Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Business Administration
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
2014

Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

Marketing
Wake Forest University
2000

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Journalism and Mass Communications (Advertising)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1993

Sports Marketing

Principles of Marketing

Marketing Analytics

Marketing Strategy – XMBA

Marketing Management - MBA

Marketing Planning and Strategy

Researcher of the Year, Howard University School of Business. 2024

Winner Best Paper in Consumer Behavior (Quantitative), 2023

Awarded by the Society for Marketing Advances at the November 2023 Conference for the paper “Understanding What Drives Cryptocurrency Purchase Intentions”

Honoree, Clemson University Football Program’s Faculty Appreciation Dinner, 2020, 2016 & 2015

Creating cool: The crafting, development, and management of cool brands

Creating cool: The crafting, development, and management of cool brands

For a brand, being cool can be an important driver of consumer purchase, yet little is known about how marketers can make a brand cool. This study aims to understand how cool brands are created and maintained. To this end, this paper leverages qualitative and quantitative studies to determine how cool brands are created, and in turn, develops a formative scale for measuring brand coolness. More specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 high-level sportswear/streetwear marketing practitioners to identify the five key drivers of coolness—Authenticity, Associations, Originality, Storytelling, and Accessibility. Based on these findings, a reliable and valid formative scale for cool is constructed which is shown to have a causal relationship with pre-existing (reflective) measures of cool. Further, these measures are demonstrated to influence consumers’ perception of brands and capture meanings and drivers of cool(ness) not previously identified. As the first study to explore marketers’ role in the cultural production of cool and the formative measures for cool, the findings provide valuable insights regarding how managers attempt to imbue their brands with cool.

Is it FOMO or is it ME?

Is it FOMO or is it ME? The influence of personality traits on cryptocurrency consumption

Why do consumers invest in cryptocurrency despite its sharp increases and decreases in value? While it seems rational that such volatility should increase consumers' fear of investment, we posit that the fear of missing out (FOMO) on the possible positive returns negates such. Further, this study explores the impact that consumers personality traits, using the big five model, has on FOMO when predicting consumers purchase intentions of cryptocurrencies.

Creating the New Normal

Creating the New Normal: A Historical Approach to Understanding Marketing Agility and its Implications Across Business, Healthcare, and Social Welfare in a Post Pandemic World

The purpose of this article is to expand our understanding of how marketing agility shapes business, healthcare, and social welfare policy and societal responses to global pandemics. We set the stage for this discussion by presenting an historical exemplar case of marketing agility during the 1918 Influenza pandemic in the US.

Is this real life? Is it just fantasy?

Is this real life? Is it just fantasy? The development and validation of a media-evoked fantasy scale

Prior research has indicated that narratives may lead to fantasy which may evoke narrative transportation. Researchers have also established that narrative transportation affects persuasion, changes in attitudes and brand evaluations. To this end, several studies have focused on narrative consumption (i.e. being hooked into a narrative) and the aforementioned consequences of narrative transportation. However, research investigating the role that fantasy plays in consumers’ journey from narrative consumption to narrative transportation is scant. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multidimensional scale for measuring narrative-driven fantasy in order to detail which dimensions of fantasy facilitate narrative transportation. Further, this paper posits that prior research has overlooked the mediating role that fantasy plays within the narrative consumption and narrative transportation process. As the exploration of overlooked mediators is important for theory development, this paper uses the scale developed here to test for fantasy as a mediator.

DPS 2.0

DPS 2.0: on the road to a cashless society

While cash will eventually become a thing of the past, marketing researchers have given little attention to the rise of cashless markets and the obstacles and opportunities they present. In fact, research that addresses the strategic approach to planning, coordinating, and executing the cashless adoption and experience for consumers is scant. To stimulate discussion and scholarly investigations into marketing’s contribu- tion toward the evolution of cashless economies, this Idea Corner presents a research agenda that delineates the role of DPS 2.0, a new era of digital payment systems, in fueling the demonetization process. We offer that, compared to traditional payment systems (DPS 1.0), DPS 2.0 provides consumers and merchants cashless, virtual, automated, flexible, faster, and interoperable (The ability of DPS 2.0 systems to be compatible and operable across providers, software, and payment portals) means of payment. However, the promise of DPS 2.0 is clouded with concerns of opportunism, security, and fraud. This paper outlines these issues and provides corresponding future research opportunities within five areas of DPS 2.0 (digital wallets, cryptocurrency, virtual currency, facial recognition, and mobile payments).

Big names and small price tags

Big names and small price tags: an analysis of celebrity endorsement on consumers’ perceptions of price, quality, and intent to purchase

This paper investigates if celebrity endorsement offsets the negative effect low prices have on quality perceptions. This research highlights the interactive effect between celebrity endorsement and pricing on purchases (Study 1) and shows that celebrity endorsers’ level of expertise improves perceptions of low-priced offerings and increase purchases. Study 2 finds the mediated effect of price on purchase intentions via quality perceptions is moderated by endorser type such that a celebrity improves the quality perceptions of low-priced products. Study 3 shows price-quality perceptions mediate the effect of price on purchase intentions. Results suggest celebrity endorsements are effective in promoting low-priced offerings.

