Dr Chih-Ling Liu
Senior LecturerProfile
Dr Chih-Ling Liu is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at 快播视频 Management School. She obtained her PhD from Alliance Manchester Business School and has been an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Business Research since 2016. She is an active member of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) community, Consumer Research with Impact for Society (CRIS), and 快播视频’s Centre for Consumption Insights (CCI) and Centre for Ageing Research (C4AR).
Dr Liu’s research is grounded in consumer culture theory and examines how everyday consumption practices shape identities, inequalities, and wellbeing across the life course. While her earlier work focused on consumer identity politics, gendered consumption, stigma, and moral dimensions of consumption, her most recent research has increasingly turned to ageing, consumer vulnerability, and consumption-based inequalities. In particular, she explores how older adults navigate dignity, autonomy, belonging, and care through ordinary practices such as technology use and non-use, home-based consumption, family relations, and gift-giving.
Her current programme of research spans ageing and consumption, consumer welfare and wellbeing, identity politics, gendered consumption, stigma and courtesy stigma, digital engagement in later life, and the sacred and profane in consumer behaviour. Across these projects, she adopts an explicitly inequality-sensitive and socially oriented perspective, with the aim of informing more inclusive market practices, public services, and policy interventions that support diverse social groups.
Methodologically, Dr Liu specialises in qualitative and interpretive methods, including in-depth interviews, ethnography, netnography, and videography, with a focus on capturing lived experience and producing insights that inform policy, practice, and social wellbeing. Her research has been published in leading international journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Advertising, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Marketing Theory, Journal of Marketing Management, Advances in Consumer Research, and Research in Consumer Behavior. Prior to academia, she worked in digital marketing, an experience that continues to inform her research on technology, markets, and everyday life.
Current Collaboration Interests
Dr Liu actively welcomes collaboration with scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and third-sector organisations working on:
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Ageing, later-life wellbeing, and quality of life
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Consumption-based inequalities and everyday vulnerability
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Digital inclusion, technology use and non-use in later life
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Loneliness, dignity, and social connection among older adults
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Home, family, care, and community-based consumption practices
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Qualitative, participatory, and impact-oriented research on ageing
She is particularly keen to develop interdisciplinary and impact-focused partnerships for externally funded projects (e.g. NIHR, AHRC, ESRC) that aim to improve everyday support pathways and reduce inequalities in later life.
Core SDGs Linked to My Research
? SDG 3 — Good Health & Well-Being
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Research on ageing, wellbeing, and consumer vulnerability highlights how everyday consumption (technology use, home life, social participation) affects physical and mental health in later life.
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Insights inform inclusive services and supportive environments that promote holistic wellbeing.
?? SDG 5 — Gender Equality
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Exploration of gendered consumption and embodiment illuminates how consumption practices intersect with gender identity, roles, and inequalities.
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Contributes to understanding systemic barriers and pathways toward equity.
? SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities
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Focuses on consumption-based inequalities, including access to technology, market resources, and dignity-enabling practices in later life.
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Highlights how social stigma, vulnerability, and market exclusion amplify inequalities.
?? SDG 11 — Sustainable Cities & Communities
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Work on family, intergenerational consumption, and ageing connects to creating age-friendly, inclusive communities.
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Offers consumer-centric evidence to support community design, social engagement, and care practices.
? SDG 17 — Partnerships for the Goals
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Commitment to interdisciplinary and impact-oriented research aligns with multi-stakeholder collaboration (academia, policy makers, third-sector organisations).
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Supports co-produced solutions to social and consumption challenges.
Research Overview
Dr Chih-Ling Liu’s research is situated within consumer culture theory and examines how everyday consumption practices shape identity, wellbeing, and inequality across the life course. Her most recent work focuses on ageing, consumer vulnerability, and consumption-based inequalities, exploring how older adults negotiate dignity, autonomy, belonging, and care in contexts such as home life, family relations, gift-giving, and technology use and non-use. Adopting qualitative and interpretive methods, her research foregrounds lived experience and moral identity work to inform more inclusive markets, services, and policies aimed at improving wellbeing and reducing inequalities in later life.
Current Teaching
- MNGT 610 Marketing Research (Qualitative)
- MKGT 402(1) Phiosophy of Social Science
- MKTG 316 Advanced Topics in Consumer Behaviour
- MKTG 310 Marketing Research and Consultancy Project
- MKTG 210/510 Marketing Research (Qualitative)
External Roles
Dr Chih-Ling Liu is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Business Research. She also serves on the Greater Manchester Older People Financial Hardship Steering Group and the Age-Friendly Wider Team, contributing to regional initiatives addressing inequality and wellbeing in later life.
Additional Information
Media Attention
"" (2024), The Wall Street Journal, 17th December, interviewed by the Wall Street Journal reporter, Elizabeth Bernstein.
Liu, C. and Kozinets, R. V. (2024), "" The Conversation, 6th March.
Republications include the , and the .
Liu, C. (2023), "" The Conversation, 1st September.
A short promotional video about the article can be found here: .
Since publishing on 1 September, Chihling’s Conversation article has also been by The Conversation’s international bureau.
It has also been republished in the , , , , , as well as other outlets:
Liu, C. and Kozinets, R. V. (2021), “’”, The Conversation, 12th November.
This piece has been republished by both the UK and the Canadian arm of Yahoo, Channel News Asia, the Italian arm of Vanity Fair, South Africa news site, News24.com, El Mundo, one of the largest printed newspapers in Spain, the World News in Switzerland etc. It has also reached countries around the world including New Zealand, Africa, China, Singapore, Canada, Spain, Switzerland etc.
Dr Chih-Ling Liu was also interviewed by Business Insider within their recent article () which has been republished in Business Insider in other countries, as well as on Yahoo and MSN! The main Business Insider attracts 8,763,909 visitors per month, Yahoo boasts 6,095,788 visitors and Business Insider India, 1,467,627.
PhD Supervision Interests
Dr Chih-Ling Liu welcomes PhD students interested in understanding how consumption shapes identity, wellbeing, and inequality across the life course. She is particularly interested in projects on ageing and later-life consumption; family and intergenerational consumption; gender, embodiment, and identity in everyday consumer practices; research that aims to improve consumer welfare and wellbeing (Transformative Consumer Research); experiences of stigma, dignity, and vulnerability in consumption; and Chinese and East Asian consumer cultures. She primarily supervises qualitative research and is open to a wide range of approaches, including interviews, ethnography, online research, and visual or participatory methods. Prospective students are warmly encouraged to get in touch to discuss ideas and potential projects.
School Engagement
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Editorial activity
- Centre for Consumption Insights