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Mona Moufahim

University of Stirling, Management School, Faculty Member

Durham University, Business School, Faculty Member

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Prior to joining the Business School, I was a Lecturer at Durham University Business School (April 2014- April 2018) and Nottingham University Business School (Jan 2008-March 2014). I have also worked at the Chinese campus of the University of Nottingham (based in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province) from Sept 2006 to the end of December 2007. I have a Management

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Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

University of Delaware

National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"

University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa

Benjamin Isakhan

Deakin University

Central European University

Aalto University School of Business

University of Exeter

Kansas State University

Masaryk University

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Papers by Mona Moufahim

Collective Mobilizations of European Muslims: An Overview of Muslim Social Movements

Springer eBooks, 2021

Nationalist Identity and Marketing: The Vlaams Belang against Turkish Admission to the EU

Where spirituality and religion meet gender and sexuality: Toward a research agenda for intersectional marketing theory

Marketing Theory

During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing... more During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing in religiosity and spiritual consumption, using examples from their own fieldwork, reflected on how (i) researchers’ subject positioning—including their gender and sexuality—shape fieldwork in multifaceted manners; (ii) investigations of religious/spiritual fields would benefit from a heightened sensitivity to issues of gender and sexuality; and (iii) greater sensitivity to aspects of religion and/or spirituality can help gender and sexuality scholars better understand consumers and markets. Based on the above, in this commentary paper, we call for intersectional reflexivity, attention to vulnerability and discomfort during fieldwork, and critical sensitivity to the religious “context of context” during theorization. Furthermore, we argue that specific spiritual/religious imaginaries can foster new research approaches that can contribute to more nuanced fieldwork and theorization in mar...

Teaching note – Critical pedagogies: practical examples from the marketing classroom

Journal of Marketing Management

Guest editorial: Sacred journeys: moving in, out and around sacred spaces

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Critical and creative marketing pedagogies: confronting rhetoric, addressing inequality, inspiring change

Journal of Marketing Management

Researching the sacred: a conversation with Samuelson Appau, Russ Belk and Diego Rinallo

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Purpose Once the domain of theologians, sociologists and (religion) anthropologists, we have seen... more Purpose Once the domain of theologians, sociologists and (religion) anthropologists, we have seen more recently how consumer researchers have enriched the study of spirituality and religion. Researching the sacred can be fraught with challenges, in and out of the field. Russell Belk, Samuelson Appau and Diego Rinallo address key questions, issues and conceptualisations in the scholarship on sacred consumption, contemplating the past and mapping future research avenues. A reading list is also included for those interested in joining the authors in this collective discovery of the sacred. Design/methodology/approach Contributors answered the following four questions: How has the study of sacred consumption evolved since you started researching the field? What would be the critical methodological issues that researchers need to consider when approaching the “sacred”? What are some of the key authors that have influenced your thinking? What do you think will be the key questions that re...

Theorizing consumption and markets in the context of religion: A commentary section on Appau’s (2021) ‘divine economic system’

Marketing Theory

This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine econo... more This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine economic system’, an article in which he explores religious exchanges in the context of a Pentecostal Church in Ghana and proposes ‘the divine economy’ as an alternative economic system to interrogate and extend scholarship on the relationship between the market and religion. In a thought-provoking conversation, four commentators (including Appau) engage in a critical discussion aimed at generating new ideas on theorizing the complex relationship between the market, consumption, and religion.

Collective Mobilizations of European Muslims: An Overview of Muslim Social Movements

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs

Networks Amongst Syrians: Situated Migrant Positionalities and the Impact on Relational Embedding

Social Inclusion, 2021

This article employs Yuval‐Davis concept of situated intersectionality to explore processes of re... more This article employs Yuval‐Davis concept of situated intersectionality to explore processes of relational embedding amongst Syrian migrants in the UK. By drawing on in‐depth interview data from 31 men and women living in North East England, we explore how varying social categories—or positionalities—intersect and shape personal networks and feelings of attachment amongst Syrians. We show how wider structural contexts and systems of social relations shape migrants’ sense of belonging and attachment which can serve to enhance or weaken opportunities for social and economic inclusion. The findings reveal how, for Syrian migrants, wider macro level contexts determine immigration and asylum routes which in turn shape place‐specific opportunity structures that impact on micro individual level processes of relational embedding. We develop the term “migrant positionalities” as a social category to capture the multiple experiences of migration and asylum and the power dynamics that determine...

