Nonprofits
Donor retention, gifts, disaster giving, recommendation systems
01 — Assistant Professor · BITS Pilani Mumbai
Sai Siddharth VK.
Marketing scholar studying pro-social behaviour, sustainability, and human–AI interaction through field and lab experiments.
C. Industry tie-ups
MoUs with 7 firms
across nonprofits, healthcare & platforms.
Collaboration scope — field experiments, longitudinal donor & consumer data, and live A/B experimentation at scale.
Healthcare
Behavioural contests, physical activity, well-being interventions
Platforms
AI summarisation, salesforce automation, conversion experiments
02 — Research
Three programmes, one method — causal evidence from the field.
CV
Curriculum Vitae · Sai Siddharth VK
Download CV (.docx)Education
Ph.D., MarketingIndian Institute of Management Ahmedabad · 2019–2025 · GPA 3.48/4 · Mirae Asset Merit Scholar
Post Graduate Programme in Digital MarketingPurdue University (Online) · 2023
B.Tech, Electrical & ElectronicsJawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad · 2014–2019
Positions
Assistant Professor, MarketingBITS Pilani, Mumbai Campus · Jan 2026–present
Visiting FacultyIIM Kashipur · Feb–Mar 2025; National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad · Jan 2024
Leadership Trainee — Chairman's OfficeMadison World · Jun 2024–Jul 2025
Methods & teaching
Field experimentsLab experimentsDifference-in-DifferencesPropensity score matchingBayesian structural time seriesMulti-armed banditSynthetic controlRegression discontinuityPanel regressionSurvival & CLV modellingAI in MarketingDigital MarketingStartup LaunchpadMarketing for Nonprofits
I.
Nonprofit Marketing
A research programme on charitable giving — how gifts, costliness, disasters and recommendation systems shape donor retention. Studies draw on proprietary transaction-level data on 35,000+ donors and large-scale field experiments with nonprofit partners.
When Good Intentions Backfire: Can Gifts Undermine Donor Retention — and Can Charities Fix It?
Borah, S., Kopalle, P. (Dartmouth), Sahay, A., & Siddharth, S. VK · Journal of Marketing (R&R Round 2) · targeting Journal of Consumer Research
METHOD 4 field experiments (2 large-scale) + 3 lab studies · DiD, PSM, BSTS
FINDING Gifts can lower donor retention and subsequent giving. Altruistically motivated donors perceive gifts as overhead costs; an easy-to-implement intervention reverses the effect.
Read working draftCan Costs Increase Utility? Slacktivism, CSR, Gift Cards and Pro-Social Behaviour
Sahay, A., Borah, S., & Siddharth, S. VK · Journal of Consumer Psychology
METHOD 4 field studies + 1 lab experiment across social media, gift cards, WoM and petitions
FINDING People choose costly over costless pro-social acts, even when beneficiary benefit is equal or higher. Lower psychological ownership for costless acts reduces warm-glow.
Read working draftThe Surprising Upside of Disaster Fundraising: Substitution, Persistence and Targeting
Gupta, N., Adhikary, A., Borah, S., Kopalle, P., & Siddharth, S. VK · Marketing Science — reject & resubmit
METHOD Longitudinal donor data across developed & developing countries · DiD · BSTS · Logit
FINDING Donors increase overall donations after disasters without substituting from non-disaster causes or future donations.
Read working draftUnderstanding Drivers of Donor Retention for Charities
Siddharth, S. VK and co-authors · Presented at AMA Summer 2025
METHOD Unique longitudinal dataset of 5,100 donors tracked across two years
FINDING Voluntary visitors are more likely to donate again than donors acquired via referrals or ads; breadth and depth of engagement raise retention.
Read working draftRecommendation System to Match Returning Donors to Suitable Causes
Iyer, A. (IIM Nagpur) & Siddharth, S. VK · Field experiment in progress
METHOD Recommender design + field A/B on a crowdfunding platform
FINDING Addresses supplier fairness, cold-start under sparse repeat giving, and the balance between similarity and novelty propensity.
II.
Environment & Consumer Behaviour
Sustainability, health and pro-environmental behaviour studied through consumer decision-making and firm CSR allocation. Field experiments on physical activity and panel evidence on corporate UN-SDG investments anchor this stream.
When the Air Gets Worse, So Do Choices: Pollution and the Consumption of Vice Goods
Siddharth, S. VK and co-authors · India household-month panel
METHOD CMIE CPHS merged with CPCB district AQI · DiD with weather controls
FINDING Worsening air quality increases vice consumption, consistent with pollution-induced negative affect and mood regulation.
Read working draftA Taxonomy of Influencers on Vice Consumption — Companion Literature Synthesis
Siddharth, S. VK · Companion theory piece
METHOD Belk (1975) interactionist-situational model
FINDING Structures the literature into a hierarchical decision tree and isolates ambient air pollution as a non-escapable macro-environmental stressor.
Read working draftHighway to Health: Impact of Contests on Physical Activity
Iyer, A. & Siddharth, S. VK · Field experiment on a cycling app
METHOD Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru · DiD · PSM · three contest formats
FINDING Winner-takes-all decreases activity, sweepstakes have no effect, and Tullock contests increase activity.
Read working draftSustainability through CSR Fund Allocation: How Natural Disasters Direct Organisational CSR Investment on UN-SDG Goals
Sharma, A., Borah, S., Singh, P., & Siddharth, S. VK · Targeted for Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
METHOD Panel regression · quasi-experiments · DiD · PSM
FINDING Firms facing disasters increase total CSR and do not reallocate from other SDGs; effects vary by ownership.
III.
AI & Marketing
How generative AI mediates relationships between firms, employees and consumers — from AI summarisers on publisher and product pages to real-time feedback for salespeople.
The Hidden Costs of GenAI: Workload Intensification, Income Inequality and Eroded Employee Well-Being — Evidence from India
Siddharth, S. VK and co-authors · targeted for INFORMS Marketing Science 2026
METHOD CMIE CPHS Time-Use 2022–24 · ILO GenAI occupational exposure · DiD + panel and logistic models
FINDING GenAI exposure raises work and upskilling, reduces leisure, and concentrates income gains among already-advantaged workers.
Read working draftDoes Leveraging AI to Summarise Articles and Product Pages Improve Marketing Outcomes?
Singh, H., Kapoor, A., & Siddharth, S. VK
METHOD A/B test · Multi-Armed Bandit
FINDING AI summaries increase webpage CTR but decrease ad CTR on publisher pages; on product pages they reduce conversion rates.
Real-time or Post-Activity Feedback? Impact of AI-Based Real-Time Feedback on Salespeople Productivity
Singh, H., Kapoor, A., & Siddharth, S. VK
METHOD Field experiment · lab experiment · DiD
FINDING Real-time AI feedback reduces productivity relative to post-activity feedback, especially for experienced top performers high in autonomy preference.
03 — Statement
Post-Doctoral Research Statement
A research agenda extending field- and lab-experimental work in pro-social behaviour, sustainability and human–AI interaction, with proposed studies, methods, and collaborator network.
Read the statement04 — Contact
Write, collaborate, design a study.
Open to collaborations with researchers and industry partners across nonprofits, healthcare and platforms — particularly for field experiments and longitudinal data partnerships.