Expertise
Public Policy / Transformative Consumer Research; Sustainability; Mindfulness; Digital / Interactive Marketing; BrandingResearch Interests
Digital/Interactive Marketing; Consumer responses to new marketing technologies (holograms, VR/AR); Social media branding; Consumer-centric sustainable consumption; Mindfulness, Consumer apathyEducation
Ph.D., Marketing, UMass Amherst, 2013M.B.A., International Business, St. John's University, 2008
B.A., Political Science/French Language & Literature, McGill University, 2004
Biosketch
Spencer M. Ross, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Manning School of Business. His dual research interests focus on transformative consumer research issues and on digital/interactive marketing communications.
In the transformative consumer research/public policy area, Ross is primarily focused on how to get consumers to make more prosocial (sustainable) choices; his doctoral dissertation focused on consumer dispositions toward prosocial consumption versus self-interest. He published in the Journal of Business research on materialism, as well as in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing on consumer mindfulness. In 2015, Ross was awarded a Transformative Consumer Research seed funding to study the effects of mindfulness mobile apps on consumption choices.
In the digital/interactive marketing area, Ross focuses on consumer responses to new marketing technologies. His current research focuses on the value created by brands communicating with other brands on social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Vine). In addition, his research has looked at consumer experiences with holographic consumption and other marketing technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. He was also an invited attendee at the 2016 Marketing EDGE (formerly Direct/Interactive Marketing Educators' Foundation) Professors Institute. Ross has presented research at multiple conferences, including the Marketing EDGE Research Summit, and the Academy of Marketing Science, AMA Marketing & Public Policy, and AMA Educators' Conferences.
Prior to joining the faculty at UMass Lowell, Ross was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing at Suffolk University (2014-2015) and at Simmons College (2013-2014). His industry experience includes positions in marketing at AllianceBernstein, as well as a senior frontline service position at a regional retail bank. Aside from being a fervent Montreal Canadiens fan and specialty coffee enthusiast, Spencer is also a member of the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, Academy of Marketing Science, and Marketing EDGE.