Political Parties and Organization Studies: The party as a critical case of organizing

Organization Studies, 2021

Organization scholars have extensively studied both the politics of organization and the organiza... more Organization scholars have extensively studied both the politics of organization and the organization of politics. Contributing to the latter, we argue for further and deeper consideration of political parties, since: (1) parties illuminate organizational dynamics of in- and exclusion; (2) internal struggles related to the constitution of identities, practices and procedures are accentuated in parties; (3) the study of parties allow for the isolation of processes of normative and affective commitment; (4) parties prioritize and intensify normative control mechanisms; (5) party organizing currently represents an example of profound institutional change, as new (digital) formations challenge old bureaucratic models. Consequently, we argue that political parties should be seen as ‘critical cases’ of organizing, meaning that otherwise commonplace phenomena are intensified and exposed in parties. This allows researchers to use parties as magnifying glasses for zooming-in on organizationa...

2018 Academy of Marketing annual conference: marketing the brave

Journal of Marketing Management, 2019

Pilgrimage, consumption and rituals: Spiritual authenticity in a Shia Muslim pilgrimage

Tourism Management, 2019

A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims' experience, in particular the authentici... more A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims' experience, in particular the authenticity of their experience. The aim of the study is to understand how authenticity is evoked in a religious pilgrimage and the relationship between authenticity, rituals and consumption. The research contributes ethnographic insights from a lesser known, yet significant, Muslim pilgrimage called Ziyara-t-Arba'een. In so doing, pilgrimages are conceptualised as a quest for spiritual authenticity, a hybrid form of existential, ideological and objective authenticity. The findings section leads to a discussion of the ways in which spiritual authenticity is realised through rituals and the consumption of texts, material objects and space. The contribution of this paper is threefold: 1) it explores the different dimensions of authenticity in a pilgrimage experience; 2) it examines the role of material culture and ritual consumption in achieving forms of authenticity; and 3) it broadens the understanding of the pilgrimage as a context-bound and culturally specific phenomenon.

The other voices of international higher education: an empirical study of students' perceptions of British university education in China

Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2014

Business School. Her current research interests include religion, politics, consumption, marketin... more Business School. Her current research interests include religion, politics, consumption, marketing and identity. Her broad research interests include critical marketing, political marketing, Islamic marketing, organization studies. Her research has been published in Consumption, Markets & Culture, the Journal of Marketing Management and Marketing Theory.

The spectacularization of suffering: an analysis of the use of celebrities in ‘Comic Relief’ UK’s charity fundraising campaigns

Journal of Marketing Management, 2015

In this paper, we engage with recent charity fundraising campaigns in the UK such as 'Sport Relie... more In this paper, we engage with recent charity fundraising campaigns in the UK such as 'Sport Relief' and 'Red Nose Day,' both of which are organized by Comic Relief, an operating British charity. These campaigns are increasingly extreme spectacles of celebrity-suffering that concentrate public attention on the spectacle-image itself rather than on the charities these spectacles espouse. Drawing upon Guy Debord's critique of spectacle and celebrity in Society and the Spectacle, we contend that the phenomenon of celebrity fundraising in this context is interesting not only because of its voyeuristic dimensions (as argued by a number of scholars on celebrity humanitarianism) but also because it raises issues about how the use of highly visual and visceral images of celebrities' suffering has banalized the charitable causes to which they lend their names, often erasing them altogether. Celebrities' suffering in this context is framed by the media both as mega-spectacles of entertainment but also as lavishly-staged journeys of heroism and suffering set apart from the material and social abundance celebrities represent. We demonstrate, using a range of empirical sources from news reports and live TV coverage that when celebrities submit to these extreme journeys of physical suffering, it raises new questions about the moral limits of the marketization of emotion and the commodification of the charitable journey itself.

