Carolina O.C. WERLE is a Senior Professor of Marketing at Grenoble Ecole de Management since 2007. She serves as the Head of the Consumer Behavior Research Team. As a researcher in consumer psychology, her work explores behavioral change strategies to promote well-being in the domains of food, physical activity, and financial decision-making. Her research investigates how psychological processes shape everyday consumer choices, with a particular focus on food labels, self-control, lay beliefs, and public policy efficacy.
She has conducted research on behavioral interventions aimed at improving food choices, promoting physical activity, and supporting debt repayment. She has collaborated with major health institutions in France and across Europe—including the European Commission, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), the National Cancer Institute (INCA), Santé Publique France, and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM)—to evaluate and enhance public health campaigns and dietary guidelines.
Between 2019 and 2023, she served as Director of the PhD Program in Business Administration at Grenoble Ecole de Management.
She has published more than 30 articles in academic journals including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, Appetite, or Marketing Letters. Her work has also been featured in mainstream media including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Le Figaro, L’Express, and The Conversation.
Carolina O.C. Werle holds Master degrees in Quantitative Marketing (2003) and Marketing Research (2004) from the University of Grenoble and earned her PhD in Marketing from the University of Grenoble in 2008. She has been a visiting scholar at Cornell University and the University of California, Irvine. She obtained her Habilitation do Direct Research (HDR) in 2014 at the University of Grenoble.
Expertise:
- Behavioral Change
- Food and Health Behaviors
- Self-Control and Lay Beliefs
- Public Policy and Marketing
- Financial Decision-Making
- Experimental Methods in Marketing
- Consumer Behavior
- Food consumption
- Experimental Design
- Effective means of promotion for preventive health campaigns
- Social Marketing
- Obesity prevention
- Basil D., Runte M., Werle C., Chernishenko J., 2026.Relation, exploitation, or Function? Developing a measurement scale and assessing perceptions of non-profit/business partnerships.NonProfit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly: Online firstThis research examines non-profit organizations’ (NPOs) attitudes and intentions for engaging in business partnerships for their first time. A randomly selected, nationally representative survey of NPOs in the USA (N = 533), Canada (N = 399), and France (N = 139) was conducted online. Scales were created to assess NPO perceptions along three dimensions: relational, avoiding exploitation, and functional. Scales created herein are shown to be a valid means of assessing partnership perceptions, and the research results replicated across these three developed countries. Results demonstrate that NPOs considering business partnerships for the first time are primarily seeking concrete, functional benefits. They approach business partnerships with optimism, expecting positive relationships with little fear of exploitation. This suggests an inclination to participate. It also suggests potential vulnerability at the hands of a stronger business partner.
- Verfay S., Werle C., 2025.How characters on packaging influence children’s choice of a healthy beverageAppetite, 208, April: 107925
- Pruski Yamim A., Werle C., 2025.Nutri-Score Label Influence on Food Purchase Intention Depends on Consumers’ Expectations of HealthinessAppetite, 207, 107870: 107870
- Werle C., Sirieix L., Pantin-Sohier G., 2024.Marketing and food consumption: Nurturing new possibilitiesRecherche et Applications en Marketing, 39, 3: 2–10
- Shaikh S., Pruski Yamim A., Werle C., 2024.Are all-encompassing better than one-trait sustainable labels? The influence of Eco-Score and organic labels on food perception and willingness to payAppetite, 203, December: 107670
- Werle C., Gauthier C., Pruski Yamim A., Bally F., 2024.How a food scanner app influences healthy food choiceAppetite, 200, September: 107571The use of mobile applications to assist with food decision making has increased significantly. Although food scanner applications provide nutritional information to consumers in the marketplace, little is known about their effects on users’ intentions and behavior. This research investigates whether a mobile food scanner app can influence consumers toward healthier food choices. Four studies tested whether information displayed through a food scanner app (as opposed to no information or front-of-packaging label information) influenced purchase intentions for food products (Studies 1-3) or led consumers to make healthier food choices (Study 4). Application-provided information enhanced hypothetical choice and purchase intentions of healthy products in comparison no information, but it did not influence real behavior when participants made choices in an experimental supermarket. Information provided through a food scanner app was systematically outperformed by front-of-packaging label information.
- Birau M., Werle C., 2024.Will watching the Olympic Games make you eat more?The Conversation: Online
- Werle C., Frison S., Pruski Yamim A., Moura M., 2024.Everyone has debt so I don’t need to pay: How high-debt descriptive norms influence debt payment intentions and behaviorAmerican Marketing Association Winter Conference, American Marketing Association, United States of America
- Grimes J., Werle C., Pruski Yamim A., 2023.Comment le type d’alcool influence de facon biaisee l’evaluation des boissons alcoolisees et impacte les comportements a risqueJournée du Marketing AgroAlimentaire, AFM Association Française de Marketing, Montpellier, FranceThis research investigates a bias related to alcohol type, whereby consumers perceive soft alcohol (e.g., beer and wine) as less intoxicating and risky than hard alcohol (e.g., vodka or whiskey) even when alcohol content is constant. Eight studies show downstream consequences of this bias: consumers report higher purchase intentions and consumption of soft alcohol, higher alcohol consumption before driving and are willing to drive longer distances after drinking soft (vs. hard) alcohol. We demonstrate two mechanisms behind this effect: 1) stigma associated with hard alcohol (e.g., association with heavy drinkers), and 2) estimates of consumption time (hard alcohol can be drunk faster). To address this bias, we propose a FOP label that construes the amount of alcohol in soft alcohol to the equivalent amount in hard alcohol (e.g., vodka shots), thereby evoking higher intoxication and risk perceptions when assessing a soft alcohol.
- Shaikh S., Pruski Yamim A., Werle C., 2023.Veggie? give me more! how protein type influences food consumptionACR 2023 Conference, Association for Consumer Research, Seattle, United States of America