Rob is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Marketing at the University of Otago.  His academic and research interests include marketing and sustainability, the ethics of marketing, advertising, branding, consumer behaviour and corporate social responsibility.  He is a member of the Future Earth Knowledge Action Network and is currently researching barriers to sustainable consumption. He is also involved in the Kids’Cam Project investigating the consumption environment of young children. Robert is an executive member of the Australasia and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) and co-leader of its Strategy Group. Robert has published in a number of leading journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, the Journal of Cleaner Production, the Journal of Marketing Management, the Journal of Consumer Affairs, the International Journal of Consumer Studies and Marketing Theory. He is a constructivist who is interested in how people make sense of the world and an idealist in believing he can help them to make it a better one.

Selected Papers of interest

• Watkins, L., Aitken, R. and Mather, D. (2015) Conscientious Consumers: A Relationship between Moral Foundations, Political Orientation and Sustainable Consumption. Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol 134, 137-146.
• Aitken, R., Watkins, L., & Williams, J. (2017). The role of information in encouraging sustainable consumption.
• Aitken, R. & Watkins, L. (2014). Sustainability, Silence and Social Responsibility.

You can find out more about Rob on the Department of Marketing website