
Dr Fiona Harris
Senior Lecturer
The Open University Business School
Biography
Professional biography
Fiona is a Senior Lecturer in Management in the Department for Strategy and Marketing. Her doctoral research was in brand management. Prior to joining The Open University, Fiona held research posts in industry, governmental and educational institutions, conducting research in a variety of areas of product/system development.
Fiona is Co-Lead for the Social and Responsible Marketing Research Cluster.
Research interests
Fiona’s current research interests mainly concern ethical marketing practice, consumer behaviour and the application of marketing principles and techniques to improve health, social wellbeing and environmental sustainability. She has conducted and contributed to a range of research in social marketing and behaviour change, which includes the use of positive affect in message framing to support smoking cessation, the impact of marketing and branding on adolescent and adult drinking and interventions to encourage sustainable clothing behaviour. Her research also draws on her background in applied psychology and doctoral research on brand management.
Teaching interests
Fiona chairs Marketing in action (B328) a Level 3 module in the BA (Hons) Business Studies programme. She has authored module material on marketing, management, ethics, corporate social responsibility and brand management for a wide range of modules and levels.
Impact and engagement
Fiona was a contributor to a report reviewing the effects, uses and interpretations of commercial messages and activities, which formed part of an independent assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's well-being for the Department of Children, Schools and Families.
External collaborations
Fiona is the founder and Chair of the Academy of Marketing's Ethics and Marketing Special Interest Group.
Publications
Book
Ethics in Marketing: International Cases and Perspectives (2017)
Book Chapter
Measurement in quantitative methods (2011)
Brands, corporate social responsibility and reputation management (2011)
Measures to assess the effectiveness of restrictions on tobacco marketing communications (2008)
Journal Article
Partnerships as Strategy in Macro-Social Marketing (2024)
Media and the Staging of Policy Controversy: Obesity and the UK Sugar Tax (2023)
Social marketing: ready to help revolutionise marketing education (2022)
It’s the REAL Thing: Contested Media Discourse and the UK Sugar Tax (2022)
Consumer Socialization and the Role of Branding in Hazardous Adolescent Drinking (2015)
A multidimensional typology of customer relationships: from faltering to affective (2011)
Product classification: an ethical perspective (2009)
Deconstructing affinity relationships: consumers and affinity marketing (2004)
Developing a brand performance measure for financial services brands (2004)
Corporate marketing and service brands - Moving beyond the fast-moving consumer goods model (2001)
Corporate branding and corporate brand performance (2001)
Developing corporate brands through considering internal and external stakeholders (2000)
Presentation / Conference
Positively-framed messages and affect in social marketing (2012)
Altruism or self-interest: affinity marketing and consumer value (2005)
Value propositions in affinity marketing: a typology of consumer value (2005)
The challenge of financial services branding: majoring on category or brand values? (2000)
Added value as a course of competitive advantage (1999)
The importance of brand identity and reputation in brand building (1999)