Rate My Professor Shelagh Ferguson

Dr. Shelagh Ferguson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the Otago Business School, University of Otago. She earned a BA from Heriot-Watt University, an MA from Lincoln University UK, a PhD from the University of Otago, and a UK Diploma in Marketing. Prior to academia, she worked as a ski instructor and marketer on UK ski fields. She has taught and researched in marketing and tourism since 1996 and joined the University of Otago's Marketing Department in 2002 after relocating to New Zealand's South Island for its mountains and to pursue her doctorate. Her academic career complements her passion for outdoor pursuits, including climbing, skiing, and mountain biking, which inform her research on adventure experiences.

Ferguson's research focuses on consumer behaviour, adventure tourism, marketplace culture, gendered marketing, and tobacco control. She utilizes interpretive, ethnographic, and videographic methods to examine consumer experiences, identity construction via adventure activities like bungy jumping, brand culture among seasonal ski workers, and the socialisation of female climbers. Her PhD explored consumer narratives of commercial adventure experiences in relation to Generation Y, aspirations of 'cool', and identity creation. Key publications include 'The brand personality of rocks: A critical evaluation of a brand personality scale' (Marketing Theory, 2014), which received the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Economics; 'Setting up home: The role of domestic materiality in extended family identity formation' (Journal of Business Research, 2022); 'Gender equity in the marketing academy: From performative to institutional allyship' (Australasian Marketing Journal, 2022); 'Feminist academic organizations: Challenging sexism through collective mobilizing across research, support, and advocacy' (Gender, Work & Organization, 2024); and contributions to journals such as Annals of Tourism Research, Tobacco Control, and European Journal of Marketing. She teaches MART 201: Integrated Marketing Communications and MART 329: Consumer Behaviour. Ferguson serves on the advisory board of GENMAC (Gender, Markets & Consumers).