Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University. Previously, he served as the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University, and as Chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University. He began his academic career in the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University.
Dr. Solomon is no stranger to writing top-selling books. His textbook, Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, published by Prentice Hall, is widely used in universities throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia and is now in its eighth edition. His textbook, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, Fifth Edition, also published by Prentice Hall, is one of the most widely-adopted principles of marketing texts in the U.S.A. Soundview Executive Summaries named his trade book, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World, (AMACOM) one of the best business books of 2004. He is co-editor of The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Services Businesses, published by Lexington Books.
Prof. Solomon's research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, branding strategy, the symbolic aspects of products, services marketing and the development of visually-oriented online research methodologies. He has published numerous articles on these and related topics in academic journals, and he has delivered invited lectures on these subjects throughout the world. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Consumer Behavior, the Journal of Retailing, and The European Business Review, and he recently completed an elected six-year term on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Prof. Solomon has been recognized as one of the fifteen most widely-cited scholars in the academic behavioral sciences/fashion literature, and as one of the ten most productive scholars in the field of advertising and marketing communications.
In addition to his academic activities, Prof. Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media, with feature articles appearing in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman's Quarterly and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous media, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, The New York Times, Self, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," CNBC, Channel One, "Inside Edition," "Newsweek on the Air," The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing Show, the WOR Radio Network and National Public Radio.
Prof. Solomon has provided input as a marketing consultant to a variety of organizations. Clients have included Armstrong World Industries, Bayer Healthcare, Gap, Inc., Hakuhodo Advertising (Tokyo), H&M, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Living Tomorrow, Prudential Securities, State Farm, and United Airlines. He is a Managing Director of Mind/Share, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in consumer research and lifestyle marketing issues for such clients as DuPont, Black & Decker, eBay, PPG Industries, Visa, VF Corp., Timberland, and Calvin Klein.
Dr. Solomon earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981 and was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization.