Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being (Pie)

Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D., is Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior in the Department of Consumer Affairs, College of Human Sciences, at Auburn University Prior to joining Auburn in 1995, he was Chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He earned B.A. degrees in Psychology and Sociology magna cum laude at Brandeis University in 1977, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. He received the Cutty Sark Men's Fashion Award for his research on the psychological aspects of clothing. In 1996 he was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization by the U.S. Fulbright Commission and the Government of Portugal.

Professor Solomon's primary research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, online research methodologies, the symbolic aspects of products, the psychology of fashion, decoration, and image, and services marketing. He has published numerous articles on these and related topics in academic journals, and he has delivered invited lectures on these subjects in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Australia, and Latin America. His research has been funded by the American Academy of Advertising, the American Marketing Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour and the Journal of Retailing, and he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Professor Solomon was ranked as one of the fifteen most widely cited scholars in the academic behavioral sciences/ fashion literature, and as one of the ten most productive researchers in the field of advertising and marketing communications.

In addition to his academic activities, Professor Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media. He is the author of Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World, which was published in 2003. His feature articles have appeared in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman's Quarterly, and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous national magazines and newspapers, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, New York Times, Self, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. He has been interviewed numerous times on radio and television, including appearances on Today, Good Morning America, CNBC, Channel One, Inside Edition, Newsweek on the Air, the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, and National Public Radio. Professor Solomon advises numerous companies on issues related to consumer behavior, services marketing, retailing, and advertising and he is a Director of Mind/Share, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in online consumer research. He frequently addresses business groups on strategic issues related to consumer behavior. Professor Solomon currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, with his wife, Gail, their three children, Amanda, Zachary, and Alexandra-and Chloe, their golden retriever.