Professor Neeru Malhotra
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation
- Kingston Business School
- Kingston Hill
Professor of Marketing
- Email:
- n.malhotra@kingston.ac.uk
About
I am a Professor of Marketing in the Department of Strategy, Marketing, and Innovation. Before joining Kingston Business School, I was a Reader in Marketing at Essex Business School and an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at Aston Business School.
The main focus of my research is in the area of Services Marketing. My research programme comprises three key areas such as internal marketing with a particular focus on frontline employee service performance and management, retailing and consumer behaviour with a focus on e-services, and examining value co-creation in extended service encounters such as healthcare and higher education contexts.
My work has been published in leading journals such as:
- Journal of Business Research
- European Journal of Marketing
- Journal of Travel Research
- International Marketing Review
- Journal of Advertising
- The International Journal of Human Resource Management
- Information Systems Frontiers
- Journal of Services Marketing
- Journal of Service Management
- Service Industries Journal
- Technological Forecasting and Social Change
- Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Research excellence has been recognised through a variety of awards, including:
- The Academy of Marketing Conference Best Paper Award
- The Emerald Literati Highly Commended Prize
- The prestigious ESRC (Economics and Social Research Council) Research Grant for researching Indian Call Centres (£100,826; FEC)
- "Outstanding Reviewer" award by the Journal of Business Research
- BA/Leverhulme Research Grant award to examine problem gambling among university students (£9,872.00)
- Large KTP grant award (£247,518)
I am serving/have served as an External Examiner for assessing marketing programs of various universities across the UK, such as Warwick Business School, Southampton Business School, Salford Business School, Oxford Brookes Business School, and Ulster University, where I served as an External examiner to validate a new BSc Honours programme on ‘Customer Contact Planning and Management', which aims at providing business education and training to call centre organisations in the UK.
Qualifications
- PhD in Marketing, University of Bradford, UK
- M.Com, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
- B.Com(Hons), Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi
Domains
I have extensive experience teaching various undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral-level marketing courses. My teaching has been recognised through a variety of awards. At Aston Business School, I received the Most Engaging Academic award (nominated by students) as part of My Astonishing Aston Academics programme, was selected as Aston Business School's Inspiring Academics, and was nominated for the Best Research Supervisor award by students for the Aston Academic Awards. I was also nominated for Research Supervisor of the Year award at the University of Essex. I have also served as an External Examiner for assessing marketing programmes in various universities in the UK, such as Warwick Business School, Southampton Business School, Salford Business School, Ulster University Business School and Oxford Brookes Business School.
I have significantly contributed to the doctoral programme. I have supervised and examined several PhD and DBA theses as external and internal examiner, chaired viva-voce and doctoral tracks at conferences, and conducted methodology seminars.
I am a Fellow of the HEA (Higher Education Academy, UK).
The main focus of my research is in the area of Services Marketing. I am particularly interested in an inter-disciplinary approach towards research on services marketing and management, which often draws from disciplines such as HRM, Organisational Psychology and Operations Management. Within the realm of services marketing, my research programme primarily comprises four key areas as follows:
- Digital Marketing, within which my research interests lie in understanding various forms (influencer, content, social media, mobile) of digital marketing in a range of contexts utilising digital technologies such as AI, AR/VR/MR
- Retailing and Consumer Behaviour, within which my research interests are optimising customer retention/loyalty in retail services and understanding the role of customer, firm and market-level factors, particularly in digital services
- Value co-creation in services, within which my research interests lie in understanding customer experience and customer engagement especially in extended service encounter contexts such as healthcare, higher education and tourism services
- Internal Marketing, within which my research interests are frontline employee service performance management and strategy in customer contact services.
I welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral researchers interested in these areas.
Specialisms
- Services Marketing
- Retailing and Consumer Behaviour
- Digital Marketing
- Customer Engagement
- Internal Marketing
I have successfully completed research projects and submitted advisory reports to a number leading service organisations.
