I am a Professor of Marketing at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, where I currently serve as Chair of the Department of Marketing. My research studies the role of market frictions in shaping marketing policies such as pricing and sales management.
My teaching portfolio spans graduate courses in Pricing, Marketing Analytics, and Marketing Research Methods. Recently, I have become increasingly interested in the impact of Artificial Intelligence on marketing and business. I received my PhD in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and previously directed the McCombs PhD Program in Marketing.
Research Interests
Market frictions, pricing strategy, sales-force management, behavioral economics, and AI in marketing.
Recent Publications
Kraft, Andreas, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2025). “Market Effects of Inattention: Theory and Evidence from Left-Digit Bias.” Journal of Marketing Research, Forthcoming.
Can intermediaries skim inattentive buyers? Using millions of transactions, we show how car dealerships profit from left-digit bias.
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.
Can firms use product assortment as a competitive tool when consumers can return their purchases?
Kraft, Andreas, and Raghunath Singh Rao (2025). “Signaling Quality via Demand Lockout.” Quantitative Marketing & Economics, 23(1), 1-44 (Lead Article).
Would firms ever willingly forgo profitable demand? We analyze thousands of movie subtitles to answer this question.
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.
Should you donate to your own charitable project? When and why? We analyze millions of donations.
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 go negative in their messaging or stay positive when voters easily forget the content?
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.
Should salespeople be rewarded for their activities? We analyze a three-year intervention within a pharmaceutical firm.