Dr Matthew Alexander
Reader
Marketing
Personal statement
I am a Reader in the Department of Marketing where I have been based since 2009. My research interests are focused on opportunities and challenges associated with an increasingly knowledgeable and proactive customer base. A principal focus is research on engagement, a concept capturing the blurring of boundaries between firms, customers, and other external actors and where the aggregation of behaviours beyond transactions influence organisations, change institutions and shape markets.
My research is award winning and includes one of the most cited papers in Marketing in recent years. I have published widely in a range of Marketing, Service and Tourism journals including Journal of Service Research, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Service Management.
My research has a strong practical focus, exemplified in projects with ScotRail and on Ancestral Tourism in Scotland. Current projects recognise the key role marketing researchers have in finding ways for societal actors to become more responsive to environmental challenges. Engaging individuals and communities around sustainability initiatives to support wider climate change goals is vital. Projects focussed on food waste, textiles and rewilding seek to understand how marketing can impact on sustainable behaviors and make marginal activities more mainstream.
In my spare time I am an Elder within the Church of Scotland, enjoy singing, running, walking the dog and spending time with my family.
Area of Expertise
-
- Service Research (in particular Service-Dominant Logic; Customer Experience; Customer Participation; Customer Journeys; Transformative Service Research; Co-Production; Relationship Marketing)
- Engagement Research (in particular customer engagement (behaviors)/actor engagement and engagement in service ecosystems).
- Ancestral Tourism
- Community Based Tourism
Prize And Awards
- Nominated for 'Most Innovative' Teacher
- Recipient
- 2019
- Nominated for 'Most Enthusiastic' Teacher Award
- Recipient
- 2019
- Best Paper in Track
- Recipient
- 3/12/2018
- Nominated for Researcher Development Programme Supervisor of 2017/18
- Recipient
- 19/6/2018
- Best Paper Award
- Recipient
- 23/2/2018
- Commercial Development Fund - awarded £30,000
- Recipient
- 2018
Qualifications
PhD
- “Value Cocreation: Exploring the Effects of Collaborating with a Proactive Generation of Customers”; Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde (Passed no corrections, Oct 2008 - Feb 2012)
MPhil
- “An Evaluation of Operations Education in Hospitality Management Higher Education Programmes”; Master of Philosophy – Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, (Passed no corrections, 2005 – 2007)
Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate
- Postgraduate Diploma – Advanced Academic Studies, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 2004 – 2006
- Postgraduate Certificate – Research Methodology in Business and Management, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 2005– 2007
Professional memberships:
- Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (Achieved 2007)
- Member of the Institute of Hospitality (Member since 2006)
Publications
- Editorial: Reshaping the world through customer and actor engagement
- Alexander Matthew, Azer Jaylan, Conduit Jodie
- Journal of Service Theory and Practice Vol 35, pp. 165-170 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-03-2025-329
- Human–machine engagement (HME) : conceptualization, typology of forms, antecedents, and consequences
- Azer Jaylan, Alexander Matthew
- Journal of Service Research Vol 28, pp. 112-130 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705241296782
- The Artificial Intelligence enabled customer experience in tourism : a systematic literature review
- Ghesh Nada, Alexander Matthew, Davis Andrew
- Tourism Review Vol 79, pp. 1017-1037 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-04-2023-0255
- Exploring the role of automated touchpoints in B2B customer journeys
- Lehto Sissi, Alexander Matthew, McLean Graeme, Jaakkola Elina
- 13th SERVSIG Conference (2024)
- Understanding and managing engagement journeys
- Jaakkola Elina, Alexander Matthew
- Journal of Service Management Vol 35, pp. 357-380 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-02-2024-0066
- Visual Modality of Engagement : conceptualization, typology of forms, and outcomes
- Azer Jaylan, Blasco-Arcas Lorena, Alexander Matthew
- Journal of Service Research Vol 27, pp. 231-249 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705231190867
Teaching
I have been nominated seven times by students as part of Strathclyde's Teaching Excellence awards across all categories (best overall, most passionate, most innovative, most supportive). I teach classes at both undergraduate and postgraduate taught level with current classes including ‘Managing Customer Relationships’ (4th year) and ‘International Services Marketing’ (MSc). At postgraduate research level I teach on the core ‘Research Methods’ module for the MRes in Research Methodology in Business and Management.
