigan, 2009

 

Grants & Funding

  • SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, PI, $24,599, 2025
  • Queens USSRF, Co-PI, $34,720, 2023–2025
  • Monieson Research Grant, Smith School of Business, Co-PI $28,000, 2023–2025
  • General Research Grant, Smith School of Business, PI, $14,000, 2021
  • SSHRC Institutional Grant, PI (solo), $7,000, 2021
  • SSHRC Partnership Grant (Behaviourally Informed Organizations), Collaborator, $2,500,000, 2019
  • D.I. McLeod Research Assistantship, Smith School of Business, PI, $27,000, 2014–2022
  • Smith School of Business Conference Funding, Chair, $11,000, 2016
  • Michael Lee-Chin Institute for Corporate Citizenship Research Grant, PI, $20,000, 2011, 2014
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship, $15,000, 2013 

Service

Industry Employment/Non-Academic Positions

National Financial Literacy Research Sub-Committee Member
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, 2018-2022

Trusted Advisor and Advisory Committee Member
Government of Canada’s Behavioural Insights Unit (Privy Council Office), 2016-2018

Advisor to the Behavioural Insights Unit
Government of Ontario (Treasury Board Secretariat), 2015-2016

Chief Researcher, Behavioural Insights Unit
Government of Ontario (Treasury Board Secretariat), 2013-2015

Faculty Service

  • Renewal, Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2021-2022, 2025-2026
  • Designing a Career for the Marketing Academy (DCMA) Secretary, 2022-2025
  • Commerce Program Review Committee, 2023-2024
  • Smith Women’s Employee Resource Group, 2023-2024
  • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 2016–2017, 2022–2023
  • Renewal, Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2021–2022
  • Subject Pool and Behavioral Lab Committee, 2015–2017, 2018–2019, 2020–2022
  • EDII Research and Thought Leadership Working Group, 2020–2021
  • Session Leader, Smith Doctoral Consortium, 2014, 2016–2020
  • Speaker Series Organizer, Marketing, 2015–2017, 2018–2019, 2022–2024
  • Inter-Collegiate Business Competition, Judge, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2024
  • Queen’s Entrepreneurs Competition, Judge 2014, 2015

Conference Organizer

  • Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research, Co-Chair, 2017

Program Committee

  • Association for Consumer Research
  • Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research, 2019–2023

Ad Hoc Reviewing

  • Journal of Consumer Research
  • Journal of Marketing
  • Management Science
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
  • Journal of Business Research (2015 Outstanding Reviewer)
  • British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open
  • Marketing Letters
  • Health Care Management Science
  • Ethics and Behavior
  • Social Psychology
  • Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences
  • American Marketing Association Conference
  • Association of Consumer Research Conference
  • ACR European Conference
  • ACR Asia-Pacific Conference
  • Brand and Brand Relationships Conference
  • Society of Consumer Psychology Conference
  • SSHRC Insight Grants
  • FRQSC Scholarships
  • Hong Kong Research Grants Council
  • Mitacs Accelerate Research Proposals

Professional Affiliations

  • Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
  • Association for Psychological Science (APS)
  • Behavioral Science and Policy Association (BSPA)
  • Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP)
  • Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM)