Associate Professor Debra Harker

 

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Associate Professor Debra Harker

Associate Professor Debra Harker

BA(Hons) S.Bank, PhD Griff.

Position: Associate Professor, Marketing
Office: K2.26
Tel: +61 7 5430 1235
Email: dharker@usc.edu.au

Teaching areas

  • Marketing Theory and Practice
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Promotions Management

Research areas

  • Social Marketing and Responsible Advertising, research into these key areas including specifically:
    • charities and the consumer
    • the influence of advertising on obesity, and on the consumption of food, soft drink, alcohol
    • pharmaceutical advertising, and the regulation of advertising practices.
Higher education research
  • The role of groupwork in improving student learning
  • Issues in student attrition
  • Gaining interaction in large lectures
  • Accelerated learning in marketing education, principles and practices.

Student research projects

Higher degree thesis supervision – completed projects

Graduate Year, higher degree Topic
Luke Hawley 2007 Honours 1st class Sedentary Behaviour and Social Cognitive Theory
Tegan Piggford 2006 Honours 1st class Food Choice Behaviour Amongst Young Adults
Rebecca O’Hara 2006 Honours 1st class Binge Drinking Amongst Young Female Australians
Philip Bretherton 2004 PhD Relationship Marketing in the New Zealand Wine Industry
Lauren Lamont 2002 Honours 2a Relationship Marketing in the Elite Sports Market
Michael Volkov 2001 Honours 2a Advertising Complaint Behaviour

Higher degree thesis supervision – current projects

Graduate Higher degree Topic
Tony Stiller PhD Information System Needs of SMEs
Jeanette Van Akkeran PhD Software Acceptance in the Medical Sector
Jennifer O’Loughlin PhD Relationship Marketing in the Charity Sector
Lily Cheung PhD Consumers’ Health Care Literacy and the Impact on Behaviour
Julie Norton Masters Parental Influence on Child Food Choice Behaviour

Profile

Associate Professor Debra Harker worked as a Marketing Consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick Management Consultants in England and AGB McNair in Australia, before becoming an academic. Debra achieved a BA (Hons) in Business Studies at South Bank University, London, and evaluated the effectiveness of the advertising self-regulatory scheme in Australia for her doctorate, which was awarded by Griffith University.

Working with Associate Professor Michael Harker, Debra co-founded the Social Marketing and Advertising Research Team which is located in the Faculty of Business at USC, and has participated in research projects concerned with binge-drinking amongst young females, the role of advertising in the obesity epidemic, screen time and the link to obesity, a segmentation study of charity donors, and the development of an effective advertising self-regulatory model. She lectures in Marketing at USC and publishes in quality journals around the world.

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Publications

Electronic copies of various academic papers from Associate Professor Debra Harker are available on the USC Coast Research Database website.

Research grants

Year Amount Project and source Outputs
2006 A$5,000 Foundation for Advertising Research (with M Harker): Alcohol Sponsorship: A Review of the Literature Project completed November 2006.
2005 A$10,000 Foundation for Advertising Research (with M Harker): Advertising and Obesity: ‘Stage II – A Review of the Practice’ Project completed April-June 2006. 1 refereed journal article, 1 conference paper, 1 book chapter accepted.
2005 A$12,500 Foundation for Advertising Research (with M Harker): Advertising and Obesity: ‘Stage I – A Literature Review of the Theory’ Project completed November - March 2005/6. Management report and industry briefings.
2005 A$40,000 Successful research grant application with the Foundation for Advertising Research. Funds awarded by the International Grants Committee, The Merck Foundation (with M Harker, G Wiggs): ‘Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising of Prescription Medicines: Facilitating an Evidence-Based Debate from a Consumer Viewpoint’ Project completed August - March 2005/6. 1 management report presented, 1 journal article accepted. Senior Government officials at the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Treasury briefed.
2005 A$2,000 European Advertising Standards Alliance (with M Harker, G Wiggs): ‘Effective Advertising Self-Regulation: A Position Paper’ Project completed August - September 2005. 1 management report drafted.
2003 A$1,100 Australian Association of National Advertisers: ‘Effective Advertising Self-Regulation in Australia: A Literature Review’ 1 management report published.
2001 A$31,990 Advertising Standards Bureau (with M Harker): ‘Gender Portrayal in Advertising’ 1 refereed journal article published, 2 conference papers presented, 1 management report published.
2000 A$12,500 Advertising Standards Bureau (with M Harker): ‘Profiling the Advertising Complainant’ Honours student project funded. 4 refereed journal articles published, 2 conference papers presented, 1 management report published.
1999 A$14,000 Small Australian Research Council grant awarded (with M Harker and P Graham): ‘Best Practice Advertising Self-Regulation: Developing and Applying a Model’ Industry funding being sought European Advertising Standards Alliance, Brussels.
1999 A$70,000 Nortel Networks: ‘Mobile Data Services Adoption Amongst SMEs’. 1 book chapter, 3 journal articles and 4 conference papers published.
1999 A$2,760 USC IRG (with P Slade and M Harker): ‘A Sociodemographic and Attitudinal Survey of Graduates and Students in Their Final year of Study at the University of the Sunshine Coast’ One refereed journal article published, one conference paper presented.
1999 A$5,000 USC IRG (with M Harker): ‘Best Practice Advertising Self-Regulation: Developing and Applying a Model’ Successful ARC application submitted 1999.
1998 A$2,500 USC IRG: ‘University of the Sunshine Coast College Students: An Analysis of Consumer Behaviour’ Published: 2 management reports, 2 full conference papers, 1 book chapter.
1998 A$5,000 Macmillan Publishers to research and write a book (with M Harker and P Graham): Marketing Trends in Australasia: Essays and Case Studies Published 1999.
1998 A$5,000 Macmillan Publishers to write case studies (with M Baker, P Graham, and M Harker) for a web ite to accompany: Marketing: Managerial Foundations Published on website 1998.
1997 A$1,300 USC IRG: Testing a conceptual model of ‘acceptable advertising’ with a number of similarly developed countries in relation to their advertising complaint handling bodies 1 conference paper and 1 international refereed journal article published.
1997 A$15,000 Macmillan Publishers to write a Marketing text (with M Baker, P Graham, and M Harker): Marketing: Managerial Foundations Published 1998.
1995 Griffith University Research Fellowship awarded for relief of teaching for one semester to progress PhD. PhD awarded, 1996.
1995 A$2,300 Griffith University Research Grant awarded to conduct comparative analysis of advertising self-regulation in Australia and New Zealand. 1 conference paper and 1 refereed journal article published.

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