Staff profile

Gretchen is an interpretive and critical consumer researcher, with expertise in the relationship between consumption, marketplace cultures, and arts and culture. Much of her research focuses on identity and its relationship to consumption, and more recently it has begun to address affective and embodied interactions with sonic phenomena in the marketplace. An increasingly important motivation for her work is to examine those consumers and areas of consumption that are under-represented or even excluded in consumer society and in consumer research.

Gretchen has published in several leading journals, including the European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Theory, the International Journal of Management Reviews, and Organization. She has also co-authored a book “Music, Marketing and Consumption” and has authored various book chapters. Gretchen has been instrumental in developing the field of arts marketing and consumption. For example, she was one of the founding co-editors of Arts Marketing: An International Journal and has guest-edited special issues on arts marketing topics in various academic journals.

Following a research-led approach to education, Gretchen specialises in teaching consumption and consumer culture, arts marketing, and marketing theory, although she has developed and delivered a broad range of marketing modules across all levels. She has so far supervised nine PhD students to completion. Potential students need to be interested in interpretive and critical approaches to marketing and consumer research.

Gretchen has made a significant service contribution throughout her career, via a series of leadership roles such as Directorships of the MSc International Marketing (King’s College London) and the MSc Marketing and MSc Advanced Marketing (University of Bradford), and head of the former Marketing, Markets and Consumption Research Cluster at Durham University. Her most significant contribution has been in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) where she has played an important role in integrating EDI into the fabric and culture of Durham University Business School, through her roles as Faculty Lead for EDI (2018-2021) and as Athena SWAN Champion where she led on the successful application for a Bronze Award in 2018. Gretchen also sats on the Chartered Association of Business Schools EDI Committee (2019 - 2022).

Currently, Gretchen is the Co-Director (Business) for Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study.

Prior to joining Durham, Gretchen worked at King's College London, where she was the Director of the MSc International Marketing. She has also worked at the University of Bradford and the University of Otago (New Zealand) and held visiting posts at EADA (Spain) and LKEAM (Poland).

Mini Biography

Professor Gretchen Larsen is an interpretive and critical consumer researcher, with expertise in the relationship between consumption, marketplace cultures, and arts and culture. She has published in a range of leading journals and has co-authored a book, ‘Music, Markets and Consumption” as well as a number of book chapters. Gretchen’s teaching is in the area of marketing theory and consumption. She has also held a series of major administrative responsibilities, including Faculty Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (2018-2021).

• Consumption and Consumer Research
• Arts Marketing and Consumption
• The Consumer Interest and Consumerism
• Critical Marketing

Authored book

• O’Reilly, D., Larsen, G., & Kubacki, K. (2013). Music, Markets and Consumption. Goodfellows Publishers Ltd

Chapter in book

• Larsen, G., & Patterson, M. Consumer Identity Projects. In SAGE Handbook of Consumer Culture (194 - 213). SAGE Publications
• Larsen, G. (2019). Consumption of Music. In The Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. (2nd). John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosc117.pub2
• Larsen, G., & Kerrigan, F. (2018). Critical Arts Marketing. In M. Tadajewski, M. Higgins, J. Denegri-Knott, & R. Varman (Eds.), The Routledge companion to critical marketing (135-152). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315630526-8
• Larsen, G. (2015). Johnny Lynch: Organising and Playing a Boutique Festival. In N. Beech, & C. Gilmore (Eds.), Organising Music: Theory, Practice, Performance. Cambridge University Press
• Larsen, G. (2014). Arts Consumption. In D. O’Reilly, R. Rentschler, & T. Kirchner (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Arts Marketing (183-193). Routledge
• O’Reilly, D., Larsen, G., & Kubacki, K. (2014). Marketing Live Music. In K. Burland, & S. Pitts (Eds.), Coughing and Clapping: Investigating Audience Experience. Ashgate/SEMPRE
• Larsen, G., & Lawson, R. (2013). Consumer Rights: An Assessment of Justice. In M. Tadajewski, & R. Cluley (Eds.), New Directions in Critical Marketing Studies. (Reprint). SAGE Publications
• Larsen, G., Lawson, R., & Todd, S. (2012). The Symbolic Consumption of Music. In R. Bennett, F. Kerrigan, & D. O’Reilly (Eds.), New Horizons in Arts, Heritage, Nonprofit and Social Marketing. (Reprint). Routledge
• Larsen, G., & Hussels, S. (2011). The Significance of Commercial Music Festivals. In S. Cameron (Ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Leisure (250-270). Edward Elgar Publishing
• Larsen, G., & Lawson, R. (2010). Evolving Perspectives on Music Consumption. In D. O’Reilly, & F. Kerrigan (Eds.), Marketing the Arts: A Fresh Approach (190-204). Routledge
• Larsen, G., & George, V. (2006). The Social Construction of Destination Image – A New Zealand Film Example. In L. Kahle, & C.-H. Kim (Eds.), Creating Images and the Psychology of Marketing Communications (117-139). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
• Lawson, R., & Larsen, G. (1999). Consumer Affairs Survey and Results. In W. Fischer, & R. Lawson (Eds.), Consumer Affairs in Remote Areas [Queensland (Australia) and New Zealand] (105-127). Department of Marketing, University of Otago, New Zealand
• Lawson, R., & Larsen, G. (1999). Consumer Affairs in New Zealand. In W. Fischer, & R. Lawson (Eds.), Consumer Affairs in Remote Areas [Queensland (Australia) and New Zealand] (87-104). Department of Marketing, University of Otago, New Zealand

