Dr. Linda Alkire

by David Kallison

Dr. Linda Alkire is having a productive year outside of the classroom. Currently on developmental leave, the associate professor of marketing at McCoy College of Business has been invited as a visiting scholar by several prestigious universities around the world. She has shared her expertise in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Kingdom, with upcoming engagements in India and Colombia. 

Her research visits were marked by a series of impactful endeavors, including mentoring Ph.D. students, delivering workshops and seminars, securing post-doctoral funding, and co-chairing international conferences. These invited visits facilitated academic discourse and future international collaborations, expanding the university's global reach.

Dr. Alkire's extensive travels and unique upbringing underscore her commitment to global academic collaboration and knowledge sharing. Born in Crimea, part of what is now occupied Ukraine, Alkire moved to Lebanon when she was young. Awaiting her was an ongoing civil war, one that claimed the lives of at least 150,000 people and lasted for over 15 years.

Out of the chaos, she learned a powerful lesson from her parents and educators.

“Education was ingrained in me,” Alkire says, “I truly believed that education is the only way to secure a brighter future.”

And it was. Fluent in four languages, she leveraged her MBA degree to study and teach at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, where she earned her Ph.D. in marketing, before moving nearly 5,000 miles to San Marcos, Texas. The culture shock was real.

“All these details that sometimes we take for granted were definitely a challenge, but I’m very grateful for all the support.”

She relied on her Bobcat colleagues and students for things like where to shop and how to do taxes (both equally important in America). It not only eased her transition to the United States but emphasized the importance of understanding and appreciating different cultures and traditions.

In her travels, Alkire learned about the different educational systems and noticed that her foreign colleagues had significant ties to industry. While that type of close relationship is often hard to secure  in the U.S., Alkire believes there are benefits to fruitful relationships between academia and industry.

“The Center for Professional Sales in the McCoy College of Business is a prime example of academics working closely with industry. We are very proud of our corporate partners and the relationships we built over the many years”.

Dr. Alkire’s research interests include Transformative Service Research (TSR), Service and Sales Strategy, and Technology and Service. Particularly, she is delving deeper into TSR-related topics, identified as one of the top service research priorities. Through her global and sustained efforts, Dr. Alkire has gained an international reputation and is among the thought leaders in TSR. She embraces transdisciplinary research to contribute to society's well-being by offering transformative insights to service providers.

One of Dr. Alkire’s current research projects focuses on helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) showcase their social impact.

“We developed a whole toolkit,” Dr. Alkire says, “in collaboration with the NGO's to help them measure the impact of their work and report their progress to funding bodies.”

It’s important work, showing off the on-the-ground achievements of small nonprofits to the large philanthropic entities that fund them.

In addition, Dr. Alkire is exploring the usage of novel technology interfaces within service deliveries and the role of technology in shaping service experiences. The research possibilities in this area are vast, and Dr. Alkire is embracing them.

“Our field is open to new theories, new methods, and new innovations, and that's extremely exciting,” she says.

Still, she believes that marketing is often misunderstood. It is not, she says, about pushy salespeople and blaring advertisement. It is about people.

"In reality," she says, “marketing is fundamentally about understanding and meeting people’s needs. It is an interdisciplinary field that draws on insights from psychology to comprehend consumer behavior, sociology to assess the impact of societal trends, economics to analyze market dynamics, and ethics to ensure socially responsible practices. This comprehensive approach allows marketers to develop strategies that not only meet consumer demands but also contribute positively to society. The ethical and socially responsible side of marketing is what I am particularly interested in.”

While the pandemic and the increasing influence of A.I. (though Dr. Alkire is a “technology optimist”) has left some uncertainty in the field, she isn’t fazed at all.

“It's a great time to be in marketing right now,” she says.

As she reflects on her developmental leave, Dr. Alkire expresses her profound gratitude towards all the host institutions and colleagues across the world for their hospitality and collaboration. She is especially thankful to the McCoy College of Business and Texas State University for providing her with this unique and invaluable opportunity.

Eager to return to the classroom and share these insights with her students, Dr. Alkire looks forward to integrating this newfound knowledge into her teaching and research. She is also enthusiastic about furthering these international collaborations in the near future through several initiatives she is working on. ✯