Profile

Dr Chih-Ling Liu is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Lancaster University 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 Lancaster University’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:

• Ageing, later-life wellbeing, and quality of life

• Consumption-based inequalities and everyday vulnerability

• Digital inclusion, technology use and non-use in later life

• Loneliness, dignity, and social connection among older adults

• Home, family, care, and community-based consumption practices

• 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

• 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.

• Insights inform inclusive services and supportive environments that promote holistic wellbeing.

⚖️ SDG 5 — Gender Equality

• Exploration of gendered consumption and embodiment illuminates how consumption practices intersect with gender identity, roles, and inequalities.

• Contributes to understanding systemic barriers and pathways toward equity.

📉 SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities

• Focuses on consumption-based inequalities, including access to technology, market resources, and dignity-enabling practices in later life.

• Highlights how social stigma, vulnerability, and market exclusion amplify inequalities.

🏙️ SDG 11 — Sustainable Cities & Communities

• Work on family, intergenerational consumption, and ageing connects to creating age-friendly, inclusive communities.

• Offers consumer-centric evidence to support community design, social engagement, and care practices.

📚 SDG 17 — Partnerships for the Goals

• Commitment to interdisciplinary and impact-oriented research aligns with multi-stakeholder collaboration (academia, policy makers, third-sector organisations).

• Supports co-produced solutions to social and consumption challenges.