Kristen L. Walker

Kristen L. Walker is the Paul Jennings Endowed Professor in Business and currently serves as the Nazarian College MBA Director and Small Business Institute (SBI) Director. She regularly utilizes client projects and platform development activities in classes to help students manage and execute marketing and digital strategies for community businesses and non-profit organizations. Her research interests merge public policy, technology, and marketing, focusing on socially responsible business practices around technology, interactive marketing, digital business models, social media, and youth privacy protection. Highlighting the risks youth face online, her grant work includes funding by NSF and private foundations. Her article“Surrendering Information Through the Looking Glass: Trust, Transparency and Protection” was awarded the 2018 Thomas Kinnear best paper award from JPPM and recognized by the AMA-EBSCO Responsible Research in Marketing. Her research has been recognized by the Responsible Research for Business and Management (RRBM) Honor Roll as driving societal impact. She serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (JPPM), serves on the ERB of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Consumer Marketing, and the Journal of Marketing Analytics. Dr.Walker encourages a variety of majors at the undergraduate and graduate level to understand the changing role of consumer information and its permanence/power in the marketplace.

Education

  • Ph.D. 2003, University of California, Los Angeles
  • M.P.A. 1995, California State University, Northridge
  • B.S. 1993, California State University, Northridge

Areas of Expertise/Research

  • Expertise and research interests merge public policy, technology, and marketing
  • Specializing in interactions to include digital business models, interactive marketing, social media, retail environments, brand preference, data insights, Internet privacy, information quality, EdTech/MarTech, and youth privacy protection.

Selected Publications

  • Walker, K.L. and Milne, G.R. (2024), "AI-driven technology and privacy: the value of social media responsibility," Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 815-835.
  • Walker, K.L., *Bodendorf, K., Kiesler, T.,*DeMattos, G., *Rostom, M., and *Ekstrom, A. (2023). "Compulsory Technology Adoption & Adaptation in Education: A Looming Student Privacy Problem." Journal of Consumer Affairs. Andrews, J.C.,
  • Walker, K.L., and Netemeyer, R. Kees, J. (2023). "Helping Youth Navigate Privacy Protection: Developing and Testing the Children’s Online Privacy Scale (COPS)."Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
  • Walker, K., Milne, G., and Weinberg, B. Co-editors (October 2019). “Marketing and Public Policy in a Technology-Integrated Society.” Special Issue, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
  • Walker, Kristen L., and Nora Moran. (2019). "Consumer Information for Data-Driven Decision Making: Teaching Socially Responsible Use of Data." Journal of Marketing Education. 41.2: 109-126.
  • Walker, Kristen (2016).Surrendering Information Through the Looking Glass: Transparency, Trust, and Protection. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 35(1), 144-158.*denotes student co-author.