Engagement is key to Dr Dolan’s research. Her work in the wine, tourism and sharing economy and other industries focuses on understanding the consumer decision-making process and how to leverage connection to create change.

Engagement across industries

Dr Dolan’s research encompasses influencer, social media, and diversity marketing, as well as purposeful and social enterprise branding, but the core of her work is consumer engagement in the wine industry, and student engagement in the education sector. In both areas, the key is understanding consumer trends and choices, and how these can be influenced to create positive change. ‘I find that interesting – how to engage customers in a new idea or a new behaviour and discover at what point they’re onboard with the idea rather than resisting it,’ says Dr Dolan. 

Influencing change

Dr Dolan’s ground-breaking work on the theory of engagement behaviour in the social media space was recognised early in her career, with a key paper published in Journal of Strategic Marketing. Increasingly cited each year, this work continues to shape Dr Dolan’s future research plans around influencer marketing, especially in the wine industry. She is keen to understand the characteristics of influencers and whether those who are health conscious can perhaps have an impact, for example, on consumer decisions around now or low (nolo) wine and alcohol alternatives. There are major shifts happening in the market in terms of consumption, which need further investigation. ‘There is a big consumer segment of young people who don’t drink at all or who don’t drink wines, so it feels like a good opportunity for the industry to explore these low or zero alcohol options.’

With an impressive pedigree in winemaking, it seemed inevitable that Dr Dolan would be involved in the industry in some way. Dr Dolan already has strong links to key industry organisations and leaders, and intends to strengthen those connections with more collaboration planned for the immediate future. As well as looking into the Australian wine drinking culture, Dr Dolan is also interested in investigating sustainability in the wine industry, in terms of alternative packaging and sustainability. ‘There’s still lots of consumer resistance to alternative packaging. But there’s actually no reason for wine to be packaged in glass bottles, unless you want to store them for some time,’ says Dr Dolan.

Student focused research

Dr Dolan has successfully dovetailed her passion for teaching with her research expertise via exploring student engagement. Dr Dolan has applied her knowledge in social media marketing to investigate how to engage students outside of traditional university platforms, by using, for example, Facebook. Her research in university O week activities has also provided insight into students’ sense of belonging and how connected they feel to their university as a result of those activities. With the education sector having gone through several upheavals recently, Dr Dolan anticipates generating much more work in this space.  

Delivery tangible outcomes

Keen to produce academic work and projects that address industry needs, Dr Dolan’s research seeks to solve problems and provide novel insights, especially in the wine area. ‘I want to know what’s creating challenges in marketing, or barriers in terms of engagement,’ Dr Dolan says.