Marissa A. Sharif

• Katie Mehr, Jackie Silverman, Marissa Sharif, Alixandra Barasch, Katherine L. Milkman (2025), The Motivating Power of Streaks: Increasing Productivity Is as Easy as 1, 2, 3, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2025.104391 Abstract

  Organizations often use financial incentives to boost employees’ commitment to work-relevant goals in an effort to increase persistence and goal achievement (e.g., to improve organizational efficiency or sales). We introduce and test a novel incentive scheme designed to enhance persistence by increasing commitment to the goal of maximizing earnings. Specifically, we test “streak incentives,” or rewards that offer people increasing payouts for completing multiple consecutive work tasks. Across six pre-registered studies (total N = 4,493), we show that, contrary to standard economic models suggesting people will complete more piece-rate work for larger rewards, people actually complete more work when compensated with streak incentives than with larger, stable incentives. We theorize that this occurs because, by encouraging consecutive task completion, streak incentives increase commitment to a goal of maximizing earnings, which in turn increases persistence. We also show that this effect is not driven by providing increasing rewards; rather, people’s goal commitment and motivation are boosted by the requirement that they complete work tasks consecutively to earn escalating payments. Taken together, our results suggest that designing incentives to encourage streaks of work is a low-cost way to increase goal commitment and therefore persistence in organizations and other contexts.

Past Courses

• MKTG2110 - Consumer Behavior

  This course is concerned with how and why people behave as consumers. Its goals are to: (1) provide conceptual understanding of consumer behavior, (2) provide experience in the application of buyer behavior concepts to marketing management decisions and social policy decision-making; and (3) to develop analytical capability in using behavioral research.

• MKTG6110 - Marketing Management

  This course addresses how to design and implement the best combination of marketing efforts to carry out a firm's strategy in its target markets. Specifically, this course seeks to develop the student's (1) understanding of how the firm can benefit by creating and delivering value to its customers, and stakeholders, and (2) skills in applying the analytical concepts and tools of marketing to such decisions as segmentation and targeting, branding, pricing, distribution, and promotion. The course uses lectures and case discussions, case write-ups, student presentations, and a comprehensive final examination to achieve these objectives.

• MKTG9520 - Consumer Research Topics - A

  The purpose of this seminar is to provide graduate students with an overview of contemporary topics in consumer research. Depending on faculty, areas addressed may include basic research on consumer knowledge (learning and memory), goals, persuasion, and emotions, with applications to branding. consumer finance, human-technology interaction, and social influence. The course draws from the literature in marketing, psychology and economics. The course will enable students to conceptualize, operationalize, and develop research ideas. Therefore, the focus is on understanding theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base.

• MKTG9950 - Dissertation

  Dissertation

• WH2970 - Wh Industry Exploration

  WIEP features short-term courses that focus on various industries and feature visits to businesses, lectures, extracurricular activities, and networking opportunities with alumni. Students must apply online: https://undergrad-inside.wharton.upenn.edu/wiep/

Knowledge @ Wharton

• How Today’s Entrepreneurs Create Value Through Innovation and Grit, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/16/2025
• Globalization of Sports With Ethan Strauss, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/16/2025
• How to Teach Your Child About Financial Literacy, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/15/2025
• Bridging the Retirement Gap | Kent Smetters, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/15/2025
• Do Impact Investors Prioritize Financial Returns Over Social Impact?, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/14/2025
• How U.S. Tariffs Are Upending Supply Chains, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/14/2025
• The Hidden Economic Costs of U.S. Tariff Policy, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/14/2025
• Basel III, Crypto, and the Future of Banking Oversight, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/11/2025
• The New Tariff Era: Global Supply Chains Under Pressure, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/09/2025
• Sports Tech With Charlie Ebersol, Knowledge @ Wharton - 04/09/2025