Keele Management School

I started at Keele in January 2005. Before coming to Keele I worked as a Lecturer in Marketing at Stirling University for five years. Prior to this I gained an MSc in Society and Space and a PhD from Bristol University, School of Geographical Sciences which was funded by a University of Bristol postgraduate scholarship.

My current research interests lie in two key areas: the cultures of secondhand markets and the construction of gender and identity in organizational life.

The Cultures of Secondhand Markets

At present I am concerned with the construction of value in secondhand markets. This research takes a material culture approach to the study of consumption emphasising the social and cultural construction of the meaning of objects. It is also concerned with developing perspectives on consumption which pay attention to what we do with the things that surround us, and which acknowledge that things have lives, not just when they enter and re-enter the commodity phase. My current project has involved interviews with second-hand and antique dealers based in Glasgow and Leek (Staffordshire).

Gender and Identity in Organizational Life

A current project with Cinzia Priola (Aston University) explores the construction of gender in the academic workplace. We are currently conducting interviews with feminist academics from European Business Schools who have undertaken research with the aim of challenging the gender status quo in their own institutions. Our findings thus far highlight the crowding out of feminist work (and indeed feminist subjectivities) within contemporary neoliberalist - managerialist discourses circulating in European Business Schools.

A second current project with colleagues at Keele and Royal Holloway Universities provides a poststructuralist feminist critique of existing studies of marketing work through a focus on the embodied marketing worker subject. In doing so we have undertaken a series of interviews with female marketing practitioners about their experiences of ‘doing marketing’. We have begun to identify a series of issues arising from a more fully embodied perspective which have hitherto been largely ignored including the operation of power, control and agency in marketing work.

Books

• Brannan, M.J., Parsons, E. and Priola, V. (Eds.) (2011) Branded Lives: The Production and Consumption of Meaning at Work. Edward Elgar: Gloucester.

• Tadajewski, M., Maclaran, P. Parsons, E., and Parker, M. (Eds) (2011) Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies. Sage: London.

• Parsons, E. and Maclaran, P. (2009) (Eds.) Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Elsevier: London.

• Parsons, E, Maclaran, P and Tadajewski, M. (Eds.) (2008) Nonprofit Marketing, Sage Major Works Series, Sage: London.

Book Chapters

• Cappellini, B and Parsons, E (forthcoming, 2013) ‘Whose Work is it Anyway? The shifting dynamics of doing mothering’ S. O'Donohoe, M. Hogg, P. Maclaran, L. Martens and L. Stevens, Motherhood, Markets and Consumption: The Making of Mothers in Contemporary Western Cultures Taylor Francis/Routledge.

• Cappellini, B and Parsons, E (2012) ‘(Re) enacting Motherhood: Self-sacrifice and Abnegation in the Kitchen’ in R. Belk and A. Ruvio (eds), Identity and Consumption,London: Routledge

• Parsons, E (2012) ‘Needs and Wants’ in Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage, Carl, A. Zimring and William, L. Rathje (Eds.), Sage:London, pp581-582.

• Parsons, E. (2012) ‘Capitalism’ in Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage, Carl, A. Zimring andWilliam, L. Rathje (Eds.), Sage: London, pp99-101.

• Parsons, E. (2011) 'Gender' in Tadajewski, M., Maclaran, P. Parsons, E., and Parker, M. Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies. Sage: London.

• Parsons, E. and Maclaran, P. (2009) ‘Introduction: Marketing in the Contemporary Organisation’ in E. Parsons and P. Maclaran, Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Elsevier: London, pp1-12.

• Parsons, E. (2009) ‘Ethical Debates in Marketing’ in E. Parsons and P. Maclaran Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Elsevier: London, pp121-140.

• Parsons, E. (2009) ‘New Technologies of Marketing Research’ in E. Parsons and P. Maclaran Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Elsevier: London, pp177-196.

• Parsons, E (2006) ‘The Voluntary Spaces of Charity Shops: Workplaces or Domestic Spaces?’ in D. Conradson and C. Milligan, (Eds.) Landscapes of Voluntarism, The Policy Press: Bristol pp231-247.

Editorships of Journal Special Issues

• Parsons, E. and Denegri-Knott, J. (forthcoming, 2014) ‘Ambiguous Goods’, a special issue of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, deadline for paper submissions 31 March 2013

• Parsons, E. (2012) ‘The Marketing Object’, a virtual special issue of Marketing Theory, http://mtq.sagepub.com/site/virtual_special_issues/the_marketing_object.xhtml.

• Parsons, E and Maclaran, P (2009) ‘Unpacking Disposal’ Special Issue of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Vol. 8, No.6.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

