PHD STUDENTS

Biography

Undergraduate Degree: BBS; MBS

Supervisor:  Dr. Joan Buckley

Research Interests:  International marketing, services marketing, service quality management, marketing for hospitality.

Service quality is one of the main contributors to the success of the hotel industry.  The purpose of my thesis – 'A comparison of service quality management practices of Chinese-owned hotel sector and internationally-owned hotel chains operating in the Chinese market' – is to examine the issues of hotel service quality in the indigenously-owned and managed Chinese hotel sector, in comparison to the management practices of internationally-owned and managed hotel chains operating in the Chinese market.

Biography

Undergraduate Degree: MBS (Travel & Tourism Mgt)

Supervisor:  Dr. Joan Buckley

Research Interests:  This research examines the phenomenon of city-break tourism.   In particular, it explores the motivations and decision making involved in taking city-break trips, especially in the context of people’s overall trip-taking behaviour.   The research involves a multi-methods approach and aims to develop a model of decision making that can be used to better understand and attract this increasingly important visitor market niche.

Biography

Undergraduate Degree:  BA (Applied Psychology)

Supervisor:  Dr. Carol Linehan

Research Interest:    Organisational Psychology, Organisational Change

I am interested in people's experiences of new work practices.   In particular, I am focusing on how people make sense of and adjust to the flexible work practice of teleworking/working from home.   Issues such as the teleworker's construction of identity and the negotiation of relationships with others will be addressed in this research.

Biography

Undergraduate Degree: B.Tech; MSc(Tech)

Supervisor: Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interests:  My research focuses on the relationship between the creation and development of a new technology and the strategic activities of industries.   The research specifically addresses the questions of what constitutes a 'new' technology, and what is the nature of the relationship between a new technology and industry.   To this end it defines new technology, distinguishing its influence from that exerted by other technologies.   It then describes the nature of the relationship between this new technology and an industry's behaviour, using the stent industry as a case.   I examine several aspects of the relationship in detail and attempt to develop a perspective from which other new technology situations can be usefully viewed. This research fits into the field of technology management which draws together the work of different disciplines and diverse streams of literature.

Biography

Supervisor:  Dr. Carol Linehan

Research Interest:  Emotion Labour in the Human Resources Profession

Research Aim:  The aim of this research is to understand the nature and extent of emotion labour requirements in the Human Resources job role, and to identify the job and employee characteristics that both evoke emotion management and moderate its effect on the individual.

The term Emotion Labour was coined by Hochschild (1983), to describe the presentation at work, of emotions that are specified and desired by the organisation.  The rules of the job role, however, may at times require the employee to display one emotion whilst feeling another, this involves a certain amount of ‘acting’ or management.  For example the cocktail waitress or flight attendant who must continually appear “exuberant and friendly” even to abusive customers.  Evidence is mounting that ‘putting on an act’ typically leads to negative job and psychological outcomes such as stress, emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction.

Much of the research to date on the subject of emotion labour has focused on employees in low-level, non-professional jobs in the service sector and has also centred around determining the extent and effects of performing emotion labour job requirements.

Further research is required within this field to gain a more systematic understanding of the requirements for emotion management across a variety of job roles, particularly in non-service sector and professional level jobs.  There is also evidence that certain job and employee characteristics and skills can moderate the negative effects of emotion work and further work is needed to explore these relationships.

Biography

Degrees:   BComm; MBS

Supervisor:  Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interests:  I am interested in the changes that have occurred in organisational life as a result of evolving attitudes to work,j play and the 'work-life' balance.   What has changed about the typical work-life balance in recent years?   Has there been a change in what we consider to be the definition of work?   The main subject disciplines addressed in this research are Organisational Behaviour, Psychology and Sociology.

Biography

Degrees:      BA (Marketing); Graduate Dip in Business Studies; Dip in Public Relations

Supervisor:   Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interests:  My work will look at political marketing and the organisational development of political parties as collectives.   In particular, the impact of a marketing orientation, as the central motivator on the nature and objectives of the political party, will be explored.   In a political environment, what is and has been the impact of marketing being adopted as a philosophy rather than as collection methods, applications and practices?   In this context, the relationships between ideology, pragmatism and marketing and the subsequent influence on the structures of party, the membership and society will also be studied.   The struggle between the concepts of exploitation and exploration may be at play in the quest of political parties to not only remain relevant, but to survive.   This research will attempt to expand the literature on political marketing by presenting the area as an invasive system of beliefs, values and tenants rather than as  discrete technique.

