You are welcome to my site on Convergence at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, ON, Canada. The site provides you a glimpse of my research, which has an underlying theme of convergence. I am exploring this theme across three different research domains:

Convergence in technology: Recent convergence in the consumer electronics, computers, and telecommunications industries has resulted in the break down of product category boundaries. Several new products are being launched with functionalities imported from different product categories. For instance, Cell Phones with MP3-music capabilities and cameras (e.g., Apple’s iPhone); PDAs with internet and e-mail access (e.g., Blackberry); Mobile gaming devices with DVD and internet capabilities (SONY’s PSP). In my research I seek to understand how consumers make sense of such convergent products, how they categorize them, and what new functionalities are valued in a given base product / brand.      

Convergence across disciplines: The field of cognitive psychology has recently been infused with theories from evolutionary biology, resulting in the promising discipline of evolutionary psychology (EP). EP aims to provide an evolutionary (i.e., Darwinian) basis for our psychological mechanisms / preferences (e.g., why men and women evolved different preferences for attributes they desire in their mates; what is the evolutionary benefit of helping strangers; what are the evolutionary functions of different emotions; etc.). Dr. Gad Saad (Concordia University) and I have collaborated on several projects applying EP to the context of Marketing and consumption. Some of our research projects include understanding gender differences in gift-giving and in resource allocation problems; product-specific triggers of envy; and susceptibility to framing effects in different domains / product categories.

Convergence in values: The contemporary consumers are also characterized by convergence in values and beliefs across-segments and across-cultures. For instance, the contemporary metro-sexual males are paying an increasing emphasis on appearance and physical attractiveness. These trends are enhanced by the recent launch of several appearance-related products for men (such as face creams, scrubs, etc.), which were traditionally targeted mostly at women. My colleague at UOIT, Dr. Jill Lei, and I are investigating the evaluation and adoption of such counter-stereotypical new products.

I hope you enjoy browsing through my site. If any of the above themes spark your interest please feel free to contact me with suggestions / ideas you wish to share or discuss.

Dr. Tripat Gill
Assistant Professor (Marketing)
Faculty of Business and IT
University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)
Oshawa, ON, Canada