Colleen Harmeling

Professor of Marketing

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Colleen Harmeling is Professor of Marketing at University of Kentucky. Colleen’s research focuses on complex social systems that affect stakeholder engagement and customer experience design with an emphasis on consumer vulnerability, the role of morality in consumption, healthcare decision-making, and understudied stakeholders. Her working research focuses on cultural belief systems such as the American Dream and the Protestant Work Ethic and how they influence broader social systems. 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 a Developmental Editor for Journal of Marketing, an Area Editor for Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, and on the ERB for the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of International Business Studies. She has been named an MarketingScience 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.

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