I also received a large KTP grant to help a service SME via Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP) funding: 2022 to 2023, round 2; £247,518
Publications
Boundary spanning elements and the marketing function in organizations : concepts and empirical studies
(2015). Cham, Switzerland: (Springer International Publishing)
Justice, jealousy and performance : evidence from neo-feudal Pakistan
Sahadev, Sunil, Wood, Geoffrey, Arshad Khan, Muhammad, Malhotra, Neeru and Demirbag, Mehmet, 2024, Journal of Business Research (183), pp 114847
Perfectly imperfect : how body-positive advertisements in social media foster consumer engagement
Bhattacharjee, Debashree Roy, Pradhan, Debasis, Kuanr, Abhisek and Malhotra, Neeru, 2024, Journal of Advertising
Psychological empowerment and creative performance: Mediating role of thriving and moderating role of competitive psychological climate
Sahadev, Sunil, Chang, Kirk, Malhotra, Neeru, Kim, Ji-Hee, Ahmed, Tanveer and Kitchen, Philip, 2024, Journal of Business Research (170), pp 114310
How does self-congruity foster customer engagement with global brands? Examining the roles of psychological ownership and global connectedness
Debashree Roy, Bhattacharjee, Kunar, Abhisek, Malhotra, Neeru, Pradhan, Debasis and Ranjan Moharana, Tapas, 2023, International Marketing Review (40), 6, pp 1480-1508
Understanding how satisfactory service relationships can be mutually beneficial in the higher education context
Malhotra, Neeru, Frech, Bernadette, Leeflang, Peter, Kim, Young-Ah and Higson, Helen, 2023, European Journal of Marketing (57), 2, pp 562-598
Disaster planning intentions of tourism accommodation managers : understanding the influence of past disaster experience and disaster management training
Sahadev, Sunil, Malhotra, Neeru, Kannangara, Lakmini and Ritchie, Brent, 2023, Journal of Travel Research
User engagement on global social networks : examining the roles of perceived brand globalness, identification and global identity
Akram, Muhammad S, Malhotra, Neeru, Goraya, M Awais, Shareef, Mahmud, Malik, Aneela and Lal, Banita, 2022, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (181), pp 121771
Organisational justice, organisational identification and job involvement : the mediating role of psychological need satisfaction and the moderating role of person-organisation fit
Malhotra, Neeru, Sahadev, Sunil and Sharom, Nur Qamarina, 2022, International Journal of Human Resource Management (33), 8, pp 1526-1561
Understanding the role of frontline employee felt obligation in services
Malhotra, Neeru, Ashill, Nicholas, Lages, Cristiana R and Homayounfard, Amir, 2022, Service Industries Journal (42), 11-12, pp 843-871
New insights into e-loyalty of internet banking users in an emerging market context : a multilevel analysis
Malhotra, Neeru, Sahadev, Sunil, Leeflang, PSH and Purani, Keyoor, 2021, Information Systems Frontiers (23), pp 1521-1536
Segmenting excessive alcohol consumers : implications for social marketing
Sahadev, Sunil, Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan, 2020, IIM Kozhikode Society and Management Review (9), 2, pp 213-225
Understanding the mechanisms of the relationship between shared values and service delivery performance of frontline employees
Lages, Cristiana R., Piercy, Nigel F., Malhotra, Neeru and Simões, Cláudia, 2020, International Journal of Human Resource Management (31), 21, pp 2737-2760
Psychological contract violation and customer intention to reuse online retailers : exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms
Malhotra, Neeru, Sahadev, Sunil and Purani, Keeyor, 2017, Journal of Business Research (75), pp 17-28
Antecedents of peripheral services cross-buying behavior
Evanschitzky, Heiner, Malhotra, Neeru, v. Wangenheim, Florian and Lemon, Katherine N, 2017, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (36), pp 218-224
Internal communication and prosocial service behaviors of front-line employees : investigating mediating mechanisms
Malhotra, Neeru and Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena, 2016, Journal of Business Research (69), 10, pp 4132-4139
Revisiting the role stress-commitment relationship : can managerial interventions help?
Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena and Malhotra, Neeru, 2013, European Journal of Marketing (47), 3/4, pp 353-374
Service quality of frontline employees : a profile deviation analysis
Malhotra, Neeru, Mavondo, Felix, Mukherjee, Avinandan and Hooley, Graham, 2013, Journal of Business Research (66), 9, pp 1338-1344
Do managerial strategies influence service behaviours?: insights from a qualitative study
Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena and Malhotra, Neeru, 2010, International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (1), 3, pp 43-55
Power perceptions and modes of complaining in higher education
Mukherjee, Avinandan, Pinto, Mary Beth and Malhotra, Neeru, 2009, The Service Industries Journal (29), 11, pp 1615-1633
Call centre services : the good, the bad, and the ugly
Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru, 2009, Journal of Services Marketing (23), 5, pp 275-278
Insights into the Indian call centre industry : can internal marketing help tackle high employee turnover?
