MOS Research Community Seminar – Professor Jane Machin
Title: Making Mental Health a Business Research Priority
Date: 30th June 2023
Time: 12:00-13:00
Location: NUBS.2.03
Speaker: Professor Jane Machin
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Making Mental Health a Business Research Priority
Jane Machin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Radford University. She earned her doctorate in Marketing at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming an academic Jane worked in international brand management with Unilever PLC. Jane is an energetic educator with experience teaching design thinking, advertising, creativity and innovation. Her research, which examines the intersection of decision making, stigma and consumer wellbeing, has been presented at top conferences in the field, such as the Association of Consumer Research and Marketing and Public Policy Conference, and published in top journals, such as the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Appetite and Marketing Education Review. Jane is the recipient of numerous awards for both her research and teaching, including the Marketing Management Association Master Teacher Award, the Thomas C. Kinnear Best Paper Award, the Cengage Pride/Ferrell Innovations in Teaching Competition and The College of Business and Economics Outstanding Faculty Award.
Abstract:
Mental health is a business problem. Nearly one in five adults in the U.S. and one in seven globally live with mental illness (National Institute of Mental Health 2020). Poor mental health has profound social and economic consequences. Treatment and lost productivity due to poor mental health costs $2.5 trillion annually (Trautmann, Rehm, and Wittchen 2016) and mental disorders are the leading cause of employee absenteeism (National Institute of Mental Health 2020). Personal costs are high as mental illness is associated with reduced employability, lower lifetime earnings, disrupted families, and shorter lifespans. (Bgui et al,2010). The provision of new mental health products and services, on the other hand, represents a multi-billion-dollar business opportunity (Global Wellness Institute, 2022). While business researchers have made valuable contributions to knowledge seeking to improve employee and consumer mental health, many unanswered questions remain (Mirabito et al2022). This presentation makes the case for business academics to extend their expertise to the mental health domain. First, the results of a scoping review of 911 papers examining mental illness through a business lens will be discussed. Second, mental health research opportunities that business scholars are uniquely qualified to tackle are identified. To conclude, advice is offered to help business academics safely conduct research on mental illness, recognizing that the context, terminology, and setting may be unfamiliar and intimidating. Top business journals – and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business(AACSB) – are increasingly calling for research that matters, and there are few topics that matter more than consumer and employee mental health. Any researcher interested in examining this important issue through a business lens will benefit from attending this presentation. Moreover, as the mental health of undergraduate students continues to worsen– in 2021, over 60% of students met criteria for one or more mental health concerns, an almost 50% increase since 2013 (Lipson et al, 2022) – academics simply wishing to learn more about the causes and consequences of mental illness will also find the presentation of value. References Global Wellness Institute (2022). The global Wellness Economy: Country Rankings, Global Wellness Institute, February 2022, https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/industry-research/2022-global-wellness-economy-country-rankings/ Lipson, Sarah Ketchen, Sasha Zhou, Sara Abelson, Justin Heinze, Matthew Jirsa, Jasmine Morigney, Akilah Patterson, Meghna Singh, and Daniel Eisenberg. “Trends in college student mental health and help-seeking by race/ethnicity: Findings from the national healthy minds study, 2013–2021.” Journal of Affective Disorders 306 (2022): 138-147. Mirabito, Ann, Natalie Ross Adkins, Elizabeth Crosby, Justine Farrell, and Jane Machin. “Guest editorial: Mental health and the marketplace: a research agenda.” Journal of Consumer Marketing 39, no. 6 (2022): 565-568. National Institute of Mental Health (2020), “Mental Health Information Statistics: Mental Health,”, National Institute of Mental Health,https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml. Ngui, Emmanuel M., Lincoln Khasakhala, David Ndetei, and Laura Weiss Roberts. “Mental disorders, health inequalities and ethics: A global perspective.” International Review of Psychiatry 22, no. 3 (2010): 235-244. Trautmann, Sebastian, Jürgen Rehm, and Hans‐Ulrich Wittchen (2016), “The Economic Costs of Mental Disorders,” EMBO Reports, 17 (9), 1245–49.