Journal Article

• Obiegbu, J., & Larsen, G. (2024). Algorithmic personalization and brand loyalty: An experiential perspective. Marketing Theory, https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931241230041
• Moorlock, E., Dekel-Dachs, O., Stokes, P., & Larsen, G. (2023). Constructing Consumer-Masstige Brand Relationships in a Volatile Social Reality. Journal of Business Research, 155(Part A), Article 113381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113381
• Obiegbu, J., Larsen, G., & Ellis, N. (2020). Experiential Brand Loyalty: Towards an Extended Conceptualization of Consumer Allegiance to Brands. Marketing Theory, 20(3), 251-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593119885167
• Patterson, M., & Larsen, G. (2019). Listening to Consumption: Towards a Sonic Turn in Consumer Research. Marketing Theory, 19(2), 105-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593118787583
• Dean, H., Larsen, G., Ford, J., & Akram, M. (2019). Female Entrepreneurship and the Metanarrative of Economic Growth: A Critical Review of Underlying Assumptions. International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(1), 24-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12173
• Obiegbu, J., Larsen, G., & Ellis, N. (2019). The Critical Music Fan: The Role of Criticality in Collective Constructions of Brand Loyalty. Arts and the Market, 9(1), 65-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/aam-01-2019-0006
• Obiegbu, J., Larsen, G., Ellis, N., & O'Reilly, D. (2019). Co-constructing Loyalty in an Era of Digital Music Fandom: An Experiential- Discursive Perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 53(3), 463-482. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm-10-2017-0754
• O’Reilly, D., Doherty, K., Carnegie, E., & Larsen, G. (2017). Cultural memory and the heritagisation of a music consumption community. Arts and the Market, 7(2), 174-190. https://doi.org/10.1108/aam-08-2016-0014
• Larsen, G. (2017). ‘It’s a man’s man’s man’s world’: Music groupies and the othering of women in the world of rock. Organization, 24(3), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508416689095
• Chatzidakis, A., Larsen, G., & Bishop, S. (2014). Farewell to Consumerism: Countervailing Logics of Growth in Consumption. Ephemera, 14(4), 753-764
• Larsen, G., Patterson, M., & Markham, L. (2014). A Deviant Art: Tattoo-Related Stigma in an Era of Commodification. Psychology and Marketing, 31(8), 670-681. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20727
• Kerrigan, F., Larsen, G., Hanratty, S., & Korta, K. (2014). “Gimme Shelter”: Experiencing Pleasurable Escape Through the Musicalisation of Running. Marketing Theory, 14(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593114521451
• Larsen, G., & Lawson, R. (2013). Consumer Rights: An Assessment of Justice. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(3), 515-528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1275-9
• Larsen, G., & Lawson, R. (2013). Consumer Rights: A Co-optation of the Contemporary Consumer Movement. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 5(1), 97-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/17557501311293370
• Bendisch, F., Larsen, G., & Trueman, M. (2013). Fame and Fortune: A Conceptual Model of CEO Brands. European Journal of Marketing, 47(3/4), 596-614. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561311297472
• Dennis, N., Larsen, G., & Macaulay, M. (2011). Terraforming Arts Marketing. Arts marketing, 1(1), 5-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/20442081111129833
• Larsen, G., Lawson, R., & Todd, S. (2010). The Symbolic Consumption of Music. Journal of Marketing Management, 26(7-8), 671-685. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2010.481865
• Nikolaou, I., Bettany, S., & Larsen, G. (2009). Brands and Consumption in Virtual Worlds. https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v2i5.845
• Larsen, G., Lawson, R., & Todd, S. (2009). The Consumption of Music as Self Representation in Social Interaction. Australasian Marketing Journal, 17(3), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2009.01.006
• Tajeddini, K., Trueman, M., & Larsen, G. (2006). Examining the Effect of Market Orientation on Innovativeness. Journal of Marketing Management, 22(5-6), 529-551. https://doi.org/10.1362/026725706777978640
• Larsen, G., Lawson, R., & Fischer, W. (2002). Consumer Affairs in Rural New Zealand. Journal of Consumer Policy, 25(2), 233-256. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1016074209498
• Martin, B., & Larsen, G. (1999). Taming the Dragon: Key Success Factors for Trade with China. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 17(4), 202-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509910275944