Professor Ben Lowe

Ben Lowe is Professor in Marketing at Kent Business School, University of Kent. He has served in a number of school leadership posts including as Associate Dean for Global Engagement and Recruitment, Head of the Marketing Group, Interim Director of Education and Programme Director for the MSc in Marketing and the MSc in Management. He is Regional Editor (Europe) at the European Journal of Marketing, Associate Editor at the Journal of Advertising Research and Associate Editor at the International Journal of Bank Marketing. He was Programme Co-chair at the 24th AMS World Marketing Congress in 2023 and is currently Vice-President (Global Membership) at the Academy of Marketing Science.

His work is oriented around consumer behaviour with a specific focus on consumer adoption of innovations, often in social contexts. He has published in a number of technology and marketing journals and has co-edited special issues about technology, food, psychological perspectives on obesity and AI and advertising. He has supervised eight PhD students to completion and has been invited as a PhD examiner to universities around the world. 

Ben has published over forty refereed journal articles on topics such as consumer technology adoption, consumer use of technologies to make better decisions, pricing, marketing communications and social marketing (in particular around household water consumption). These have appeared in journals such as: 

• European Journal of Marketing
• Journal of Advertising Research
• Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
• Journal of Interactive Marketing
• Journal of Business Research
• Psychology & Marketing
• Technovation
• Technological Forecasting and Social Change
• International Marketing Review
• Journal of Marketing Management
• American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and many others.

He has co-authored a global book on Marketing Research, currently in its 5th edition and has also co-edited special issues on AI and advertising (Journal of Advertising Research), consumers and technology in a changing world” (European Journal of Marketing), changing food consumption behaviours (Psychology & Marketing), and online financial services in a changing world (Service Industries Journal). 

Ben has taught across the marketing curriculum in the UK, Europe and Australia, at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He currently teaches modules in strategic marketing and customer insights at the postgraduate level. Ben’s area of specialism is Marketing Research, and he has co-authored a best-selling book in this area which is in its fifth edition. 

He has also published several articles about marketing education in journals such as the Journal of Marketing Education and the Journal of Consumer Behaviour. In 2011 he won the Faculty of Social Sciences Teaching Award at the University of Kent for using Twitter to enhance learning outcomes in business modules (with Des Laffey and William Collier).      

Ben is available to supervise PhD students in areas of aligned with his research profile.

Supervision Topics:

• Consumer behaviour and technology/innovation
• Consumer behaviour and food
• Marketing communications

Current Supervisees:

• Jennifer Chernishenko
• Muthoni Mbwiria
• Selena Rabah
• Maxim Potepkin

Past Supervisees:

• Dr Afshan Hafiz, Life Events: A Classification Study and Exploration of Consumer Behaviour by Cluster
• Dr Nuttakon Ounvorawong, Brand Victimisation’: When Consumers are Bullied by Fellow Brand Followers in Online Brand Communities
• Dr Sheena Karangi: Touch and Valuation: Understanding the Psychological Mechanisms Driving Product Valuation as a Result of Touch
• Dr Fong Yee Chan: The Effectiveness of Product Placement in Films Across Cultures: The Role of Prominence, Brand Awareness, Prior Disclosure and Depth of Processing
• Dr MD Rajibul Hasan: Consumer Adoption of Pro-poor Innovations in the Bottom of the Pyramid 
• Dr Gaye Bebek: Analysing the Differences in the Cultural Meaning of Green Products
• Dr Ugwushi Bellema Ihua: Knowledge Management in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises
• Dr David Yawson: Entrepreneurial Marketing Decision Making in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) in the Food Industry 

Ben has worked with a range of private and public sector organisations in the UK and Australia assisting with a variety of marketing problems.