Chris Hydock
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Chris Hydock came to the Freeman School in 2023 from California Polytechnic State University, where he served as the Richard and Julie Hood Assistant Professor of Marketing. Prior to his time at Cal Poly, Hydock was an assistant professor of research at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and worked with the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research. At the Freeman School, Hydock will teach Advanced Marketing Strategy, and he has also previously taught Marketing Fundamentals. His research spans the domains of brand activism, consumer reviews, behavior in queues and retail pricing. He employs a variety of methods in his research, including secondary data, surveys, field studies and experiments. Hydock’s research has been published in journals including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. He received his PhD from George Washington University and a BA from the University of Colorado.
Education
University of Colorado, Boulder
George Washington University
Media Appearances
Value meal wars continue in 2025: See deals at McDonald’s, Burger King, more
"Consumers are continuing to feel the sting of inflation and so more than half of Americans are eating out less than they used to," Christopher Hydock, a professor at Tulane University’s School of Business, who specializes in consumer experience and retail pricing, told USA TODAY.
Why small businesses get more love online: Empathy shapes customer reviews
Consumers often turn to online reviews to decide where to shop, eat or book services, but a new Tulane University study finds that star ratings might be influenced by something other than product quality—the size of the company.
After 57 years of open seating, is Southwest changing its brand?
Jim Kingsley of Orange County, who recently flew Southwest on a two-leg journey from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, likened the budget-friendly airline to In-N-Out Burger.
McDonald’s agreed to Trump event but says it isn’t endorsing a presidential candidate
Chris Hydock, a marketing professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, said that authorizing the visit was a risky move for McDonald’s. Hydock said his research shows that when brands become associated with divisive candidates or positions, whether purposefully or not, customers who dislike those positions tend to react more strongly than those who don’t dislike them.
Why small businesses get more love online: Empathy shapes customer reviews
"This project explored the inherent biases present in online consumer reviews, and our findings reveal that big businesses tend to receive lower average ratings compared to small businesses," said Chris Hydock, co-author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business. "Interestingly, this isn't because consumers are more critical of big businesses, but rather because they are less inclined to leave positive reviews for big businesses and more likely to do so for small businesses after a good experience."
Restaurant Dive
Some of Starbucks’ current problems stem from its past successes. The company was an early adopter of Mobile Order and Pay, but that technology may have weakened its overall value prospect, making it harder to raise prices without consumer pushback, said Chris Hydock, a professor at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.
Will new nutrition labels on food packaging help consumers?
With more than one-third of U.S. adults qualifying as obese and the estimated medical costs related to obesity in the U.S. in the multi-billion dollar range, many federal organizations such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made efforts to reduce the rates of obesity.*
Big Savings Alert: Shake Shack Introduces Combo Meal Deal
“Consumers are continuing to feel the sting of inflation and so more than half of Americans are eating out less than they used to,” Christopher Hydock, a professor at Tulane University’s School of Business who specializes in consumer experience and retail pricing, told USA Today in February.
CNN: Your favorite food brands may be done playing mind games with you — for now
It’s likely the profit margins on the snacks are high enough that adding in a few extra chips is “a relatively low cost for them,” said Chris Hydock, a marketing professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. That’s especially true since many of their own input costs have fallen after spiking during the pandemic. But the move, nonetheless, is “their way of giving customers more value.” (PepsiCo didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.)
Southwest to stop allowing passengers to pick their own seat
"Becoming like everyone else, start charging change fees and charging for luggage or if this is one way for Southwest to remove one pain point to their process, that, you know, it seems like most consumers didn't like anyway," said Hydock.
