Dr Aliakbar Jafari
Reader
Marketing
Area of Expertise
- Executive Education
- Marketing strategy
- Branding
- Market formation and transformation
- Consumption cultures
- Intersections of markets and religions/spiritualities
- Interpretive research methods
Prize And Awards
- Nominee for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award 2021
- Recipient
- 2021
- Nominee for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award 2020
- Recipient
- 5/2020
- Nominee for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award 2019
- Recipient
- 2019
- Nominee for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award 2018
- Recipient
- 5/2018
- Nominee for Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award
- Recipient
- 2017
- Best Special Session Award (2016) for co-chairing ‘Religion, Markets and Consumption: Critical Inquiries at the Intersections’ at Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Lille, France.
- Recipient
- 7/7/2016
Publications
- Claiming market ownership : territorial activism in stigmatized markets
- Sandikci Ozlem, Jafari Aliakbar, Fischer Eileen
- Journal of Business Research Vol 175 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114574
- Theorizing consumption and markets in the context of religion : a commentary section on Appau's (2021) "divine economic system"
- Jafari Aliakbar, Moufahim Mona, Rinallo Diego, Appau Samuelson
- Marketing Theory Vol 23, pp. 533-553 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231153192
- The impact of structurally induced permanent liminality on market dynamics
- Aly Marwa, Jafari Aliakbar, Doherty Anne Marie
- Utopia Revisited, pp. 1-3 (2023)
- The role of institutions in non-Western contexts in reinforcing West-centric knowledge hierarchies : towards more self-reflexivity in marketing and consumer research
- Jafari Aliakbar
- Marketing Theory Vol 22, pp. 211–227 (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221075371
- An analytical review of market system dynamics in consumer culture theory research : insights from the sociology of markets
- Jafari Aliakbar, Aly Marwa, Doherty Anne Marie
- Journal of Business Research Vol 139, pp. 1261-1274 (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.10.040
- The performativity and institutionality of 'Islamicness' in 'Islamic tourism' : defining a field and proposing a research agenda
- Jafari Aliakbar
- Journal of Islamic Tourism Vol 1, pp. 5-21 (2021)
Teaching
During the past consecutive 10 years, my students have generously nominated me 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. I teach at postgraduate levels (Masters and Executive MBA) and my key areas of teaching include Strategic Marketing Management, Marketing Management, and Cross-cultural Buyer Behaviour. I employ 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 my teaching approach.
Research Interests
I study markets primarily as socioculturally embedded contexts in which multiple formal and informal institutions and their actors interact, values and systems of meanings are (re)created, and diverse practices, processes, and offerings (i.e., products and services) are (re)shaped. From this perspective, my research interests include a variety of topics all of which rotate around the concept of market dynamism. These topics include branding practices and strategies, organisational change in response to internal and external triggers, conflicts and resolutions in multicultural marketplaces, marketplace resistance and opposition, politics and policies of consumption; consumer networks and movements, postcolonial approaches to the study of market phenomena (e.g., production, distribution, promotion, consumption, and disposal of products and services), and the intersections of the market, religions and spiritualities. In my research, I employ various qualitative approaches such as ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical analysis, case study, and action research, using depth interviews, focus groups, observations, archival data, and visual analysis. I have served different international conferences (e.g., Transformative Consumer Research, Macromarketing, and International Society for Markets and Development) as Track Chair and as, an invited speaker, has delivered talks to various high profile industry and policy audiences across Europe and Asia.
Professional Activities
- Journal of Business Management Perspective (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 1/2024
- Utopia Revisited
- Member of programme committee
- 26/6/2023
- CCT Conference 2023
- Participant
- 2023
- External Examiner for PhD Thesis
- Examiner
- 16/12/2022
- Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference 2021
- Chair
- 14/7/2021
- R&D Management Conference 2020 (Event)
- Advisor
- 27/6/2020
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