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Doctoral Researchers
Read more about some of the PhD students and doctoral researchers within the Marketing group:
Julia Marcet Alonso
Thesis Title: Living the Brand? An Ethnographic Study of Employee Branding in the UK Fashion Retail Sector.
My research seeks to narrate the perceived work experience of customer- facing employees in the fashion retail to present their views of the brand value proposition, as internal customers of the company, and how they make these values their own to later represent the brand in front of the customers. To do so, I will combine netnography and diaries and interviews with employees.
1st Supervisor: Prof Liz Parsons
2nd Supervisor: Dr Daniela Pirani
Email address: j.marcet-alonso@liverpool.ac.uk
Ashleigh Blasbery
Thesis Title: Digital Environmental Influence: Exploring Strategies for Marketplace Change and Commercial Legitimacy
My research explores how and why digital mediators are seeking to change prevailing marketplace logics by weaving environmentalism into their output. This qualitative project questions how sustainability and ‘zero-waste’ rhetoric has pervaded the influencer field, and examines the ideological compatibility of both a social actor’s commercial endeavours and their desire for market change dynamics. Tenets of institutional theory are used to explain how mediators gain, maintain and repair legitimacy in this contested field.
1st Supervisor: Dr John Byrom
2nd Supervisor: Dr Ahmed Al-Abdin
3rd Supervisor: Dr Daniela Pirani
Email address: A.Blasbery@liverpool.ac.uk
Joseph Robert Daniel
Thesis Title: Marketisation of the Indonesian Higher Education Sector: Institutional Mechanisms, Marketing Practices, and Implications for Widening Access
This research will explore the processes and consequences of marketisation of the Indonesian higher education sector, by investigating the application of marketing practices in the recruitment of undergraduate students in higher education institutions. Using market system dynamics as theoretical perspective, this research aims to understand the complex interplay between market, marketing practices, and higher education as social institutions and how this interplay may further entrench social inequality.
1st Supervisor: Prof Liz Parsons
2nd Supervisor: Dr Cathy McGouran
Email: Joseph.Robert.Daniel@liverpool.ac.uk
Conference Paper:
Exploring the Dialectics of Marketplace Exclusion: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda, 45th Annual Conference of the Macromarketing Society.
Jack Davis
Thesis Title: A more sustainable consumer culture? Exploring care and conviviality in online consumption communities
My PhD focuses on the cultural politics of consumption with a particular emphasis on social sustainability in online consumption communities. I use netnographic methodology to explore how online consumption communities sustain themselves and their members through forging new relations of care and experiences of conviviality. Through this process, I emphasise the different ways we afford social and emotional wellbeing in the cracks of platform capitalism.
1st Supervisor: Prof Liz Parsons
2nd Supervisor: Dr Rachel Ashman
Email: Jack.Davis@Liverpool.ac.uk
Recent publications: Jack E. Davis (2022) Book review: Anarchism, Organization and Management: Critical Perspectives for Students, Consumption Markets & Culture, DOI: 10.1080/10253866.2022.2126839
Daniel Lewin
Thesis Title: Understanding palliative and end of life care access within a health ecosystem: An examination of the issues facing providers and service users.
The overall aim of this project is to better understand the palliative and end of life care landscape from both a provider and a service user perspective, in order to identify opportunities for improvement within the healthcare ecosystem. This project is based in a Primary Care Network (PCN) and includes community care services and other organisations as key actors within the ecosystem.
1st Supervisor: Dr Lynn Sudbury-Riley
2nd Supervisor: Prof Pippa Hunter-Jones
Email: d.lewin@liverpool.ac.uk
Jessica Weaver
My research focuses on how early experiences of breastfeeding (breastmilk feeding) difficulties impact on mental well-being. I have an interest in mental wellbeing due to my previous role as a social worker in mental health services. I am also a recent first-time mum. I was motivated to develop this project as I found breastfeeding difficult and found that a lot of my friends/family also struggled, and noticed that this can have an impact on well-being. I am interested in the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR), that is research which shares control with those affected by the issue to work towards change. The aim of the project is to identify what services do well and what could be done differently, as part of a Transformative Service Research agenda.
1st Supervisor: Prof Pippa Hunter-Jones
2nd Supervisor: Prof Rory Donnelly
Email: Jessica.weaver@liverpool.ac.uk
Michael Woodward
Thesis Title: Towards Understanding Academics’ ‘Self-Branding’.
Do academics ‘brand’ themselves? And, if ‘Yes’, in what sense? Starting from the bedrock understanding that the term ‘branding’ (primarily used figuratively in marketing) derives from branding in the literal scorch-marking sense, I explore how academics in management schools conceive ‘self-branding’ and if / how this discourse informs their online and offline goings-on.
