Olivier Sibai — Birkbeck, University of London

Overview

Biography

Olivier Sibai joined Birkbeck in 2014 and completed his PhD at Aston University, Birmingham. His research interests revolve broadly around Consumer Culture and Social Marketing. He has a particular interest in violence, peace, and the exercise of power in the marketplace. His current research projects focus on brand activism, brand purpose, consumer burn-out, the brutalization of social media, deviance in consumer communities, and marginal consumption practices. While Olivier conducts mainly interpretivist research, he is interested in various methodologies and approaches. Olivier currently convenes postgraduate dissertations in the Management department. He teaches Strategic Brand Management and Digital Marketing.

Qualifications

PhD in Marketing, Aston Business School, UK , 2015
MSc Marketing, Aston Business School, UK, 2010
MA in Business management, Audencia Nantes, France, 2010

Administrative responsibilities

Postgraduate dissertation convenor

Visiting posts

Visiting Scholar , Cass Business School, 02-2019 to 06-2019
Visiting Scholar, EM Lyon, 01-2019 to 01-2019
Visiting Scholar , Cass Business School, 09-2013 to 08-2014
Visiting PhD, HEC Paris, 06-2012 to 12-2012
Teaching Assistant, Aston Business School, 09-2011 to 08-2014

Professional activities

Ad hoc academic journal reviewer

British Journal of Management (ABS 4), Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing (ABS 3), Journal of Product & Brand Management, Recherche et Application en Marketing (ABS 2)

Ad hoc conference reviewer

Association of Consumer Research (ACR), Consumer Culture Theory (CCT), Academy of Marketing Science (AMS), European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC)

Professional memberships

Teaching Association
Higher Academy Fellow
Research Associations
The American Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
The Consumer Culture Theory Consortium (CCT)
The Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
The European Academy of Marketing (EMA)
European Group for Organisation Studies (EGOS)

Research

Research interests

Consumer Culture
Social Marketing and Transformative Consumer Research
Brand Purpose and Brand Activism
Violence on Social Media
Games, play and ludic consumption
Sociology of academic careers and the mentorship of early career researchers
Interpretive methodologies

Research overview

Olivier’s research interests revolve broadly around Social Marketing and Consumer Culture.

Olivier has a particular interest in the exercise of power in the marketplace and its ethical implications. In his current projects, Olivier investigates the brutalization of social media, brand activism, brand purpose, and consumer rest and burn-out.

Olivier currently conducts a Leverhulme funded project on "Brand purposing: a history of branding moralization"

While Olivier enjoys various methodologies and approaches to research, he conducts mainly interpretivist research, with experience of ethnography, online ethnography, collective auto-ethnography, interview research, archival media research, and text-mining.

Individuals interested in doing a PhD in the broad areas of Social Marveting and Consumer Culture are welcome to email Olivier. In your email, please make sure you indicate why you would like to do a PhD, what you would like to research on (short summary of your intended research topic), and how your research fits with Olivier's research expertise or interests. Please make sure you also attach a copy of your CV. If you already wrote a first draft of a PhD proposal, you can also attach it to the email.

Msc students interested in doing their dissertations on branding topics such as brand purpose and consumer rest and burnout are welcome to contact Olivier about it.

Research clusters and groups

Member, The Scrutinizers
Co-lead, ECR Working Group of BISR

Research projects

The Brutalization of Online Consumer Communities

Authenticating Brand Activism through Controversy

#MyBlackReceipt: Fighting Racial Exclusion Through the Marketing Place

Marketplace exclusion

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:: 1

Individuals interested in doing a PhD in the broad areas of Social Marveting and Consumer Culture are welcome to email Olivier. In your email, please make sure you indicate why you would like to do a PhD, what you would like to research on (short summary of your intended research topic), and how your research fits with Olivier's research expertise or interests. Please make sure you also attach a copy of your CV. If you already wrote a first draft of a PhD proposal, you can also attach it to the email.

Msc students interested in doing their dissertations on branding topics such as brand activism, brand purpose and consumer rest and burnout are welcome to contact Olivier about it.

Teaching

Teaching modules

Brand Management (BUMN066H7)
Digital Marketing (BUMN104H5)
PG Dissertation Preparation (BUMN184Z7)

Publications

Article

Sibai, Olivier and Luedicke, M. and de Valck, K. (2024) Why online consumption communities brutalize. Journal of Consumer Research ISSN 0093-5301.
Brouard, M. and Brunk, K. and Belkhir, M. and Campana, M. and Dalmoro, M. and Ferreira, M.C. and Figueiredo, B. and Scaraboto, D. and Sibai, Olivier and Smith, A.N. and Belkhir, M. (2023) "Upload Your Impact”: can digital enclaves enable participation in racialized markets?. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 42 (1), pp. 56-73. ISSN 0743-9156.
Sibai, Olivier and Brunk, K. and Belkhir, M. and Brouard, M. and Campana, M. and Dalmoro, M. and Ferreira, M.C. and Figueiredo, B. and Scaraboto, D. and Smith, A. (2022) Market-centric pathways for racial inclusion: the case of #MyBlackReceipt. Advances in Consumer Research 50, pp. 49-54. ISSN 0098-9258.
Sibai, Olivier and Mimoun, L. and Boukis, A. (2021) Authenticating brand activism: negotiating the boundaries of free speech to make a change. Psychology & Marketing 38 (10), pp. 1651-1669. ISSN 0742-6046.
Sibai, Olivier and Ferreira, M.C. and Bernardo, F. (2019) Overworked and isolated: the rising epidemic of loneliness in academia. The Conversation
Belkhir, M. and Brouard, M. and Brunk, K. and Dalmoro, M. and Dinnin Huff, A. and Ferreira, M.C. and Figueiredo, B. and Scaraboto, D. and Sibai, Olivier and Smith, A. (2018) Isolation in globalizing academic fields: a collaborative autoethnography of Early Career Researchers. Academy of Management Learning and Education 18 (2), ISSN 1537-260X.
Nunan, Daniel and Sibai, Olivier and Schivinski, Bruno and Christodoulides, George (2018) Reflections on “Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales” and a research agenda. Industrial Marketing Management 75, pp. 31-36. ISSN 0019-8501.
Barrios Fajardo, A. and De Valck, K. and Schultz, C. and Sibai, Olivier and Husemann, K. and Maxwell-Smith, M. and Luedicke, M. (2016) Marketing as a means to transformative social conflict resolution: lessons from transitioning war economies and the Colombian coffee marketing system. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 35 (2), pp. 185-197. ISSN 1547-7207.
Sibai, Olivier and de Valck, K. and Farrell, A.M. and Rudd, J.M. (2015) Social control in online communities of consumption: a framework for community management. Psychology & Marketing 32 (3), pp. 250-264. ISSN 0742-6046.

Business and community

I have media training.

Media

I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

Brand Purpose and Brand Activism
Violence and Brutality on Social Media
Academic isolation
Consumer collectives
Branding
Digital and social media marketing