I am a Professor of Marketing at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. Broadly speaking, my research studies the role of market frictions in shaping marketing policies, such as pricing and sales management. My teaching portfolio consists of graduate courses in Pricing, Marketing Analytics, and Marketing Research Methods. I received a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. I currently serve as the Chairperson of the McCombs School’s Department of Marketing, and previously served as the director of the PhD Program in Marketing.

Research

Recent Publications

1. Kraft, Andreas, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2025). “Equilibrium Effects of Inattention: Theory and Evidence from Left-Digit Bias.” Journal of Marketing Research, (Conditionally accepted).
   • Can intermediaries skim inattentive buyers? If yes, how? Using millions of transactions, we show how car dealerships profit from “left-digit bias”.
2. Li, Yue, Raghunath Singh Rao, and Paola Mallucci (2025), “Product Returns and Assortment Decisions: A Strategic Analysis of Online and Offline Competition.” Journal of Marketing Research 62(5), 895-917 [Web Appendix]
   • Can firms use product assortment as a competitive tool when consumers can return their purchases?
3. Kraft, Andreas, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2025), “Signaling Quality via Demand Lockout.” Quantitative Marketing & Economics 23(1), 1-44 [Web Appendix] [Video] (Lead Article) 
   • Would firms ever willingly forgo profitable demand? We analyze thousands of movie subtitles to answer this question.
4. Liu, Zhuping, Qiang Gao, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2025), “Self-Donations and Charitable Contributions in Online Crowdfunding: An Empirical Analysis.” Journal of Marketing, 89(1), 117-134 [Web Appendix] [Discussion on a Radio Show]
   • Should you donate to your own charitable project? When and why? We analyze millions of donations to provide some insights.
5. Li, Xiaolin, Raghunath Singh Rao, Om Narasimhan, and Xing Gao (2022), “Stay Positive or Go Negative? Memory Imperfections and Messaging Strategy.” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 39(4), 1127-1149
   • Should politicians be negative in their election messaging or stay positive? What if voters easily forget the message’s content?
     
6. Rao, Raghunath Singh, Madhu Viswanathan, George John, and Sunil Kishore (2021). “Do Activity-Based Incentives Work? Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Intervention.”  Journal of Marketing Research, 58(4), 686-704 [Web Appendix]
   • Should salespeople be rewarded for their activities? When and why? We analyze a three-year-long intervention within a firm.
     
7.  Rao, Raghunath Singh, Julie Irwin, and Zhuping Liu (2020). “Flying with a Net, and Without: Preventative Devices and Self-Control.” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(3), 521-543
   • Could a device intended to prevent the consequences of a vice backfire?
     
8. Schaefer, Richard, Raghunath Singh Rao, and Vijay Mahajan (2018). “Marketing Self-Improvement Programs for Self-Signaling Consumers.” Marketing Science 37.6: 912-929
   • Is there self-signaling during the use of a self-improvement product?
     
   • Winner, Fordham Univ. dissertation proposal competition
9.  Zhang, Jianqiang, Zhuping Liu, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2018). “Flirting with the Enemy: Online Competitor Referral and Entry-Deterrence.” Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 16.2: 209-249
   • When firms say, “You could buy this from my competition.” Are they being nice?

Recent Teaching

1. Data Analytics and Dynamic Pricing
2. Marketing Analytics
3. Marketing Models- PhD [Syllabus]

I can be reached at raghunath dot rao at mccombs dot utexas dot edu.