Carol Esmark Jones

Feature article written by Kris Lindsey Hall – Updated (08/16/22) -.

Dr. Carol Esmark Jones (University of Tennessee) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at The University of Alabama and has served as a Co-chair (2022-2023), and VP of Communications (2020-2022) of the AMA’s RAPSIG. Prior to academia, Carol enjoyed her work in hospital administration and says she probably would still be doing that if she had not transitioned to academia.

Carol says she was drawn to marketing after taking a marketing class as an undergraduate, which turned out to be her favorite. She then wrote a senior thesis, picking a marketing-related topic, which really solidified marketing as the area of business she wanted to pursue. Currently, Carol indicates that retail is her favorite area, saying “I’m very easily persuaded to buy items I don’t need so I’m drawn to retail research to understand what drives my shopping behavior.” Her projects on privacy and embarrassment are the ones she most enjoys as the topics are fun to research and often provided unexpected results. For example, did you know some men are embarrassed to buy toilet paper? Carol shares she “never saw that coming.”

Carol shared some thoughts regarding which areas of retailing or pricing need more attention from academics. She suggests that frontline research is one critical area. Additionally, she shared that “research involving COVID’s impact would be great but hopefully that doesn’t last as a necessary topic. I wonder if this is going to speed up the need for robots in store?”  

Her best advice for Ph.D. students and junior scholars? Carol says, “Figure out what works for you. Some people work best with a traditional 9-5 schedule. Others work better nights and weekends. And find co-authors who have strengths that are your weaknesses.”

Carol’s biggest academic accomplishment thus far is earning her Ph.D., with receiving the Retail and Pricing SIG’s emerging scholar award as a close second. Although she keeps herself busy with work when Carol has a bit of downtime, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and dogs, traveling (especially seeing countrysides and nature), as well as baking and cooking. And to celebrate a job well done? She says it all depends on the occasion and how big the celebration needs to be: “It might be a fancy dinner or a day off. It might be diamond earrings. It’s usually a nice dinner. I save the earrings for the big stuff.”