Personal statement
Dr Jafari is Director of Postgraduate Research Programme in the Department of Marketing. He joined the University of Strathclyde in September 2008 after completing his PhD. Before joining academia, he held international marketing positions in the Iranian automotive industries for several years.
Dr Jafari is a Research Fellow at Vlerick Business School in Belgium and the Chief Visiting Examiner at SOAS University of London for postgraduate degrees awarded by the departments of Finance and Management, Economics, Development Studies, Law, Politics and International Studies, and Academic Summer School. He is also External Examiner for MSc Management Programmes at Queen's University Belfast.
He sits on the editorial review board of Consumption, Markets & Culture and senior editorial advisory board of Journal of Islamic Marketing. He also sits on the editorial board of Journal of Marketing Management, Marketing Theory, Iranian Journal of Management Studies, Tourism Planning and Development, International Journal of Islamic Marketing and Branding and several other academic journals.
Dr Jafari has served Marketing Theory as guest co-editor of two special issues: "Non-western contexts: The invisible half " (2012) and "Islamic Encounters in Consumption and Marketing" (2013) and a special commentary section on "Ethnicity and Wellbeing in Marketing and Consumer Research" (2015). As invited (keynote) speaker he has delivered talks in different academic and professional events in the UAE, UK, Malaysia, Turkey, and Iran. He has co-edited 'Islam, Marketing and Consumption: Critical Perspectives on the Intersections' (Routledge, 2016) (with Ö. Sandıkcı) and the four-volume set of 'New Directions in Consumer Research' (Sage, 2015) (with P. Hewer and K. Hamilton).
He has received Consumer Culture Theory Conference's 2016 Best Special Session Award, Emerald's 2015 Citations of Excellence Award for his single-authored journal article "Islamic Marketing: insights from a critical perspective" and Consumption, Markets & Culture's 2014 Honourable Mention Award for his co-authored journal article "Globalization, Reflexivity and the Project of the Self: A Virtual Intercultural Learning Process". Dr Jafari also received a prestigious Visiting Associate Professor Research Fellowship from The Scientific & Technological Research Council Of Turkey (TUBITAK) in 2016.
Teaching
During the past seven years, Dr Jafari has been consecutively nominated by his students for the University of Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award in all categories of Overall Best Teacher, Passion for Subject, Most Innovative Teacher, and Most Supportive Teacher. He teaches at postgraduate levels (Masters and Executive MBA) and his key areas of teaching include Strategic Marketing Management, Marketing Management, and Cross-cultural Buyer Behaviour. He employs a wide range of learning material such as academic literature, industry reports, secondary data from media, policy, and marketing agencies, short case studies, documentaries, and video clips to engage students in hilghly interactive discussions. Translation of theory into practice and development of theory from practice are central to his teaching approach.
Research interests
Dr. Jafari's research includes areas such as marketing strategy, branding, market formation and transformation, institutional theory, consumption cultures, marketplace conflicts and resolutions, intersections of markets and religions/spiritualities, marketplace diversity, and interpretive research methods. He studies markets as social contexts in which multiple formal and informal institutions interact, values and systems of meanings are constantly created and recreated, and diverse sets of practices are (re)shaped. He has served different international conferences (e.g., Transformative Consumer Research, Macromarketing, and International Society for Markets and Development) as Track Chair. As invited speaker, he has also delivered talks to various high profile industry audiences across Europe and Asia.
Professional activities
- Chief Visiting Examiner at SOAS University of London for postgraduate degrees awarded by the departments of Finance and Management, Economics, Development Studies, Law, Politics and International Studies, and Academic Summer School.
- Examiner
- 9/2019
- External Examiner for MSc Management Programmes at Queen's University Belfast
- Examiner
- 9/2019
- Vlerick Business School
- Visiting researcher
- 7/2019
- European Association for Consumer Research
- Participant
- 6/2018
- Market Mediation of Ethno-Religious Conflicts
- Recipient
- 10/5/2018
- Invited Speaker at Halal Industry Conference
- Participant
- 3/5/2018
more professional activities
Projects
- The institutional role of imagination in the formation of a market: an investigation of the emergence of a global halal market (Newton Fund)
- Jafari, Aliakbar (Principal Investigator)
- Over the past decade, the so-called halal economy has received increasing attention both in the media and academia. Given the rapid growth of the Muslim population, which is estimated to reach 2.2 billion by 2030, the halal market is seen as representing a substantial potential for companies operating not only in the food category but also in cosmetics, fashion, media, hospitality and many other industries. Our research reveals that different actors, including consumers, companies, media, politicians, and NGOs actively contribute to the production and communication of information about the halal economy.
- 13-Jan-2017 - 09-Jan-2018
- Employee Family Work Balance and Company Performance: Irreconcilable or Complementary
- Karampela, Maria (Co-investigator) Gounaris, Spiros (Principal Investigator) Jafari, Aliakbar (Co-investigator)
- Funding application to ESRC
- 01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2019
more projects