Biography

Undergraduate Degree: MA(HRM)

Supervisor:  Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interests: Individual belief and its impact on voluntary helping.

An individual’s organisational reality is greatly affected by their perceptions or beliefs.  How people behave can often be better predicted by the beliefs they hold about their capabilities than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing.   People act on their beliefs about what they can do and these beliefs are a personal judgement of their own capability. Consequently, a n individual’s engagement in voluntary helping may vary according to the extent to which they believe in themselves and their capability to help.   However, the potential influence of self encouraging or limiting beliefs is little explored in an organisational context.   As such, our research assesses the possibility of a relationship between belief and voluntary helping and seeks to develop theory that can guide the measurement of this belief and explicitly seeks to define these concepts.

Biography

Degrees:   BSc (Chemistry);  HDip in Management and Marketing

Supervisor:   Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interest:  My area of interest is female consumption groups.   In particular, I am interested in how women use subcultural communities of consumption as a means to aid passage through liminal zones and also how women use consumption to define a feminine space in an increasingly gender de-differenciated world.

Biography

Degree :  MSc Mgmt. (Organisational Behaviour), Dip. COT

Supervisor:  Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interest:  The nature of Management in Health Services Research Interest:  

My particular interest is the relationship between clinical and non-clinical managers and the similarities and differences betweeen these two groups' management.  Therefore, my interest is in exploring the broad question of what is management and what is management in health services?

Biography

Degrees:   BBS;  MBS (Food Marketing)

Supervisor:   Dr. Brendan Richardson

Research Interests:  My area of interest is marketing and consumer behaviour, specifically the phenomenon of brand community.   I am investigating the nature and dynamics of the relationship between the brand community and the corporation.   The community-corporation relationship is characterised by symbiosis and resistance.   This study aims to explore how such resistances arise and how they may be reconciled in order for both the brand community and corporation to maximise value creation.   Other areas of interest include sacred consumption, subcultures of consumption, relationship marketing, and retro branding.

MSC BY RESEARCH STUDENTS

Biography

Degrees:  BA; HDip in Management & Marketing

Supervisor:   Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interest:  My research focuses on Mass Customization which seems, in itself, paradoxical at first.   Mass Customization leads to the co-operation between customers and companies, which results in customer co-creation of a product.   This communication is based on recent technologies such as the internet.   I am particularly interested in the publishing industry and my aim is to explore the phenomenon of Mass Customization within this industry.

Biography

Undergraduate Degree: B.Comm

Supervisor:   Dr. Brendan Richardson

Research Interests:  I will be looking at the "quest for excitement" in today's society whereby people engage in activities that are dangerous and stressful instead of choosing more sedate activities to occupy their spare time.   I will be doing an ethnographic study of people who engage in extreme sports, and examining why they choose these extreme sports for leisure purposes instead of traditional, less stressful alternatives.

MCOMM STUDENTS

Biography

Degrees:        BEng(Civil);  HDip.Ed.

Supervisor:    Dr. Donncha Kavanagh

Research Interest:  Franchises abound all around us.   From the yellow arches of McDonalds to the glass and metallic garage forecourts of Ford dealers, franchising is used as a cost effective means by the franchisor of attaining brand exposure and market penetration.

Franchising is a form of marketing and distribution in which the franchisor grants to an individual or company,  the franchisee, the right to run a business selling a product or providing a service using the franchisor's business format under the franchisor's trade mark or brand.   The franchisee pays a once-off franchise fee to the franchisor and the business relationship is governed by the franchise agreement, a legally binding contract between the parties.

I am interested in franchising from the perspective of the franchisee.   It is recognised in the research to date that the franchisor/franchisee relationship is asymmetrical in terms of control, power and information sharing.   My research interest is in exploring the factors which motivate franchisees to sign on for franchising.