TITLE:
Assistant Professor of Marketing
DEGREES:
Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
M.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
B.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
B.A., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Marketing professor Dr. Meghan Pierce’s research on how people interpret social information informs her teaching in the classroom.
- Is your experience teaching at Catholic universities internationally what compelled you to come to La Salle?
My work at academic institutions in Virginia, Switzerland, Chile and La Salle and my experience in the nonprofit sector, share a common foundation in the pursuit of social justice. I was excited to join La Salle because the mission is consistent with my core values and allows me to pursue my passion for research and teaching in social marketing.
- Do you find yourself immune to corporate tactics such as Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day? It is fascinating to identify marketing tactics that impact my behavior and of those around me. I try to be mindful about the underlying social and psychological influences of my own consumption. One tactic marketers use is structuring choice sets to influence your purchase. An example is adding a premium option to influence the purchase of the middle choice. A recent technology purchase led me to that very outcome, so perhaps I can be persuaded just like everyone else!
- What have been some of the most exciting or interesting trends you have uncovered in your research in the past few years?
Some of my research focuses on facilitating systemic change to address complex problems such as poverty alleviation. I recently co-wrote a chapter on macro-social marketing to highlight opportunities for co-creation using human centered design across multiple levels of the system, upstream (policy makers), midstream (service providers), and downstream (consumers).
- What is your teaching style?
I strive for experiential learning where students can actively apply course concepts to real-world problems. For example, students in my marketing research class engage in a semesterlong marketing research project with a local non-profit community partner, Face to Face Germantown. My hope is that this helps students be thoughtful and ethical members of society in business and in life.
- What has been the biggest influence in your professional journey and why?
At Fairfax County Park Foundation in Virginia, I worked on campaigns for projects such as Clemyjontri Park, a playground for children with all abilities including handicap devices. I quickly learned that marketing can be applied to both for-profit, not-for-profit, and public agencies; that marketing is not just about selling products or services, but can be about changing people’s behaviors or getting them to believe in certain ideas.