Gautham Vadakkepatt

George Mason University School of Business Faculty Gautham Vadakkepatt

Associate Professor, Marketing
Additional Roles: Director of the Center for Retail Transformation

Contact Information

Email: gvadakke@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-1227
Office Location: 9900 Main Street 217 and Enterprise Hall 175
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00-12:00 p.m. and by appointment

Biography

Gautham Vadakkepatt is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business.

Broadly focusing on marketing strategy, Gautham Vadakkepatt’s research focuses on the impact of a firm’s non-product market strategies (e.g., lobbying, CSR, social activism) on its performance, the impact of social media on firm performance, and understanding how financial decisions impact a firm’s marketing and innovation outcomes.

His research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Business Research and Marketing Science Institute Reports: Working Paper Series. He is the recipient the discipline-wide 2015 MSI/H. Paul Root Award from the Journal of Marketing and Marketing Science Institute and the finalist for 2020 Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award for Long-term contributions to the field of marketing. He serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Business Research and as an ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Marketing, Academy of Marketing Science Review, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

Gautham Vadakkepatt has taught undergraduate and Ph.D. level courses in marketing strategy along with courses in marketing research, marketing management, and marketing analytics at the undergraduate and graduate level. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching in Major Award 2017.

Prior to beginning his academic career, Gautham worked for General Electric. He has also consulted with several start-ups and public corporations on various elements of marketing strategy.

Research Interests

  • Non-product market strategies (Lobbying, CSR, social activism) and firm performance
  • Social media and interactive technologies
  • Innovation and corporate governance

Education

  • PhD - Marketing, Texas A & M University
  • MS - Marketing, Texas A & M University
  • ME - Industrial Engineering, Texas A & M University
  • BTech - Mechanical Engineering, Calicut University, India

Research and Awards

Publications

  • Kelly Martin, Brett Josephson, Gautham Vadakkepatt and Jean Johnson (2021), “Lobbying and the Like: Managing the Regulatory Environment,” NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 13(2), 38-43.
  • Vadakkepatt, Gautham G., Sandeep Arora, Kelly Martin and Neeru Paharia (2021), “Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Lobbying: A Customer Perspective” Journal of Marketing, forthcoming, (equal contribution by authors)
    • Featured in AMA website, Phys.org, and Morning Brew amongst others
  • Vadakkepatt, Gautham G., Venkatesh Shankar and Rajan Varadarajan (2021), “Should Firms Invest More in Marketing or R&D to Maintain Sales Leadership? An Empirical Analysis of Sales Leader Firms.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49, 1088-1108
  • Gautham Vadakkepatt, Karen Winterich, Vikas Mittal, Lauren Beitelspacher, Walter Zinn, John Aloysius, Jessica Ginger, Julie Reilman, Emi Caarderalli and Jerod Mounce (2021),  “Sustainable Retailing,” Journal of Retailing, 97(1), 62-80.
  • Korschun, Daniel, Kelly D. Martin and Gautham G. Vadakkepatt (forthcoming), “Marketing’s Role in Understanding Political Activity.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, guest editorial, Special Issue on Political Activity and Marketing (equal contribution by authors, authors are listed alphabetically)
  • Gautham Vadakkepatt, Andrew Bryant, Ronald P. Hill and Joshua Nunziato (2022). “Can advertising benefit women’s development? Preliminary insights from a multi-method investigation,” in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
  • Hoppner, Jessica and Vadakkepatt, Gautham (2019), “Examining Moral Authority in the Marketplace: A Conceptualization and Framework,” Journal of Business Research, 45, 417-427.
  • Kelly Martin, Brett Josephson, Gautham G. Vadakkepatt and Jean J. Johnson (2018) “Political Management, R&D, and Advertising Capital in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Good Prognosis?” Journal of Marketing, 82 (May), 87-107.
    • All authors contributed equally
  • Ya, You, Gautham G. Vadakkepatt, and Amit Joshi (2015), “A Meta-analysis of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Elasticity,” Journal of Marketing, 79 (March), 19-39
    • Finalist, 2020 Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award for Long-term Impact
    • 2015 MSI/H. Paul Root Award Winner
    • Featured in Empirical Generalizations about Marketing Impact, 2nd Edition
    • Selected Media Coverage: ScienceDaily, Phys.org
    • All authors contributed equally
  • Varadarajan, Rajan, Raji Srinivasan, Gautham Gopal Vadakkepatt, Manjit S. Yadav, Paul A. Pavlou, Sandeep Krishnamurthy and Tome Krause (2010), “Interactive Technologies and Retailing Strategy: A Capabilities Endowment Framework,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 24 (May), 96-110.

Media Clippings