Taylor Willmott

Dr Taylor Willmott

Lecturer in Marketing (Research)

Adelaide Business School

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr. Willmott is an award-winning researcher with expertise in behavioural science, economics, social marketing, and human-centered design. With a focus on social impact, Dr. Willmott engages in partnered research to tackle complex wicked problems such as climate change, violence, and chronic disease. Dr. Willmott is currently a Lecturer in Marketing (Research) and is the marketing discipline’s representative on the Adelaide Business School’s Engagement Committee.

Dr. Taylor Willmott is a recognised thought leader in social marketing and human-centered service design. Her research focuses on developing and advancing methods, theories, frameworks, and models that can be readily implemented by practitioners and policy makers tackling society’s most pressing challenges. Over the past nine years, she has been involved in the planning, co-creation, design, implementation, and evaluation of over 25 externally funded projects (totally A$1.5M). These have tackled complex behavioural and social problems such as coral bleaching of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, binge drinking, alcohol fuelled violence, tobacco and illicit drug use, obesity and chronic disease prevention, energy use, and youth sexual violence and abuse prevention. More recently, she has contributed to projects addressing societal ageing and institutional food waste.

Current projects:

Her scholarly research has been published in more than 50 peer reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and reports. The quality and significance of her research is evidenced by a Real Impact Award from Emerald Publishing in 2023, two consecutive best paper awards at the International Social Marketing Conference in 2016 and 2018, 13 competitive research scholarships, and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in 2015. She is on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Social Marketing and regularly peer reviews for leading journals in her field. She has previously served as Guest Editor for the Journal of Social Marketing and Track Chair for the Academy of Marketing Science's World Marketing Congress. She is a sought-after guest presenter delivering keynotes and workshops for leading conferences and industry symposiums.

Areas of research interest:

  • Social marketing (i.e., marketing for social change)
  • Service design and innovation
  • Value co-creation
  • Systems transformation
  • Theoretical processes

If you are interested in discussing potential collaborations, partnerships, or research supervision in any of the above research areas, please contact Dr. Willmott via email (taylor.willmott@adelaide.edu.au).

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 Rundle-Thiele, S., Willmott, T. J., Nadine, M., Saleme Ruiz, P., & Kitunen, A. (2024). Young Voices United: co-designing a place-based youth-led sexual and violence abuse prevention approach for one Australian community. Safer Communities, 23(4), 245-264.
    DOI
    2024 Carrillat, F. A., Plewa, C., Pupovac, L., Vanasse, C., Willmott, T., Legoux, R., & Napolova, E. (2024). Can Consumers’ Altruistic Inferences Solve the CSR Initiative Puzzle? A Meta-analytic Investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 20 pages.
    DOI Scopus2
    2024 Willmott, T. J., Schmidtke, D. J., & McLeod, S. (2024). Editorial: Nothing about us without us: participatory design application in social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 14(2), 137-142.
    DOI
    2023 Conduit, J., Karpen, I. O., & Willmott, T. (2023). User circularity practices: Adopting a user stewardship perspective for a circular economy. AMS Review, 13(3-4), 211-231.
    DOI Scopus4
    2022 Willmott, T. J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2022). Improving theory use in social marketing: the TITE four-step theory application process. Journal of Social Marketing, 12(2), 222-255.
    DOI Scopus12 WoS7
    2022 Willmott, T. J., Mathew, A., Saleme, P., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2022). Participatory Design Application in Youth Sexual Violence and Abuse Prevention: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.. Trauma Violence Abuse, 24(3), 15248380221078891.
    DOI Scopus12 WoS5 Europe PMC2
    2022 Willmott, T. J., Hurley, E., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2022). Designing energy solutions: a comparison of two participatory design approaches for service innovation. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 32(3), 1-25.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS3
    2022 Willmott, T., Mathew, A., Luck, E., Rundle-Thiele, S., Carins, J., Vincze, L., . . . Ball, L. (2022). Participatory design application in obesity prevention targeting young adults and adolescents: a mixed-methods systematic scoping review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 11(1), 1-8.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC1
    2021 Willmott, T. J., Pang, B., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2021). Capability, opportunity, and motivation: an across contexts empirical examination of the COM-B model. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 17 pages.
    DOI Scopus75 WoS31 Europe PMC43
    2021 Carins, J., Pang, B., Willmott, T., Knox, K., Storr, R., Robertson, D., . . . Pettigrew, S. (2021). Creating supportive eating places: A systematic review of food service initiatives. Health Promotion International, 36(5), 1368-1392.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS9 Europe PMC7
    2021 Willmott, T., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2021). Are we speaking the same language? Call for action to improve theory application and reporting in behaviour change research. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus25 WoS20 Europe PMC12
    2019 Willmott, T. J., Pang, B., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Badejo, A. (2019). Weight management in young adults: Systematic review of electronic health intervention components and outcomes. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(2), 17 pages.
    DOI Scopus52 WoS39 Europe PMC30
    2019 Willmott, T., Russell-Bennett, R., Drennan, J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2019). The impact of serious educational gameplay on adolescent binge drinking intentions: a theoretically grounded empirical examination. Health Education and Behavior, 46(1), 114-125.
    DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC2
    2019 Rundle-Thiele, S., David, P., Willmott, T., Pang, B., Eagle, L., & Hay, R. (2019). Social marketing theory development goals: an agenda to drive change. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(1-2), 160-181.
    DOI Scopus101 WoS75
    2019 Willmott, T., Pang, B., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Badejo, A. (2019). Reported theory use in electronic health weight management interventions targeting young adults: a systematic review. Health Psychology Review, 13(3), 295-317.
    DOI Scopus32 WoS30 Europe PMC13
    2018 Willmott, T. J., Pang, B., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Badejo, A. (2018). Weight Management in Young Adults: Systematic Review of Electronic Health Intervention Components and Outcomes (Preprint).
    DOI
    2017 Willmott, T., & Parkinson, J. (2017). Motivation, opportunity, and ability: Understanding new habits and changes adopted for weight management. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41(3), 291-298.
    DOI Scopus14 WoS10 Europe PMC2