• Parsons, E. (2013) ‘Pioneering Consumer Economist: Elizabeth Ellis Hoyt (1893-1980)’ special issue of the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing on the contribution of women to the development of marketing theory, in press.
• Cappellini, B. and Parsons, E. (2013) ‘Practising Thrift at Dinnertime: Mealtime Leftovers, Sacrifice and Family Membership’ Sociological Review, in press.
• Elsharnouby, T and Parsons, E (2013) ‘When Relationship Marketing Goes Wrong: Opportunism and Consumer Wellbeing in Consumer-Bank Relationships’, Journal of Relationship Marketing, in press.
• Parsons, E. and Priola, V. (2012), 'Agents for Change and Changed Agents. The Micro-Politics of Change and Feminism in the Academy', Gender, Work and Organization, available online early view, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2012.00605.x/abstract
• Cappellini, B and Parsons, E (2012), 'Constructing the Culinary Consumer: Transformative and Reflective Processes in Italian Cookbooks', Consumption, Markets and Culture, available online early view, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10253866.2012.701893
• Cappellini, B and Parsons, E (2012), ‘Sharing the Meal: Food Consumption and Family Identity’, in R. W. Belk, S. Askegaard, L. Scott (ed.) Research in Consumer Behavior (Research in Consumer Behavior, Volume 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.109-128
• Cappellini, B. and Parsons, E. (2011) Landof Historyand Romance:  Consuming Nostalgia through the British Italian Cookbook, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 39, pp.392-397
• Elsharnouby, T. and Parsons, E. (2011) ‘A Broader Concept of Relationships: Identifying New Forms of Consumer-Provider Interactions in Egyptian Financial Services’ Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 26, No.13, pp1367-1388.
• Parsons, E. (2010), ‘Markets, Identities and the DiscoursesofAntique Dealing’, Marketing Theory, Vol.10, No.3., pp283-298.
• Takhar, A, Maclaran, P, Broderick, A and Parsons E. (2010), ‘Consuming Bollywood: Young Sikh’s Social Comparisons with Heroes and Heroines in Indian Films’, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol.26, No.11-12, pp1057-1073.
• Maclaran, P., Miller, C., Parsons, E. and Surman, E. (2009), ‘Praxis or Performance: Does Critical Marketing Have a Gender Blind-spot?’Journal of Marketing Management, Vol.25, No.7-8, pp713-728.
• Parsons, E. (2009) ‘Creating ‘The Look’: Staging Value in the Antique Shop’, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol.36, pp177-180.
• Parsons, E. (2008) ‘Dealing in Histories: Durability, Authenticity and Provenance in Markets for Antiques’ European Advances in Consumer Research Vol.8. pp112-113.
• Parsons, E. (2008) ‘Thompsons’ Rubbish Theory: Exploring the Practices of Value Creation’ European Advances in Consumer Research Vol.8, pp390-393.
• Maclaran P., Broderick A., Takhar A. and Parsons E. (2008) ‘The Computer as ‘Middle Agent’: Negotiating the Meanings of Marriage on a Sikh Online Dating Site’ European Advances in Consumer Research Vol.8, pp60-65.
• Parsons, E. and Broadbridge, A. (2007) ‘Charity, Retail or Care? Gender and Managerialism in the Charity Retail Sector’ Women in Management Review, Vol.22, No.7, pp552-567.
• Parsons, E. and Broadbridge, A. (2006) ‘Job Motivation and Satisfaction: Unpacking the Key Factors for Charity Shop Managers’,  The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol.13, No.2, pp121-131.
• Parsons, E. (2006) ‘Dealing in Second-hand Goods: Creating Meaning and Value’, European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol.7, pp189-194.
• Broadbridge, A. and Parsons, E. (2005) ‘Gender and Career Choice: Experiences of UK Charity Retail Managers’ Career Development International, Vol.10, No.2, pp80-97.
• Parsons, E. and Broadbridge, A. (2004) ‘Managing Change in Nonprofit Organizations: Insights from the UK Charity Retail Sector’ Voluntas, Vol.15, No.3, pp227-242. 
• Parsons, E. (2004) 'Charity Shop Managers in the UK : Becoming More Professional ?’ The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol.11, No.5, pp259-268.
• Parsons, E. (2004) 'Charity Retailing in the UK: A Typology' The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol.11, No.1, pp31-40.
• Parsons, E., Shmelova, S. and Savel’yev, I.  (2004) 'Gender and Higher Education Management: Western and Eastern European Perspectives' Ekonomické Rozhlady (Economic Review: Quarterly Journal of the University of Economics, Bratislava) Vol.33, No.1, pp 18-31.
• Broadbridge, A. and Parsons, E. (2003) 'UK Charity Retailing: Managing in a Newly Professionalised Sector' Journal of Marketing Management, Vol.19, No.7-8, pp729-748.
• Broadbridge, A. and Parsons, E. (2003) 'Still Serving the Community? The Professionalisation of the UK Charity Retail Sector' International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management Vol.31, No.8, pp418-427.
• Parsons, E. (2002) 'Charity Retail: Past, Present and Future' International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol.30, No.12, pp586-594.
• Parsons, E. (2000) 'New Goods, Old Records and Second-hand Suits: Charity Shopping in South West England’ Retail Special Issue ofInternational Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing,Vol.5, No.2, pp141-151.

I have taught on a range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My key areas of teaching focus have been: Consumer Behaviour,Social, Charity and Nonprofit Marketing and Marketing and Society.

I currently teach Consuming Behvaiours and Contemporary Issues in Marketing to the MA Marketing cohort; and Understanding the Consumer on the undergraduate degree.

PhD Supervision

As first supervisor:

• Benedetta Cappellini ‘The Culture of the Meal: Class, Family and Time in the Everyday Consumption of Italian Cuisine’ (f/t registered Sept 2006, graduate Nov 2010).
• Tamer Hamed Safwat Elsharnouby ‘Relationship Marketing: Rhetoric and Practice in the Egyptian Banking Sector’ (f/t registered Sept 2006, graduated March 2010).

As joint supervisor:

• Krzysztof Kubacki (by publication) ‘Exploring Market Identities of Musicians: A Cross-cultural Approach’ (graduated May 2010).

As second supervisor:

• Amandeep Takhar ‘How Computer Culture is Mediating Sikh Courtship Rituals’ (p/t registered Sept 2005, graduated March 2010).