Authenticity, Religious Identity and Consumption: a Reflexive (Auto)Ethnographic Account

DESCRIPTION

Broadening the scope of political marketing. Lessons from the ‘Politics of Terror

ABSTRACT

User-Generated Brands and Social Media: Couchsurfing and Airbnb

Contemporary Management Research, 2013

The aim of this paper is to examine the brand identity construction of user-generated brands (UGB... more The aim of this paper is to examine the brand identity construction of user-generated brands (UGBs), using discursive and visual analysis of UGBs' social media material in an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of this relatively new branding phenomenon. We specifically focused on two such brands: Airbnb and Couchsurfing. Our main findings reveal the emerged themes: the access to the private sphere, the human dimension and meaningful inter-personal discourses, and authenticity. The value of our research lies in identifying the specificities of the identity construction and visual representation of UGBs. Lastly, we offer practical suggestions and ideas for future research.

Religious gift giving

Marketing Theory, 2013

This article enhances the understanding of consumption practices, particularly gift giving, withi... more This article enhances the understanding of consumption practices, particularly gift giving, within the context of an Islamic pilgrimage called the ziyara. Pilgrimages are rich sites of analysis of entangled secular and sacred consumption. The findings of ethnographic research undertaken in this area have made a significant contribution to the literature on gift giving. Three particular types of gifts have been identified (1) ordinary liturgical gifts, (2) supplication gifts that invite ‘prayer’ counter-gifts and (3) soteriological gifts in the form of hassanat that are given to ensure other-worldly salvation. Pilgrims see the purchasing and consumption of gifts as activities intrinsic to their pilgrimage, even as sine qua non in the case of gifts distributed in the shrines. The consumption of material objects appears to be integral to pilgrimage rituals and transforms the intangible spiritual experience of the pilgrims into something ‘palpable’. The gifts are intended to embody the ...

Co-production and co-consumption: Perspectives on immigration through a discourse analysis of voters’ blogs in the 2010 General Election

Journal of Marketing Management, 2011

Abstract The issue of immigration proved to be a crucially important flashpoint for all three par... more

Collective Mobilizations of European Muslims: An Overview of Muslim Social Movements

Springer eBooks, 2021

Nationalist Identity and Marketing: The Vlaams Belang against Turkish Admission to the EU

Where spirituality and religion meet gender and sexuality: Toward a research agenda for intersectional marketing theory

Marketing Theory

During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing... more During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing in religiosity and spiritual consumption, using examples from their own fieldwork, reflected on how (i) researchers’ subject positioning—including their gender and sexuality—shape fieldwork in multifaceted manners; (ii) investigations of religious/spiritual fields would benefit from a heightened sensitivity to issues of gender and sexuality; and (iii) greater sensitivity to aspects of religion and/or spirituality can help gender and sexuality scholars better understand consumers and markets. Based on the above, in this commentary paper, we call for intersectional reflexivity, attention to vulnerability and discomfort during fieldwork, and critical sensitivity to the religious “context of context” during theorization. Furthermore, we argue that specific spiritual/religious imaginaries can foster new research approaches that can contribute to more nuanced fieldwork and theorization in mar...

Teaching note – Critical pedagogies: practical examples from the marketing classroom

Journal of Marketing Management

Guest editorial: Sacred journeys: moving in, out and around sacred spaces

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Critical and creative marketing pedagogies: confronting rhetoric, addressing inequality, inspiring change

Journal of Marketing Management

Researching the sacred: a conversation with Samuelson Appau, Russ Belk and Diego Rinallo

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Purpose Once the domain of theologians, sociologists and (religion) anthropologists, we have seen... more Purpose Once the domain of theologians, sociologists and (religion) anthropologists, we have seen more recently how consumer researchers have enriched the study of spirituality and religion. Researching the sacred can be fraught with challenges, in and out of the field. Russell Belk, Samuelson Appau and Diego Rinallo address key questions, issues and conceptualisations in the scholarship on sacred consumption, contemplating the past and mapping future research avenues. A reading list is also included for those interested in joining the authors in this collective discovery of the sacred. Design/methodology/approach Contributors answered the following four questions: How has the study of sacred consumption evolved since you started researching the field? What would be the critical methodological issues that researchers need to consider when approaching the “sacred”? What are some of the key authors that have influenced your thinking? What do you think will be the key questions that re...

