The Reality of Virtuality

Dr. Kirsten Cowan (Senior Lecturer in marketing at University of Edinburgh) researches how immersive technologies engage consumers at each phase of the consumer journey. As such, VR has been the focus of her latest research. These projects review extant research on VR, investigate how consumer involvement in VR affects information processing, evinces how sensory marketing shapes consumer responses toward brands, and examines how virtual experiences differ from real experiences. Her publications on VR appeared in Journal of Business Research and European Journal of Marketing. One of her current projects with Dr. Ketron and Dr. Kostyk investigates sensory inputs in VR.

Dr. Seth Ketron is an Assistant Professor of marketing at the University of St. Thomas, USA. His research interests are primarily in consumer behavior and retailing, specifically focusing on sensory marketing and information processing as well as VR. He has co-authored publications on virtual reality with Dr. Cowan in Journal of Business Research and European Journal of Marketing and, along with Dr. Cowan and Dr. Kostyk, won "The Most Innovative" paper award at the 2019 Academy of Marketing Global Branding SIG.

Dr. Alena Kostyk is a Senior Lecturer in marketing at the University of Glasgow, UK. She has been long fascinated by consumers' response to technology-enhanced environments. She was awarded several grants for impact-focused collaborations that build on her VR research. She works with tourism organizations in Scotland to develop their VR marketing; engages with VR marketing content creators, and specialized industry groups. Her work appears in academic outlets such as Business Horizons, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research. Prior to academia, she spent nearly 10 years working in the private sector.