I have considerable overseas teaching experience having delivered classes for the Business School in both Hong Kong and Iran. I have been a visiting academic at Turku School of Economics in Finland, University of Paderborn in Germany, Aston Business School and Heriot-Watt University in the UK.
I have externally examined PhD students at Nottingham University, Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia), Cranfield University, Heriot-Watt University and Nottingham Trent University. I am currently also external examiner for the MSc in International Marketing at University of Glasgow.
Research Interests
My research interests are focused on opportunities and challenges associated with an increasingly knowledgeable and proactive customer base. A principal focus is research on engagement, a concept capturing the blurring of boundaries between firms, customers, and other external actors and where the aggregation of behaviours beyond transactions influence organisations, change institutions and shape markets. Significant successes include:
A best paper nomination (2014) in the Journal of Service Research for the paper: Jaakkola, E., & Alexander, M. (2014). The Role of Customer Engagement Behavior in Value Co-Creation: A Service System Perspective. Journal of Service Research, 17(3), 247-261.
Best paper in track awards at ANZMAC and Winter AMA conferences.
An Emerald ‘Citation of Excellence’ Award (2017)
Principal Investigator on an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award worth (£57,597). The project “Cultural Heritage and Ancestral Tourism: reclaiming Scottish identity from "Highlandisation" is a collaboration with Glasgow Life.
Current active projects include investigating the relationship between engagement and customer journeys; actor engagement management; ‘from margin to mainstream’ using engagement to change entrenched consumption practices.
I have published widely in a range of Marketing, Service and Tourism journals including Journal of Service Research, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Service Management.
I serve on the editorial review board for: Journal of Service Research; The Journal of Business Research; and Journal of Service Theory and Practice.
Professional Activities
- Strategic Themes: Applied AI Workshop
- Participant
- 17/1/2025
- A search for roots is behind a surge in Scottish tourism
- Recipient
- 9/12/2024
- AMA SERVSIG 2023
- Member of programme committee
- 5/6/2024
- AMA SERVSIG 2023
- Chair
- 5/6/2024
- External Assessor for Internal Promotion
- Consultant
- 16/4/2024
- Getting over the line: finishing, preparing, defending, and moving on from your PhD
- Speaker
- 29/2/2024
Projects
- Delivering Integrated and Customised Service Experiences within a Heterogeneous Cultural Organisation
- Johnstone, Jane (Principal Investigator) Alexander, Matthew (Principal Investigator) Bryce, Derek (Principal Investigator)
- SERVSIG 2018 Conference, Paris: Opportunities for Services in a Challenging World.
- 11-Jan-2018
- Organisational Convergence, Ancestral Tourism and Provision of Cultural Heritage.
- Johnstone, Jane (Principal Investigator) Bryce, Derek (Principal Investigator) Alexander, Matthew (Principal Investigator)
- Tourism and Leisure Studies Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
- 03-Jan-2017
- Cultural Heritage and Ancestral Tourism: reclaiming Scottish identity from "Highlandisation"
- Alexander, Matthew (Principal Investigator) Bryce, Derek (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2015 - 30-Jan-2018
- Delivering ancestral tourism in an urban, heritage organisation
- Johnstone, Jane (Principal Investigator) Alexander, Matthew (Principal Investigator) Bryce, Derek (Principal Investigator)
- PhD Studentship on Ancestral Tourism in Collaboration with Glasgow Life
- 01-Jan-2015 - 01-Jan-2020
- Understanding Ancestral Tourism
- Alexander, Matthew (Co-investigator) Murdy, Samantha (Co-investigator) Bryce, Derek (Co-investigator)
- Knowledge Exchange Development Fund: £9,876
- 01-Jan-2015 - 31-Jan-2015
- Understanding Ancestral Tourism
- Alexander, Matthew (Academic) Bryce, Derek (Academic) Murdy, Samantha (Academic)
- The overall purpose of this research project is to attain a better understanding of ancestral tourism. The key research objectives related to this study are:
• To identify the specific needs and interests of ancestral tourists
• To explore the relationship between ancestral tourism and wider tourism activity
• To explore how tourism destinations and resources support the needs of ancestral tourists and the challenges therein.
This study will look to collect data in a variety of different ways to address the research objectives, and will be used to triangulate the results. As such, the following methods will be used: i) interviews with stakeholders in the tourism and heritage sectors who are involved with ancestral tourists; ii) interviews with ancestral tourists; iii) observation of ancestral tourists; and iv) questionnaires considering the tourist perspective. - 16-Jan-2014