Professor Lamberton's research focuses on consumer behavior, from both an individual and socially-embedded perspective. Beginning with her dissertation work, Cait and her coauthors have researched the ways in which consumers respond to varying assortment sizes and organisations. She has also conducted research on consumers' own categorisation tendencies, studying the ways in which they may be motivated to categorise items differently in the interest of their own restriction or indulgence goals.
New research explores consumer behavior at an interpersonal and societal level. This work includes consideration of consumers' responses to online and offline social presence, decision-making in dyads, willingness to share products, experiences of interpersonal envy, the consequences of cooperation or competition, and satisfaction with contribution to the support of public goods.
Her work has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Cait serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and International Journal of Research in Marketing. In 2013, she was selected as a Young Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute and received the Association for Consumer’s Research’s Early Career Award for distinguished scholarly contributions.
Cait teaches consumer behavior and leads project courses at the undergraduate, MBA and Ph.D. levels. She is also a member of the faculty in the Behavioral Health Fellows program, conducted by the Katz Center for Health and Care Work. She has been awarded the prize for the best teaching in the Marketing major in multiple academic years and has been named Teacher of the Year for the business school. Prior to joining academia, Cait worked in marketing research and analytics in the commercial vehicle OEM, transportation consulting, and fragrance industries.