1st Supervisor: Dr Chris Raddats
2nd Supervisor: Dr Athanasia Daskalopoulou
3rd Supervisor: Prof Anthony Patterson
Email: m.n.woodward@liverpool.ac.uk
Publication:
Woodward, M.N. and Holbrook, M.B. (2013) “Dialogue on some concepts, definitions and issues pertaining to 'consumption experiences'”, Marketing Theory, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 323–344.
Qijia Liao
Thesis Title: Brand Social Activism in Marketing Context
My research focuses on brand social activism in marketing context. Specifically, I explore the impact of a brand’s public stance on socio-political controversy on consumers behaviours (e.g., boycott, boycott, or switching to alternative brands, etc). I primarily use lab experiments to test the research hypotheses.
1st Supervisor: Dr John Byrom
2nd Supervisor: Dr Peter Guenther
Email: qijia.liao@liverpool.ac.uk
Shanshan Wu
Thesis Title: The importance of commitment and trust in B2B relationships on social media.
Trust and commitment are central to relational exchanges between a focal firm and its supplier, lateral, buyer, and internal partnerships. My research focuses on the importance of commitment and trust in B2B relationships on social media. I will explore how organisations build trust and commitment in B2B relationships on social media. Multi-method qualitative research will be used in this research.
1st Supervisor: Dr Chris Raddats
2nd Supervisor: Dr Severina Cartwright
Email: S.Wu37@liverpool.ac.uk
Alex Knight
Thesis Title: An investigation of the influence of technology-infused servicescapes on consumers’ service quality perceptions.
My research focusses on the three areas of servicescapes, service quality and technological integration. Specifically, this research seeks to explore how technologies such as robots and artificial intelligence are integrated within hotel servicescapes and its consequential impact on consumers’ perceptions of service quality and behavioural outcomes.
1st Supervisor: Dr John Byrom
2nd Supervisor: Dr Athanasia Daskalopoulou
Email: a.r.knight@liverpool.ac.uk
Oliver Buckley
Thesis Title: The live frontier: Balancing influencer marketing opportunities with wellbeing challenges.
My research explores the dynamic world of interactive digital media. Specifically, my ongoing research is focused on clarifying how livestreaming can revolutionize the influencer marketing landscape and provide new monetization avenues for online influencers and creators. My research also considers the potential wellbeing implications of broadcasting oneself live online and aims to identify the main challenges livestreamers face and how these can best be alleviated. Ultimately, my research aims to comprehensively understand the distinct opportunities and challenges presented by livestreaming and other similar digital media.
1st Supervisor: Dr Rachel Ashman
2nd Supervisor: Prof Liz Parsons
3rd Supervisor: Prof Michael Haenlein
Email: a.r.knight@liverpool.ac.uk
Matthew Bond
Thesis Title: Using multi-state models to detect potential football matches that have been manipulated
The goal within my research is to create an in-play football forecasting model using the statistical framework multi-state model, this model can then be compared to real life live odds provided by bookmakers to try to detect potential football matches that have been manipulated.
1st Supervisor: Prof Ian Mchale
Email: mbond39@liverpool.ac.uk
Naeema Neefa
Thesis Title: Paling into Significance - Exploring the Lived Experiences and Everyday Consumption of Women in the Context of Colourism
My research intends to explore the concept of colourism, as heard from the voices of women who have faced discrimination based on their skin colour. Specifically, this involves understanding the lived experiences of women at the crossroads of skin colour and gender. Employing art-based methods in conjunction with other qualitative methods, this project will unveil the marketplace paths taken by women in their efforts to be ‘fairer’ subjects to pale into significance.
1st Supervisor: Dr Rachel Ashman
2nd Supervisor: Dr Cathy McGouran
n.neerattiparambil@liverpool.ac.uk
Kyaw Nyein Chan
Thesis Title: When Being Yourself is Illegal and Stigmatised: Lived Consumption Experiences of Coming Out as Gay in Myanmar
The research project aims to understand the lived experiences of gay consumers navigating their identity and consumption during the significant process of coming out. The research project will employ a multi-method qualitative research design and focus on Myanmar/Burma as a gay-unfriendly, non-Western research context with significant economic, legal, and socio-cultural differences from much-researched Western contexts. The research project aims not only to make original academic contributions but also to generate important insights for future researchers, marketers/businesses, and LGBTQ+ advocates seeking to engage with gay communities from Myanmar and other similar Southeast Asian countries.
1st Supervisor: Dr Elizabeth Parsons
2nd Supervisor: Dr Daniela Pirani
3rd Supervisor: Dr Katy Kerrane