Emanuel de Bellis

Emanuel de Bellis, Ph.D.

Director

Emanuel de Bellis serves as Associate Professor of Empirical Research Methods and Director of the Institute of Behavioral Science and Technology (IBT). Prior to joining the University of St.Gallen in 2021, he served as Assistant Professor at HEC Lausanne and held visiting positions at Columbia Business School and the University of British Columbia. Emanuel de Bellis holds a PhD in Management and a Master in Cognitive Science. In 2024, he spent a sabbatical at Rotterdam School of Management.

As a behavioral scientist, Emanuel de Bellis investigates the underlying mechanisms that drive human behavior, combined with his interest in current technological and societal developments. His research focuses on how consumers respond to new technologies such as autonomous products and AI, including barriers to consumer adoption and usage consequences. Beyond his work on automation, his research interests include mass customization, 3D printing, and NFTs.

His research appeared in top-tier marketing journals (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research) as well as general science journals (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), and it has been featured in international and Swiss media outlets (Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Emanuel de Bellis serves on the Editorial Review Board of several marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, and is currently an Associate Editor at the Journal of Interactive Marketing.

At the University of St.Gallen, Emanuel de Bellis teaches method courses at the Bachelor, Master, PhD, and executive level, including the introductory Empirical Social Research lecture. He is Academic Co-Director of the Global School in Empirical Research Methods, the University’s Academic Head of Plagiarism Office, and the University’s representative at the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students. He also leads the University’s Data and Method Consulting team.

Selected Publications

• Russo, Michele, Sophia Prix, Jonas Goergen, and Emanuel de Bellis (2025), “The 3 Types of Customers Who Buy Smart Products—and How to Market to Them,” Harvard Business Review.
• Goergen, Jonas, Emanuel de Bellis, and Anne-Kathrin Klesse (2025), “AI Assessment Changes Human Behavior,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Clegg, Melanie, Reto Hofstetter, Emanuel de Bellis, and Bernd Schmitt (2024), “Unveiling the Mind of the Machine,” Journal of Consumer Research.
• de Bellis, Emanuel, Gita V. Johar, and Nicola Poletti (2023), “Meaning of Manual Labor Impedes Consumer Adoption of Autonomous Products,” Journal of Marketing.
• Krause, Franziska, Jonas Goergen, Emanuel de Bellis, Nikolaus Franke, Pia Burghartz, Ilse-Maria Klanner, and Gerald Häubl (2023), “One-of-a-Kind Products: Leveraging Strict Uniqueness in Mass Customization,” International Journal of Research in Marketing.
• Zimmermann, Jenny, Jonas Goergen, Emanuel de Bellis, Reto Hofstetter, and Stefano Puntoni (2023), “Smart Product Breakthroughs Depend on Customer Control,” MIT Sloan Management Review.
• Hofstetter, Reto, Emanuel de Bellis, Leif Brandes, Melanie Clegg, Cait Lamberton, et al. (2022), “Crypto-Marketing: How Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Challenge Traditional Marketing,” Marketing Letters.
• Schlager, Tobias, Emanuel de Bellis, and JoAndrea Hoegg (2020), “How and When Weather Boosts Consumer Product Valuation,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
• de Bellis, Emanuel and Gita V. Johar (2020), “Autonomous Shopping Systems: Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Consumer Adoption,” Journal of Retailing.
• de Bellis, Emanuel, Christian Hildebrand, Kenichi Ito, Andreas Herrmann, and Bernd Schmitt (2019), “Personalizing the Customization Experience: A Matching Theory of Mass Customization Interfaces and Cultural Information Processing,” Journal of Marketing Research.

A full list of publications is available on Google Scholar.