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2024 Willmott, T. J., Sansome, K., Baker, J., & Conduit, J. (2024). Workshop: Co-designing sustainability initiatives in hospitals and aged care. In Proceedings of the 41st National IHHC Conference. Perth, Australia.
    2024 Sansome, K., Baker, J., Conduit, J., & Willmott, T. (2024). Multi-level framework for overcoming barriers to sustainability transitions. In Proceedings of the SCP Boutique Conference 2024. Auckland.
    2024 Thi Diem, M., Willmott, T., Conduit, J., Karpen, I., Plewa, C., Kleinaltenkamp, M., & Jaakkola, E. (2024). Collective engagement: Measurement and well-being outcomes. In ANZMAC 2024 Proceedings. Hobart.
    2024 Sansome, K., Willmott, T., Baker, J., & Conduit, J. (2024). Understanding barriers to sustainability transitions: Multi-level framework. In ANZMAC 2024 Proceedings. Hobart.
    2024 Willmott, T. (2024). Co-design for social service system transformation. In ANZMAC 2024 Proceedings. Hobart.
    2024 Sansome, K., Willmott, T., Baker, J., & Conduit, J. (2024). A sector-wide investigation into food waste in hospitals and aged care. In Proceedings of the 41st National IHHC Conference. Perth.
    2024 Ni, H., Willmott, T., McGrath, D., Mickelsons, S., Teo, E., Crane, R., & Zhou, S. J. (2024). Quantification of food waste in an Australian acute care tertiary hospital. In Proceedings of the 41st National IHHC Conference. Perth.
    2024 Thi Diem, M., Willmott, T., Conduit, J., Karpen, I., Plewa, C., Kleinaltenkamp, M., & Jaakkola, E. (2024). Measuring collective engagement for a social purpose. In AM2024 Proceedings. Cardiff.
    2024 Willmott, T. (2024). Exploring co-design as a vehicle for social service system transformation. In Proceedings of the 13th SERVSIG Conference. Bordeaux.
    2023 Rundle-Thiele, S., Willmott, T., Harris, J., Mathew, A., & Yue, Y. (2023). The Theory Card Sorting Activity: A tool to increase theory application in social marketing. In WSMC 2023 Proceedings. Colombia, South America.
    2023 Willmott, T. (2023). Increasing social marketing’s impact: Time to break the fourth wall. In Proceedings of the 24th AMS World Marketing Congress. Canterbury, United Kingdom.
    2023 Willmott, T. J., Dissanayake, M., Luck, E., & Conduit, J. (2023). Smart garments and ageing in place: A social marketing formative research study. In Proceedings of the 24th AMS World Marketing Congress. Canterbury, United Kingdom.
    2023 Willmott, T., Karpen, I., Conduit, J., Plewa, C., Kleinaltenkamp, M., & Jaakkola, E. (2023). Developing collective engagement for social purpose: The role of compassion within connections among market actors. In 2023 Frontiers in Service Conference Proceedings. Maastricht, Netherlands.
    2023 Willmott, T., & Harris, J. (2023). Workshop: Theory driven practice: Learning how to put the puzzle pieces together. In Proceedings of the Change 2023 Conference. Brisbane, Australia.
    2023 Willmott, T. J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2023). Workshop: Designing with and not for people: Community-led co-design. In Proceedings of the 2023 PHAA Preventive Health Conference. Adelaide, Australia.
    2023 Willmott, T. J. (2023). Keynote: Navigating the seas of change: Theory as our compass. In Change 2023 Conference Proceedings. Brisbane, Australia.
    2023 Willmott, T. J. (2023). Keynote: Participatory design in health: Differentiating meaningful from tokenistic engagement. In Proceedings of the 2023 Sonder Research Symposium. Adelaide, Australia.
    2022 Willmott, T. J., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Harris, J. (2022). Special session: The TITE process: Orchestrating a symphony of theory driven practice.. In ANZMAC 2022 Proceedings. Perth, Australia.
    2022 Willmott, T. (2022). Participatory social marketing: Formative research insights. In ANZMAC 2022 Proceedings. Perth, Australia.
