After completing a BA degree in Economics in Istanbul/Turkey and a brief industry experience Gaye moved to academia and obtained an MSc in Marketing and subsequently a PhD in Management from University of Kent, Canterbury. Gaye’s research aims to understand how consumers behave individually and as part of culture in the dynamic marketplaces and respond to the contemporary marketing phenomena/ practices. This pertains to the domains of: branding activities in illicit markets, ethical and lack of ethical consumerism, consumer health and wellbeing and its manifestation in food markets, and signalling legitimacy in different within and across cultures.

Research:

I am motivated to understand the role of marketing activities in targeting, building, enabling and changing consumer behaviour and contribute to building overall consumer culture and well-being. I seek to answer this question by applying both qualitative and quantitative methods in different contexts such as:

• Cross- cultural markets, consumer and research methods: How do consumers behave in different environments? How is culture understood, embedded and changed by consumption?
• Ethical consumer behaviour and green marketing: How do ethical brands/ products signal their credence? How are ethical products perceived by consumers? What makes an ethical product legitimate for the consumers?
• Understanding the use branding as a tool in illicit markets- the dark-side of branding.

Area of Expertise:

• Consumer Behaviour
• Global Marketing
• Marketing in an International Perspective
• CSR and Environmental Management