Doctorate gained by Marketing Lecturer
Micael-Lee Johnstone, a marketing lecturer in the School of Marketing and International Business, recently had her PhD, entitled The Meaning of Place: Women's Experiences in the Retail Environment, confirmed. She contends that the way 'place' has conventionally been defined within the retail literature has been very narrow in its focus. Retail literature has tended to focus on the physicality of the location whereas, in disciplines such as geography and psychology, place is viewed in much broader terms. Her thesis adopted a multidisciplinary approach to better understand how women consume space and assign meanings to the retail environment. As the findings revealed, the social, physical, and temporal dimensions of the retail environment contributed to her participants' shopping experiences, and influenced their patronage behaviour. What is more, the need for social contact, and/or the need to feel a sense of connection with others were sometimes the main reasons why the interviewed women patronised certain stores or retail locations, hence demonstrating that one's relationships with others, and one's need for connection may be more important than the actual product.