Theorizing consumption and markets in the context of religion: A commentary section on Appau’s (2021) ‘divine economic system’

Marketing Theory

This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine econo... more This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine economic system’, an article in which he explores religious exchanges in the context of a Pentecostal Church in Ghana and proposes ‘the divine economy’ as an alternative economic system to interrogate and extend scholarship on the relationship between the market and religion. In a thought-provoking conversation, four commentators (including Appau) engage in a critical discussion aimed at generating new ideas on theorizing the complex relationship between the market, consumption, and religion.

Collective Mobilizations of European Muslims: An Overview of Muslim Social Movements

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs

Networks Amongst Syrians: Situated Migrant Positionalities and the Impact on Relational Embedding

Social Inclusion, 2021

This article employs Yuval‐Davis concept of situated intersectionality to explore processes of re... more This article employs Yuval‐Davis concept of situated intersectionality to explore processes of relational embedding amongst Syrian migrants in the UK. By drawing on in‐depth interview data from 31 men and women living in North East England, we explore how varying social categories—or positionalities—intersect and shape personal networks and feelings of attachment amongst Syrians. We show how wider structural contexts and systems of social relations shape migrants’ sense of belonging and attachment which can serve to enhance or weaken opportunities for social and economic inclusion. The findings reveal how, for Syrian migrants, wider macro level contexts determine immigration and asylum routes which in turn shape place‐specific opportunity structures that impact on micro individual level processes of relational embedding. We develop the term “migrant positionalities” as a social category to capture the multiple experiences of migration and asylum and the power dynamics that determine...

Political Parties and Organization Studies: The party as a critical case of organizing

Organization Studies, 2021

Organization scholars have extensively studied both the politics of organization and the organiza... more Organization scholars have extensively studied both the politics of organization and the organization of politics. Contributing to the latter, we argue for further and deeper consideration of political parties, since: (1) parties illuminate organizational dynamics of in- and exclusion; (2) internal struggles related to the constitution of identities, practices and procedures are accentuated in parties; (3) the study of parties allow for the isolation of processes of normative and affective commitment; (4) parties prioritize and intensify normative control mechanisms; (5) party organizing currently represents an example of profound institutional change, as new (digital) formations challenge old bureaucratic models. Consequently, we argue that political parties should be seen as ‘critical cases’ of organizing, meaning that otherwise commonplace phenomena are intensified and exposed in parties. This allows researchers to use parties as magnifying glasses for zooming-in on organizationa...

2018 Academy of Marketing annual conference: marketing the brave

Journal of Marketing Management, 2019

Pilgrimage, consumption and rituals: Spiritual authenticity in a Shia Muslim pilgrimage

Tourism Management, 2019

A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims' experience, in particular the authentici... more A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims' experience, in particular the authenticity of their experience. The aim of the study is to understand how authenticity is evoked in a religious pilgrimage and the relationship between authenticity, rituals and consumption. The research contributes ethnographic insights from a lesser known, yet significant, Muslim pilgrimage called Ziyara-t-Arba'een. In so doing, pilgrimages are conceptualised as a quest for spiritual authenticity, a hybrid form of existential, ideological and objective authenticity. The findings section leads to a discussion of the ways in which spiritual authenticity is realised through rituals and the consumption of texts, material objects and space. The contribution of this paper is threefold: 1) it explores the different dimensions of authenticity in a pilgrimage experience; 2) it examines the role of material culture and ritual consumption in achieving forms of authenticity; and 3) it broadens the understanding of the pilgrimage as a context-bound and culturally specific phenomenon.

