Marketing

The Marketing group at WBS has a reputation for academic excellence, teaching quality and collegiality. As a group we share a common belief in the positive impact of responsible marketing and sales practices in modern organisations and society. Our research, teaching and impact activities demonstrate our enthusiasm for and commitment to this belief.

Research

There are four themes to our research: strategic marketing, consumer behaviour, selling and sales management, and sustainable marketing. We explore important and topical research questions in the marketing and sales domains, with the purpose of extending academic knowledge and determining the impacts on managers, policy makers, consumers, and society at large. Importantly, in the context of rapid technological change and the growing recognition of the climate crisis, our work considers the relevance and implications of marketing and sales activity on societal and environmental sustainability.

Our work is regularly published in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Service Research, and Harvard Business Review. Our pluralistic approach and cross-disciplinary interests are further demonstrated by publications in leading journals outside the marketing domain, such as Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of the American Statistical Association, and Psychological Bulletin.

Our strong publications output reflects our collegiate and thriving research culture, and our interests in exploring marketing and consumer-related issues in novel and emerging settings. We have a well-established and fluid interface with the WBS Behavioural Science group, where we explore marketing-relevant issues through behavioural and psychological lenses. We also input marketing-specific expertise to broader behavioural research projects.

Recent recognition for our research includes:

• Dr Miaolei Jia’s paper “Contraction with Unpacking: When Unpacking Leads to Lower Calorie Budgets” was cited as the 2nd “Most Discussed” paper in the last three years, published in the Journal of Consumer Research (2020).
• Professor Hugh Wilson and Professor Emma Macdonald were recipients of the Thomas P. Hustad “Best Journal Article” prize in Journal of Product Innovation (2018).
• Professor Nick Lee and Professor John Rudd were recipients of the James M. Comer Award, for “Best Contribution to Selling and Sales Management Theory” in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (2018).

Doctoral students

Our community of doctoral scholars frequently present work at leading academic conferences. Recent recognition for their work includes:

• Shuqi Zhu was one of five recipients on an Academy of Consumer Research/Sheth Foundation, Doctoral Symposium Small Grant Award in 2020, for the paper “Device, Fast and Slow: How Electronic Devices Influence Consumer Decisions” with Dr Sarah Wei, Dr Yansong Hu and Professor John Rudd.
• Hsiu-Yu Hung, with Professor Nick Lee and DR Yansong Hu was a recipient of the “Best Paper in the Customer Engagement and CRM Track” award at the American Marketing Association (Winter) conference, 2020.

Teaching

We are passionate about the dissemination of our research and marketing knowledge. Our Undergraduate and Postgraduate modules are in high demand; students say they value the expertise, enthusiasm and availability of our faculty. Marketing faculty are regular recipients of WBS teaching awards. Professor Laura Chamberlain recently won a University of Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE), and the national “Lecturer of the Year” award at the UK Education Awards. In a recent Financial Times global ranking of “Teaching Power”, assessed on adoption and sales of textbooks, WBS academics were placed 4th in the world, with Professor John Rudd and Professor Hugh Wilson cited in the ranking data.

Impact

Marketing group faculty are closely aligned and engaged with communities of practice and organisational leaders in various settings. Our relationships and connections help develop and refine our research and inform our teaching practice and content. Our faculty often appear in national and international media outlets, commenting on important marketing and societal issues. Professor Hugh Wilson was interviewed on his research on public attitudes to Brexit on BBC television and BBC Radio 4. Professor Nick Lee and Professor John Rudd have contributed to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) inquiry on professional sales and were quoted in reports subsequently presented to Parliament. Professor Emma Macdonald and Professor Hugh Wilson have advised EU policymakers on policy for sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship; they were also invited to contribute at the United Nations’ COP26 event in Glasgow (2021) on the topic of sustainable futures and the role of collaborative innovation in achieving them.