Budhwar, Pawan S., Varma, Arup, Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan, 2009, Journal of Services Marketing (23), 5, pp 351-362
Antecedents and consequences of service quality in consumer evaluation of self-service internet technologies
Shamdasani, Prem, Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru, 2008, The Service Industries Journal (28), 1, pp 117-138
Linking rewards to commitment : an empirical investigation of four UK call centres
Malhotra, Neeru, Budhwar, Pawan and Prowse, Peter, 2007, The International Journal of Human Resource Management (18), 12, pp 2095-2128
Does role clarity explain employee-perceived service quality? A study of antecedents and consequences in call centres
Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru, 2006, International Journal of Service Industry Management (17), 5, pp 444-473
The relative influence of organisational commitment and job satisfaction on service quality of customer-contact employees in banking call centres
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan, 2004, Journal of Services Marketing (18), 3, pp 162-174
Analysing the commitment – service quality relationship : a comparative study of retail banking call centres and branches
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan, 2003, Journal of Marketing Management (19), 9-10, pp 941-971
Management interventions and prosocial behaviours : understanding the mediating mechanisms
Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena and Malhotra, Neeru (2015). In: Sahadev, Sunil, (eds.), Purani, Keyoor, (eds.) and Malhotra, Neeru, (eds.), Boundary spanning elements and the marketing function in organizations : concepts and empirical studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp 99-115
Work processes and emerging problems in Indian call centres
Budhwar, Pawan, Malhotra, Neeru and Singh, Virender (2009). In: Thite, Mohan, (eds.) and Russell, Bob, (eds.), The next available operator : managing human resources in Indian business process outsourcing industry. London, U.K.: SAGE, pp 59-82
Investigating antecedents to organisational commitment : an empirical investigation in UK call centres
Malhotra, Neeru, Budhwar, Pawan and Bhatnagar, Jyotsna (2006). In: Singh, Pritam, (eds.), Bhatnagar, Jyotsna, (eds.) and Bhandarker, Asha, (eds.), Future of work : mastering change. New Delhi, India: Excel Books, pp 237-252
Perceived brand globalness and user engagement on global social networks
Malhotra, Neeru, Jana, Iman and Akram, Shakaib(2023). In: AMA Summer educators Conference 2023, 04-06 Aug 2023 :San Francisco, U.S.
Investigating negative word of mouth as a consequence of consumer resistance to nnoivation : Moderating effects of consumer characteristics
Jana, Iman, Malhotra, Neeru and Liu, Hongfei(2022). In: Third Annual Marshall Business Research Conference, 04 Nov 2022 :Held online
Investigating negative word of mouth as a consequence of consumer resistance to innovation : Moderating effects of consumer characteristics
Jana, Iman, Malhotra, Neeru and Liu, Hongfei(2022). In: 2022 American Marketing Association (AMA) Summer Academic Conference, 09 - 14 Aug 2022 :Chicago, U.S.
Consumer resistance to innovation : a systematic literature review
Jana, Iman, Liu, Hongfei and Malhotra, Neeru(2022). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2022 : Marketing : The Fabric of Life, 05-07 July 2022 :Huddersfield, U.K.
Consumer resistance to innovation: a systematic literature review
Jana, Iman, Liu, Hongfei and Malhotra, Neeru(2022). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2022, Marketing: The Fabric of Life, 05-07 July 2022 :Huddersfield, U.K.
Understanding how peripheral cues influence the e-satisfaction-e-loyalty link in the emerging market context : a multilevel analysis
Malhotra, Neeru, Sahadev, Sunil, Leeflang, Peter and Purani, Keyoor(2019). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2019 : When you tire of marketing you tire of life, 02-04 Jul 2019 :London, U.K.
How does customer satisfaction pay off? Investigating key mediating mechanisms underlying the link between customer satisfaction and customer engagement behaviors in extended service encounter
Frech, Bernadette, Malhotra, Neeru and Higson, Helen(2017). 4-6 Aug 2017 : San Francisco, U.S.
