Professor Kathy Hamilton
Marketing
Personal statement
I joined the University of Strathclyde in 2006. I’m currently a Professor in the Department of Marketing. I am also Associate Director (challenge pathways and postdoctoral fellows) with the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (SGSSS).
I predominantly teach on consumer behaviour classes. This is reflective of my research interests in the area of "Consumption, Markets and Society.”
I am co-chair of the Consumer Research with Impact for Society (CRIS) Special Interest Group within the Academy of Marketing. I am also part of the organising committee for the biennial Interpretive Consumer Research (ICR) seminars (part of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management).
Area of Expertise
- Consumer Culture
- Consumer Vulnerability
- Therapautic Consumption/Therapeutic Servicescapes
- Consumer Poverty
- Consumer research with impact for society
- Consumer-driven memorialization
Prize And Awards
Publications
- Consumer vulnerability : conditions, contexts and characteristics
- Hamilton Kathy, Dunnett Susan, Piacentini Maria
- Routledge Studies in Critical Marketing Routledge Studies in Critical Marketing (2016)
- New Directions in Consumer Research
- Hewer Paul, Hamilton Kathy, Jafari Aliakbar
- (2015)
- A 'placeful' station? The community role in place making and improving hedonic value at local railway stations
- Alexander Matthew, Hamilton Kathy
- Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice Vol 82, pp. 65-77 (2015)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2015.09.006
- Mini-miracles : transformations of self from consumption of the Lourdes pilgrimage
- Higgins Leighanne, Hamilton Kathy
- Journal of Business Research Vol 69, pp. 25-32 (2016)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.017
- Recapturing place identification through community heritage marketing
- Alexander Matthew, Hamilton Kathy
- European Journal of Marketing Vol 50, pp. 1118-1136 (2016)
- https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-05-2013-0235
- Commercialised nostalgia : staging consumer experiences in small businesses
- Hamilton Kathy, Wagner Beverly A
- European Journal of Marketing Vol 48, pp. 813-832 (2014)
- https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-05-2012-0325
Teaching
I teach classes related to consumer behaviour and qualitative methods at UG, Honours and Masters level. I have received regular nominations for the Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards. I am also a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research Interests
My research falls at the intersection of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and Transformative Consumer Research (TCR). The CCT perspective guides my theoretical contributions in terms of how market-mediated contemporary culture impacts consumers, institutions and society at large. The TCR perspective is more impact oriented and is a movement that encourages research that benefits well-being and quality of life within the context of consumer culture.
I have a longstanding interest in consumer vulnerability and how various contexts, such as poverty, transform market interactions. Some of my central research themes have been gender and family dynamics of poverty, therapeutic consumption, coping with vulnerability and marketplace stigma. I co-hosted an ESRC seminar series on the theme of consumer vulnerability with Dr Susan Dunnett (University of Edinburgh) and Prof Maria Piacentini (Lancaster University) and have published an edited book (2016) entitled "Consumer Vulnerability: Conditions, Contexts and Characteristics" as part of the Routledge Studies in Critical Marketing Series.
More recently, I was Principle Investigator for an interdisciplinary project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, on transformative servicescapes and consumer vulnerability that focuses on how public service spaces can ameliorate vulnerability in relation to community cohesion, social mobility and social and digital inclusion. I am also one of the programme leads for a project funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute on “Consumer resilience and coping strategies during the cost-of-living crisis: What consumers can do and where stakeholder interventions are needed” (with Prof Thomas Boysen Anker, University of Dundee).
My work has been published in journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, European Journal of Marketing, Sociology, Annals of Tourism Research, and Journal of Marketing Management.
Professional Activities
- 2014 ESRC Festival of Social Science
- Participant
- 2013
- Gender, Markets, and Consumers Conference
- Participant
- 26/6/2024
- 12th EIASM Workshop on Interpretive Consumer Research
- Organiser
- 17/4/2024
- Transformative Consumer Research Dialogical Conference 2023
- To be assigned
- 18/6/2023
- Cost-of-Living Stakeholder Symposium
- Organiser
- 13/6/2023
- Introducing an Ethics of Collective Academic Care
- Keynote speaker
- 26/5/2023
Projects
- 30 years of Transformation
- Hamilton, Kathy (Principal Investigator) Porteous, Holly (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Principal Investigator)
- This zoom event focused on sharing research findings and discussing the wider impact of the research in an informal and non-academic setting. Coinciding with our case organization’s 30th anniversary, the event will celebrate 30 years of transforming lives and look ahead to the next decade.
- 17-Jan-2022 - 17-Jan-2022
- Meet the Researchers
- Hamilton, Kathy (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Principal Investigator) Porteous, Holly (Principal Investigator)
- Running over several sessions, this is an open-invite for anyone interested in the project to drop in to the exhibition to ask questions, or hear more about the findings.
- Wednesday 2nd March, 2pm to 4pm
- Thursday 10th March, 5pm to 7pm
- Saturday 19th March, 1pm to 3pm
- Friday 25th March, 10am to 12pm - 02-Jan-2022 - 25-Jan-2022
- Transformations
- Hamilton, Kathy (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Principal Investigator) Porteous, Holly (Principal Investigator)
- Transformations is an art and audio-visual exhibition that ran in Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) from 1st March to 15th April 2022. The exhibition is supported by funding from the Marketing Trust and Academy of Marketing. The exhibition features:
- a collection of risograph prints that were created during our Arts-based Research. The prints depict personal expressions of what difference GWL has made to women’s lives.
- A series of illustrations that combine the words of some of our interview participants with artwork commission from Jules Scheele.
- An audio-visual presentation that uses the research findings as a knowledge base to inform recommendations on inclusive services and spaces.
This event is aimed at anyone who is interested in GWL’s work, as well as anyone looking to find inspiration on how to be more inclusive in their own organisation. - 01-Jan-2022 - 15-Jan-2022
- Age-Friendly Servicescapes: Building Inclusive Markets for Older Consumers
- Hamilton, Kathy (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2022
- Transformative Servicescapes and consumer vulnerability
- Hamilton, Kathy (Principal Investigator) Edwards, Sarah (Co-investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Co-investigator) Porteous, Holly (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2022
- How Can We Theorise With Social Impact Organisations?
- Hamilton, Kathy (Co-investigator)
- Transformative Consumer Research Project Funding of $3663, in collaboration with Agnes Nairn, University of Bristol; Susan Dunnett, University of Edinburgh Business School; Maria Piacentini, Lancaster University Management School; Emma Banister, Alliance Manchester Business School; Helene Gorge, University of Lille; Carol Scarborough, Rutgers School of Business
- 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2020