Feature article written by Jeremy Wolter – Updated (09/15/22) -.
AMA’s RAPSIG would like to introduce one of the new VPs of Communications, Christian Barney, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Georgia Southern University.
Christian earned her Ph.D. from Mississippi State University after getting her MBA from the University of Montana and working at POSSIBLE, a digital creative agency in Seattle, WA, and in online retail analytics at Mason Companies in Chippawa Falls, WI.
Christian Barney
Professional Title: Assistant Professor of Marketing
Current University: Georgia Southern University
RAPSIG Title: VP of Communications
Email: cbarney@georgiasouthern.edu
Christian enjoys studying consumer decision-making and consumers responses to the actions of retailers to propose creative ways for firms to improve existing practices. Her first research project examined how product packaging and retail placement affects consumer responses to embarrassing products, and ever since she’s been fascinated by consumer strategy research. Her research has extended to look at different forms of retail atmospherics in both online and brick-and-mortar stores.
Christian’s dissertation further delves into the role of retail atmospherics but does so using her other interest, digital marketing, because she sees the retail experience “becoming more integrated” as “we are increasingly using technology to help with that experience”. More specifically, her dissertation focuses on the impact of narratives in online product descriptions, which she finds “particularly interesting given the way many consumers are now being pushed to more online channels of retailing.”
What advice does Christian give to her peers?
“Always be looking forward to how the world is changing and how you can contribute to changing it for the better.”
Who are Christian’s role models?
Christian considers herself fortunate to have several academic role models. These include her mentor and co-author Dr. Carol Esmark Jones, her dissertation co-chairs, Dr. Michael Breazeale and Dr. Joel Collier, and her co-authors Dr. Adam Farmer and Dr. V. Myles Landers, who she enjoys working with on the RAPSIG communications team!
Christian can be reached at cbarney@georgiasouthern.edu.