    2022 Willmott, T. J. (2022). Advancing transformative social marketing: A theory-synthesis. In ANZMAC 2022 Proceedings. Perth, Australia.
    2021 Willmott, T. J. (2021). Breadth and depth of participatory design: Insights from a mixed-methods systematic review. In ISBNPA Young Adults SIG inaugural event 2021. Brisbane, Australia.
    2021 Willmott, T. J. (2021). Keynote: Co-designing local strategies to prevent youth sexual violence and abuse. In Change 2021 Conference Proceedings. Brisbane, Australia.
    2021 Rundle-Thiele, S., Willmott, T. J., & Hurley, E. (2021). The art of effectively co-designing public policy. In Public Policy Design and Development Summit 2021 Proceedings. Brisbane, Australia.
    2020 Willmott, T. J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2020). Design thinking: Creating shared value and driving innovation. In GovComms Festival 2020 Proceedings. Canberra, Australia.
    2019 Rundle-Thiele, S., Carins, J., David, P., Willmott, T. J., & Kim, J. (2019). Workshop: Can marketing be used for good?. In BiiG Network National Public Sector Innovation Conference 2019 Proceedings. Brisbane, Australia.
    2019 Willmott, T. J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2019). Design thinking: A foundation for enacting transformative social marketing. In WSMC 2019 Proceedings. Edinburgh, Scotland.
    2018 Willmott, T. J., Pang, B., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2018). Beyond the individual: A COM-B model analysis. In ANZMAC 2018 Proceedings. Adelaide, Australia.
    2018 Willmott, T. J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2018). Advancing social marketing: A reciprocal 4-step theory application process (TITE). In ISMC 2018 Proceedings. Singapore.
    2018 Willmott, T. J., Rundle-Thiele, S., Pang, B., & Badejo, A. (2018). Extent of theory use in eHealth weight management interventions targeting young adults: A systematic review. In Proceedings of the 4th UCL Centre for Behaviour Change Conference: Behaviour Change for Health: Digital and Beyond. London, United Kingdom.
    2018 Rundle-Thiele, S., David, P., Willmott, T. J., & Pang, B. (2018). Special session: What needs to be done? Social marketing theory development goals: An agenda to drive change. In ANZMAC 2018 Proceedings. Adelaide, Australia.
    2018 Willmott, T. J. (2018). Workshop: Leverage the power of collaboration with design thinking. In Proceedings of the Change 2018 Conference. Brisbane, Australia.
    2018 Willmott, T. J., Rundle-Thiele, S., Pang, B., & Badejo, A. (2018). eHealth weight management interventions: Are they effective among young adults?. In Agents of Change Summit 2018 Proceedings. San Diego, United States of America.
    2017 Nofz, H., Rundle-Thiele, S., & Willmott, T. J. (2017). Schoolies anti-violence hashtag engagement: An observational study. In ANZMAC 2017 Proceedings. Melbourne, Australia.
    2017 Willmott, T. J., & Parkinson, J. (2017). The role of e-service quality on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and behaviour for a digital weight management program. In Proceedings of the 3rd UCL Centre for Behaviour Change Digital Health Conference: Harnessing Digital Technology for Behaviour Change. London, United Kingdom.
    2016 Willmott, T. J., Taiminen, H., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2016). Engaging farmers to adopt best management farming practices: A dual interest framework exploratory study. In ANZMAC 2016 Proceedings. Christchurch, New Zealand.
    2016 Willmott, T. J., Russell-Bennett, R., Drennan, J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2016). Using serious educational games to influence adolescent binge drinking intentions: An empirical examination. In ISMC 2016 Proceedings. Wollongong, Australia.
    2016 Willmott, T. J., & Parkinson, J. (2016). The influence of e-service quality on a digital weight management program’s participants’ health and wellbeing outcomes. In ISMC 2016 Proceedings. Wollongong, Australia.

