The day of her doctoral graduation, Lori Thanos, D.B.A. discovered an email in her inbox.
“I jumped out of bed, squealing in excitement,” Dr. Thanos said. The correspondence explained that her article had been accepted for publication.“This news had actually trumped the thrill and elation of the hooding ceremony that was to take place in just a few hours!”
Dr. Thanos, who teaches Business and Marketing courses at SJC Brooklyn, was published in the International Journal of Marketing Studies this month. The article, “A Qualitative Exploration of Culturally-Pluralistic Segmentation Among Millennials,” can be accessed here.
Dr. Thanos’ idea for her article comes directly from her recent doctoral dissertation, which is available on ProQuest.
“The research posited that this key cohort, the culturally-pluralistic consumer – i.e., one who has many cultural associations but only one of those cultures presents as dominant – has the propensity for being grouped as an identifiable market segment,” she said.
In order to gather her research, Dr. Thanos interviewed 12 millennials, people born between the years of 1980 and 2000, from a New York City community college. During these interviews, Dr. Thanos explored how participants felt their cultural associations influence their decisions when purchasing and consuming food, particularly with regard to ethnic foods.
“The original idea sprouted from my research interests in consumer behavior, cultural pluralism, and millennial attitudes and behaviors,” Dr. Thanos said. “Findings concluded that millennials are aware of cultural pluralism and deem themselves culturally-adept, self-identifying with cultures other than their original family bloodlines.”
Dr. Thanos said that a follow-up quantitative study is planned for early 2018, which will include research from community and public four-year colleges. This year, Dr. Thanos plans on writing an additional article from her current findings.
Dr. Thanos received her doctoral degree from Northcentral University in February 2017. She graduated with honors and a 4.0 GPA.