Investigating the mediating role of workplace jealousy in perceived injustice-outcome relationships : can self-efficacy help?
Sahadev, Sunil, Malhotra, Neeru and Khan, Muhammad Arshad(2017). 4-6 Aug 2017 : San Francisco, U.S.
Role of bank reputation and size in usage of internet banking services in India : a multi-level modelling framework
Sahadev, Sunil, Malhotra, Neeru and Purani, Keyoor(2017). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2017 :Freedom Through Marketing : looking back going forward, 03-06 Jul 2017 :Hull, U.K.
Antecedents of peripheral services cross-buying behavior
Evanschitzky, Heiner, Malhotra, Neeru, Wangenheim, Florian v. and Lemon, Katherine N.(2015). In: 2015 Academy of Marketing Science 18th World Marketing Congress, 14-18 July 2015 :Bari, Italy
Frontline service recovery performance : exploring the role of POS and felt obligation
Malhotra, Neeru and Lages, Cristiana, R.(2014). In: The 13th international research conference in service management, 27-30 May 2014 :La Londe les Maures, France
Understanding key mechanisms by which internal communication influences prosocial service behaviors of frontline employees
Malhotra, Neeru and Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena(2014). In: 13th international research conference in service management, 27-30 May 2014 :La Londe les Maures, France
Appraisal processes and emotional reactions as determinants of service delivery performance : an attitude theory perspective
Lages, Cristiana R., Piercy, Nigel and Malhotra, Neeru(2014). In: AMA Winter Marketing Educators' Conference 2014 : Engaging Customers, 21- 23 Feb 2014 :Orlando, U.S.
Does satisfaction pay off? A conceptual model of customer satisfaction in a higher education context
Frech, Bernadette, Malhotra, Neeru and Higson, Helen(2013). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2013 : Marketing Relevance, 08-11 Jul 2013 :Cardiff, U.K.
Exploring the usefulness of mystery shopping for services
Wieseke, Jan, Malhotra, Neeru and Schmidt, Karsten(2011). In: AMA Summer Educators Conference 2011 : delivering value in turbulent times, 5- 7 Aug 2011 :San Francisco, U.S.
Revisiting the extrinsic-intrinsic conundrum : which reward helps to improve frontline employee performance?
Malhotra, Neeru, Mukherjee, Avinandan and Gilliland, David I.(2010). In: AMA Summer Educator's Conference 2010 : enhancing knowledge development in marketing, 13- 16 Aug 2010 :Boston, U.S.
Investigating the moderating effects of managerial interventions on the role of stress : commitment relationship
Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena, Malhotra, Neeru and Fay, Doris(2009). In: AMA Winter Educators Conference 2009 : Marketing Theory and Applications, 20-23 Feb 2009 :Tampa, Florida, U.S.
A profile deviation analysis of top performing service employees in bank branches and call centers
Malhotra, Neeru, Mavondo, Felix and Mukherjee, Avinandan(2009). In: AMA Winter Educator's Conference 2009 : Marketing Theory and Applications, 20- 23 Feb 2009 :Florida, U.S.
Does internal marketing improve service quality in call centres?
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan(2006). In: Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) Conference 2006 : Advancing Theory, Maintaining Relevance, 4- 6 Dec 2006 :Brisbane, Australia
A model of active learning for university students
Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru(2006). In: INFORMS Marketing Science Conference 2006, 08-10 Jun 2006 :Pittsburgh, U.S.
Competing models on job satisfaction, affective commitment and service quality of frontline employee
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan(2005). In: INFORMS Marketing Science Conference 2005, 16-18 Jun 2005 :Atlanta, U.S.
Antecendents and consequences of role clarity in explaining employee-perceived service quality in call centers
Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru(2005). In: AMA Winter Educators' Conference 2005 : Marketing Theory and Applications, 11- 14 Feb 2005 :San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Performance analysis of frontline service employees : case of a banking call center
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan(2004). In: INFORMS Marketing Science Conference 2004, 23-26 Jun 2004 :Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Do organisational commitment and job satisfaction influence service quality of the customer-contact employees in banking call centres?
Malhotra, Neeru and Mukherjee, Avinandan(2003). In: Academy of Marketing Conference 2003 : Marketing: a history of the next decade, 08-10 Jul 2003 :Birmingham, U.K.