  • Conference Items
    Year Citation
    2023 Verswijveren, S., Chappel, S., Shaw, S., Lawlor, E., Barrett, S., Wilson, K., . . . Lee, D. (2023). Challenges, needs and opportunities for emerging behavioural nutrition and physical activity researchers in (post)pandemic times. Poster session presented at the meeting of ISBNPA 2023 Annual Meeting. Uppsala, Sweden.
    2023 Thi Diem, M., Willmott, T. J., Conduit, J., Karpen, I., Plewa, C., Kleinaltenkamp, M., & Jaakkola, E. (2023). Measuring collective engagement for a social purpose. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC 2023). Dunedin, New Zealand: ANZMAC.

  • Report for External Bodies
    Year Citation
    2021 Rundle-Thiele, S., Willmott, T. J., Kitunen, A., & Saleme, P. (2021). Community ideas for preventing youth sexual violence and abuse in Toowoomba. Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
    2017 Carins, J., Pang, B., Knox, K., Willmott, T. J., Storr, R., Robertson, D., . . . Pettigrew, S. (2017). International food service initiatives: An evidence check rapid review. Department of Health.

  • Theses
    Year Citation
    2019 Willmott, T. J. (2019). Weight management in young adults: Development and application of a theory-driven social marketing approach. (PhD Thesis, Griffith University).
    2015 Willmott, T. J. (2015). Can playing serious educational games influence adolescent binge drinking intentions: A replication and extension of the theory of planned behaviour. (Undergraduate Dissertation, Queensland University of Technology).

Dr. Willmott has attracted over A$1.5M in research funding support. Her applied work spans across the government, non-government, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors tackling a variety of complex problems. Current partners include End Food Waste Australia, Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare, Aged & Community Care Providers Association, Department of Environment and Science (QLD), The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (SA), The Royal Adelaide Hospital, and the Australian Research Council. 

Past partners include the contentgroup, The Gov Comms Institute, Goldilocks Suit Pty Ltd, ECH Inc, and Department of Innovation Skills and Training (SA), Department of Justice and Attorney-General (QLD), Civic Assist, Awakening Cultural Ways, Energy Queensland, National Health and Medical Research Council, Department of Health (Commonwealth), The Sax Institute, Diabetes Queensland, Brisbane North Primary Health Network, Australian University Sport, Department of Environment and Science (QLD), Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (QLD), Queensland Police Service, and the Michelle Bridges 12WBT program. 

Dr. Willmott is driven to ensure research is accessible, translatable, and scalable. She has directed a podcast series translating insights from an Australian Research Council funded Discovery Project ("Collective Engagement Towards Social Purpose"), delivered sector engagement and professional development workshops reaching over 6,000 people, facilitated more than 50 co-design workshops, trained peer leaders to support capacity building, and led advisory groups in community.

Dr. Willmott is a dedicated higher degree research (HDR) supervisor and strives to provide an enriching learning experience that supports her students in pursuing a variety of career pathways. Her HDR students have presented their research at leading domestic and international conferences and have won national awards (e.g., Food Waste Action Award). She is passionate about mentoring HDR students and championing their career development by providing opportunities for advancement including co-authoring conference and journal papers.

Dr. Willmott has held sessional teaching appointments across leading higher education institutions in Australia including Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, and the University of Queensland delivering marketing, planning, and management courses, working integrated learning and community internship programs, social marketing courses, and business research methods courses. Dr. Willmott uses her latest research working with government, non-government, not-for-profit, and for-profit organisations to ensure teaching content is relevant and aligned with contemporary practice. Her effectiveness as a teacher is evidenced by teaching award nominations and high student evaluation of teaching scores. 

Dr. Willmott has also given over 16 guest lectures to Advanced Theory in Marketing, Contemporary Issues in Marketing, and Marketing Management students at Adelaide Business School, Marketing Business Design students from the School of Economics, Finance & Marketing at RMIT University, Marketing for Social Change students at UQ Business School, Marketing Foundations, Market Research, and Marketing for Social Change students at Griffith Business School. Lecture topics have included design thinking, human-centered design, theory application in social marketing, and innovative behaviour change approaches. 

Outside of traditional university teaching, Dr. Willmott has delivered more than 30 seminars, workshops, and masterclasses on design thinking, co-design, and theory application engaging more 6,000 participants from diverse domestic and international audiences. ​​​​​​From 2018-2023, she led a suite of Design Thinking workshops and masterclasses for Social Marketing @ Griffith’s professional training programme. All training was underpinned by the latest schools of thought in design thinking, with application of contemporary design tools and techniques demonstrated within applied settings to promote best practice.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Co-Supervisor Optimising sustainability in health care: An audit and evaluation of food waste reduction strategies. Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Huize Ni
    2022 Co-Supervisor Collective Engagement Towards Social Purpose Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss My Le
  • Position: Lecturer in Marketing (Research)
  • Phone: 83137422
  • Email: taylor.willmott@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Org Unit: Adelaide Business School
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