Full professor at the University of St. Gallen. Research, teaching, and entrepreneurial activities at the intersection of marketing, consumer behavior, technology, and artificial intelligence.
Expert in social media and digital platform design, digital consumer behavior, influencer marketing, and AI-driven marketing
Schmitt, B., Shuyi, H., Pham, M. T., Hofstetter, R. (conditionally accepted), Generative Grounded Theory (GGT): Inductive Theory Building in the Age of Generative AI, Journal of Consumer Psychology.
Zimmermann, J. L., E. de Bellis, Hofstetter, R., Puntoni, S. (conditionally accepted), Nicknaming Autonomous Products, Journal of Consumer Research.
Gordetzki, P., Blohm, I., Clegg, M., Schakols, F., Hofstetter, R. (conditionally accepted), Agency Shifts in Generative AI Ideation: How Textual and Visual Idea Concretizations Shape Idea Creativity and Ideator Effort, Information Systems Research.
Libai, B., Babic A. R., Beichert, M., Donkers, B., Haenlein, M., Hofstetter, R., Kannan, P. K., van der Lans, R., Lanz, A., Li, H. A., Mayzlin, D., Muller, E., Shapira, D., Yang, J., & Zhang, L. (2025). Influencer Marketing Unlocked: Understanding the Value Chains Driving the Creator Economy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 53(1), 4–28.
Hofstetter, R., Fritze, M. P., & Lamberton, C. (2024). Beyond scarcity: A social value-based lens for NFT pricing. Journal of Consumer Research, 51(1), 140–150.
Hofstetter, R., & Gollnhofer, J. F. (2024). The creator’s dilemma: Resolving tensions between authenticity and monetization in social media,. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 41(3), 427-435.
Clegg, M., Hofstetter, R., de Bellis, E., & Schmitt, B. H. (2024). Unveiling the Mind of the Machine. Journal of Consumer Research, 51(2), 342–361.
Zimmermann, J., Görgen, J., de Bellis, E., Hofstetter, R., & Puntoni, S. (2023). Smart Product Breakthroughs Depend on Customer Control. MIT Sloan Management Review.
Hofstetter, R., de Bellis, E., Brandes, L., Clegg, M., Lamberton, C., Reibstein, D., Rohlfsen, F., Schmitt, B. H., & Zhang, Z. J. (2022). Crypto-Marketing: How Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Challenge Traditional Marketing. Marketing Letters, 1–7.
Clegg, M., Hofstetter, R., Schindler, L., Deubelbeiss, O., Lanz, A., Faltl, M., & Tomczak, T. (2022). Bridging the Generational Divide. Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb 2022.
Hofstetter, R., Dahl, D. W., Aryobsei, S., & Herrmann, A. (2021). Constraining Ideas: How Seeing Ideas of Others Harms Creativity in Open Innovation. Journal of Marketing Research, 58(1), 95–114.
Hofstetter, R., Miller, K. M., Krohmer, H., & Zhang, Z. J. (2021). A de-biased direct question approach to measuring consumers' willingness to pay. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 38(1), 70–84.
Seele, P., Dierksmeier, C., Hofstetter, R., & Schultz, M. D. (2019). Mapping the Ethicality of Algorithmic Pricing. Journal of Business Ethics.
Hofstetter, R., Aryobsei, S., & Herrmann, A. (2018). Should You Really Produce What Consumers Like Online? Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(2), 209–229.
Hofstetter, R., Rueppell, R., & John, L. K. (2017). Temporary sharing prompts unrestrained disclosures that leave lasting negative impressions. PNAS, 114(45), 11902–11907.
Hofstetter, R., Zhang, J. Z., & Herrmann, A. (2017). Successive Open Innovation Contests and Incentives. Journal of Product Innovation Management.
Hofstetter, R., Zhang, J. Z., & Herrmann, A. (2017). The Hidden Pitfall of Innovation Prizes. Harvard Business Review (Digital).
Ott, T., Christen, M., Niederberger, T., Aebersold, R., Aryobsei, S., & Hofstetter, R. (2015). A Semi-Supervised Learning System for Micro-Text Classification. NOLTA, 6(4), 556–569.
Shriver, S. K., Nair, H. S., & Hofstetter, R. (2013). Social ties and user-generated content. Management Science, 59(6), 1425–1443.
Hofstetter, R., Miller, K., Krohmer, H., & Zhang, J. Z. (2013). How Do Consumer Characteristics Affect the Bias in Measuring Willingness to Pay?. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(5), 1042–1053.
Miller, K., Hofstetter, R., Krohmer, H., & Zhang, J. Z. (2011). How Should We Measure Consumers’ Willingness to Pay?. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(1), 172–184.
Bravin, Marc and Clegg, Melanie and Hofstetter, Reto and Pouly, Marc and Berger, Jonah A. (2025). How to Follow Social Media Trends? An Empirical Investigation Using TikTok Short Video Data. The Wharton School Research Paper. (Videoanalyzer.app - Research App )
Hofstetter, Reto and Lanz, Andreas and Sahni, Navdeep S. (2023). Contract Design in Influencer Marketing. Stanford University Graduate School of Business Research Paper No. 4809158.
Finken, David and Scheurer, Thomas and Brandes, Leif and Hofstetter, Reto (2025). The AR-Display Bias: How Augmented Reality Disproportionately Benefits Inferior Products.
Finken, David and Scheurer, Thomas and Hofstetter, Reto and Krishna, Aradhna and von Wangenheim, Florian (2025). The Proximity Effect in Augmented Reality (Pear).