The other voices of international higher education: an empirical study of students' perceptions of British university education in China

Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2014

Business School. Her current research interests include religion, politics, consumption, marketin... more Business School. Her current research interests include religion, politics, consumption, marketing and identity. Her broad research interests include critical marketing, political marketing, Islamic marketing, organization studies. Her research has been published in Consumption, Markets & Culture, the Journal of Marketing Management and Marketing Theory.

The spectacularization of suffering: an analysis of the use of celebrities in ‘Comic Relief’ UK’s charity fundraising campaigns

Journal of Marketing Management, 2015

In this paper, we engage with recent charity fundraising campaigns in the UK such as 'Sport Relie... more In this paper, we engage with recent charity fundraising campaigns in the UK such as 'Sport Relief' and 'Red Nose Day,' both of which are organized by Comic Relief, an operating British charity. These campaigns are increasingly extreme spectacles of celebrity-suffering that concentrate public attention on the spectacle-image itself rather than on the charities these spectacles espouse. Drawing upon Guy Debord's critique of spectacle and celebrity in Society and the Spectacle, we contend that the phenomenon of celebrity fundraising in this context is interesting not only because of its voyeuristic dimensions (as argued by a number of scholars on celebrity humanitarianism) but also because it raises issues about how the use of highly visual and visceral images of celebrities' suffering has banalized the charitable causes to which they lend their names, often erasing them altogether. Celebrities' suffering in this context is framed by the media both as mega-spectacles of entertainment but also as lavishly-staged journeys of heroism and suffering set apart from the material and social abundance celebrities represent. We demonstrate, using a range of empirical sources from news reports and live TV coverage that when celebrities submit to these extreme journeys of physical suffering, it raises new questions about the moral limits of the marketization of emotion and the commodification of the charitable journey itself.

Authenticity, Religious Identity and Consumption: a Reflexive (Auto)Ethnographic Account

DESCRIPTION

Broadening the scope of political marketing. Lessons from the ‘Politics of Terror

ABSTRACT

User-Generated Brands and Social Media: Couchsurfing and Airbnb

Contemporary Management Research, 2013

The aim of this paper is to examine the brand identity construction of user-generated brands (UGB... more The aim of this paper is to examine the brand identity construction of user-generated brands (UGBs), using discursive and visual analysis of UGBs' social media material in an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of this relatively new branding phenomenon. We specifically focused on two such brands: Airbnb and Couchsurfing. Our main findings reveal the emerged themes: the access to the private sphere, the human dimension and meaningful inter-personal discourses, and authenticity. The value of our research lies in identifying the specificities of the identity construction and visual representation of UGBs. Lastly, we offer practical suggestions and ideas for future research.

Religious gift giving

Marketing Theory, 2013

This article enhances the understanding of consumption practices, particularly gift giving, withi... more This article enhances the understanding of consumption practices, particularly gift giving, within the context of an Islamic pilgrimage called the ziyara. Pilgrimages are rich sites of analysis of entangled secular and sacred consumption. The findings of ethnographic research undertaken in this area have made a significant contribution to the literature on gift giving. Three particular types of gifts have been identified (1) ordinary liturgical gifts, (2) supplication gifts that invite ‘prayer’ counter-gifts and (3) soteriological gifts in the form of hassanat that are given to ensure other-worldly salvation. Pilgrims see the purchasing and consumption of gifts as activities intrinsic to their pilgrimage, even as sine qua non in the case of gifts distributed in the shrines. The consumption of material objects appears to be integral to pilgrimage rituals and transforms the intangible spiritual experience of the pilgrims into something ‘palpable’. The gifts are intended to embody the ...

Co-production and co-consumption: Perspectives on immigration through a discourse analysis of voters’ blogs in the 2010 General Election

Journal of Marketing Management, 2011

Abstract The issue of immigration proved to be a crucially important flashpoint for all three par... more