Colleen Harmeling, Ph.D.

Professor, Alan F. and Irene Bloomfield Professorship, Co-Director of Graduate Studies - Marketing

Education:

• Ph.D., Saint Louis University, 2014

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Colleen Harmeling is Alan F. and Irene Bloomfield Professor of Marketing at University of Kentucky. Colleen’s research focuses on complex social systems particularly digital marketplaces that affect stakeholder engagement and customer experience design with an emphasis on consumer vulnerability, the role of morality in consumption, healthcare decision-making, privacy, ownership and identity. Her research appears in Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of International Business Studies. She is an area editor for Journal of Academy of Marketing Science and on the ERB for the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research and Journal of International Business Studies. She has been named a Marketing Science Institute Scholar, ISBM Scholar and the Erin Anderson Award winner. Her work on group marketing won the 2017 Shelby D. Hunt/Harold Maynard Award. Her work on online experiences was a finalist for the Paul Root Award and the AMA/Sheth Award. Her work on stigma was a finalist for the Paul E. Green Award and the AMA-EBSCO-RRBM Award.

Teaching Expertise:

• Marketing Research
• Marketing Analytics

Research Expertise:

• Meaning and Happiness
• Consumption and Morality
• Consumer Vulnerability
• Social Media and Digital Marketplaces
• Stigma
• Digital Ownership
• Healthcare Decision-Making

Selected Publications

Hochstein, Rachel, Ela Veresiu, Colleen M. Harmeling (2025). “Moralization of Everyday Consumption Practices: The Case of Self-Care,” Journal of Consumer Research (UTD, FT50).

Rachel Hochstein, Colleen M. Harmeling, Taylor Perko*(2024). “Toward a Theory of Consumer Digital Trust: Meta Analytic Evidence of its Role in the Effectiveness of User-Generated Content,” Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, (FT50).

Harmeling, Colleen M., Martin Mende, Maura Scott, Robert W. Palmatier (2021). “Marketing, Through the Eyes of the Stigmatized,” Journal of Marketing Research (UTD; FT50), 58(2), 223-45.

Almaguer, Jacob, Reto Felix, and Colleen M. Harmeling (2025). “Emoji Marketing: Toward a Theory of Brand Paralinguistics,” International Journal of Research in Marketing.

• Jung, Hyeyoon,* Peter Magnusson, Colleen M. Harmeling, Valerie Taylor (2025), “Reexamining Consumer Foreign Bias toward Service Providers: How International Conflicts Shape Consumer Healthcare Decision-Making,” Journal of Service Research.