Minority students corporate engagement programs

Minority students corporate engagement programs: Addressing the ad industry’s problem with minorities

Firms often make marketing missteps that offend minority consumers. Such missteps are attributed to the lack of diversity within the marketing field. This paper presents a corporate engagement program that partners minority students with a national company as an innovative approach to this problem. Leveraging both passive and active learning, students attend classes and work on original marketing plans for the company. Feedback from both students and the company suggests that both parties learned from each other, adding to the pipeline of future minority marketers while leading to a better understanding of minority consumers. The latter holds promise for the creation of effective communications that resonate with minority consumers.

Riding the subscription box wave

Riding the subscription box wave: Understanding the landscape, challenges, and critical success factors of the subscription box industry

The subscription box e-commerce industry has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years. Given the growing size of the industry, this business model warrants direction for firms currently offering subscription services as well as companies considering entering this industry. This paper presents a detailed overview of the subscription box industry and proposes a framework for understanding subscription offerings (the 4 C’s). Second, it identifies challenges and opportunities facing this industry. Lastly, it provides managers with guidance in the form of five tenets on how to navigate the subscription box economy.

COVID-19: Health disparities and social determinants of health

COVID-19: Health disparities and social determinants of health

Social determinants of health (SDH) describe how a person’s education, economic status, and overall environment affect their health outcomes. In the United States, a long history of resource inequities has existed, particularly for those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The following is a literature review of SDH from a historical context, current state, and through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remote Working 2.0

Remote Working 2.0: Balancing Work and Family During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused millions of Americans to work remotely. Most of these workers are doing so with little, if any, training. To help, several pieces have been published (or republished) about how to work from home. However, what is missing in each of these is that working from home during the pandemic is not like anything we have done before. Because schools and child care have closed across America, employees have to balance the challenges of remote working while homeschooling. This dual role increases stress and reduces productivity. Still managerial advice on how to handle such is scant. To this end, we offer our tips for Remote Working 2.0.

Understanding bad-boy celebrity endorser effectiveness

Understanding bad-boy celebrity endorser effectiveness: The fantasy-based relationship, hedonic consumption, and congruency model

Current theories of source persuasion and endorser credibility posit that celebrities become ineffective endorsers when they have been involved in a scandal. However, little attention has been given to the success of“bad-boy” celebrities, endorsers who thrive in spite of, if not because of, their association with negative information. In this conceptual article, we propose a new fantasy-based relationship, hedonic consumption, and congruency (FHC) model to provide insight into the effectiveness of bad-boy celebrity endorsers. According to this model, relationships with a bad-boy celebrity are formed via consumption of the celebrity’s narratives through the consumers’ use of books, magazines, movies, music, social media, television shows, or other forms of media. This view of celebrity endorsements suggests that consumers relate to bad boys through fantasy-based relationships, which allow consumers to escape from the stress of their everyday lives. Hence, a celebrity’s scandal, when congruent with the fantasy, can add to the fantasy escape and enhance the fantasy-based celebrity relationship. This fantasy-based relationship is then relived and revitalized through hedonic consumption of the endorsed product. Our model provides a new perspective on factors that influence source persuasion and insight into the effectiveness of bad-boy endorsers. Areas for future research are also proposed.

Is it expensive? The dual effect of construal level on price judgments

Is it expensive? The dual effect of construal level on price judgments

When judging the expensiveness of a product or service, consumers often make comparisons to similar offerings that serve as reference points. Extant pricing literature shows that reference items in the consideration set may trigger a “contrast effect,” where higher-priced items make the target item seem less expensive. Two studies show that the effect of reference price depends on the consumer’s level of abstract thinking—or “construal level” —at the time of judgment. Concrete construal leads to the standard contrast effect, but abstract construal leads to an assimilation effect, where higher-priced reference items make the target seem more expensive.

Allow me to (re)introduce myself

Allow me to (re)introduce myself: An experiential learning rebranding project within the context of professional sports

Rebranding is a widely utilized practice to change the image of a brand in the minds of the consumer through major or minor changes in both its positioning and aesthetics. Yet, evidence suggests it is not meaningfully covered in many marketing classes. This project provides an innovative, engaging, experiential learning opportunity that can be easily adapted for a wide array of marketing classes. Findings indicate the students’ knowledge of, familiarity with, and ability to apply rebranding increase as a result of the experience.

From the classroom to the boardroom

From the classroom to the boardroom: Corporate engagement programs that integrate theory and practice onsite with business executives

Building upon existing experiential learning processes, this paper presents an extended experimental learning framework for creating Corporate Engagement Programs (CEPs). The research answers the AACSB call for “engagement programs” which leverage passive and active pedagogies to connect in-class-lessons to engagement activities with corporate executives, helping bridge the gap between skills of marketing graduates and expectations of hiring managers. We present two CEPs using a seven-phase framework. Mixed-methods results suggest the programs successfully link in-class lessons to professional applications across five focal (SMART) objectives. Challenges, benefits, and suggestions for future research are discussed.