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Janice Rudkowski

Dr. Janice Rudkowski

Assistant Professor
DepartmentRetail Management
EducationBAA, MBA, MSc, DBA
OfficeTRS 3-032
Phone(416) 979-5000 ext: 554579

Overview

Dr. Janice Rudkowski is an Assistant Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management.  Janice is a proud alumna of Toronto Metropolitan University, where she earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts from the School of Fashion.  She earned an MBA from Schulich School of Business at York University (Canada), and a Master’s of Science in Business Management Research and a Doctor of Business Administration in Marketing Reputation from Henley Business School at the University of Reading (UK).

Her research focuses on retail, mainly frontline employees’ perceptions of their retailer’s brand as well as their patronage motivations and behaviours.  Janice is also interested in employees as digital influencers, pop-up retail and the customer journey and experience.   She has published in top tier journals including Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Product & Brand Management and Journal of Education for Business. 

Prior to joining academia, Janice worked in the private sector in fashion, consumer packaged goods and consumer health industries.  She also worked in the non-profit sector and ran a successful marketing consulting practice for several years. 

Janice collaborates with industry partners to develop valuable experiential learning opportunities for her students, preparing them to succeed in their chosen careers. She developed and designed RMG806 (Retailer Perspectives in Category Management), the first undergraduate course in Canada accredited by the Category Management Association. This course provides students with a unique opportunity to qualify to write the Certified Professional Category Analyst (CPCA) exam and earn an industry-valued certification upon graduation. 

Dr. Rudkowski is President of the Canadian Retail Education Association (https://www.retaileducators.ca/ (external link) ), a non-profit focused on the professionalization of retail careers.  Janice is a Higher Education Board Member for the Category Management Association and an Editorial Review Board Member for the International Journal of Consumer Studies.

Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies; frontline retail employees’ perceptions of their retailer’s brand equity; frontline retail employees’ patronage motivations and behaviours; the co-creation of experiential value within retail pop-ups; the customer journey and experience.

Publications:
Smith, D., Jacobson, J. & Rudkowski, J. (2021). Employees as influencers: Measuring employee brand equity in a social media age.  Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-03-2020-2821 (external link) 
Rudkowski, J., Heney, C., Yu, H., Sedlezky, S., & Gunn, F. (2020). Here today, gone tomorrow? Mapping and modeling the pop-up retail customer journey. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54 doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.11.003
Hall-Newton, K., Rudkowski, J., Lee, S. H., Hogue, J., & Ratnichkina, P. (2019). Mobile devices in the lecture hall: Into it, indifferent, or intrusion? Journal of Education for Business, 94(6), 390-399. doi:10.1080/08832323.2018.1541853
Conferences: 
Rudkowski, J & Beutler, R. (2021). Are stacked credentials worth it? A roadmap to embedding industry certifications into undergraduate courses. 2021 Ryerson Learning & Teaching Conference. Virtual.
Rudkowski, J. & Duesing, A. (2021). Emerging from the chrysalis of the 'devoted patron': Exploring employee patronage motivations and behaviours in fashion retailing. ACRA/AMA 2021 Virtual Conference.
Rudkowski, J. (July 2019) Employee-Based Fashion Retailer Brand Equity: A Dual Stakeholder Perspective.  Recent Advances in Retailing & Services Sciences Conference. Tallinn, Estonia.   
Smith, D., Jacobson, J., and Rudkowski, J., (July 2019) An Exploration of Employee Brand Equity on Instagram.  10th International Conference on Social Media & Society. Toronto, Canada.
Rudkowski, J. (July 2018) Conceptualizing Retailer Brand Equity from a Consumer-Employee Perspective.  Recent Advances in Retailing & Services Sciences Conference. Madeira Island, Portugal.   
Strunk, D., Jones, R.P., Rudkowski, J., & Wagner, D. (May 2018). Student Employment Motivation Study in Category Management. Category Management & Shopper Insights Conference. Nashville, USA.
Rudkowski, J. (July 2017). Conceptualizing Retailer Brand Equity from a Consumer-Employee Perspective. European Doctoral Programs Association in Management & Business Administration (EDAMBA) Summer Research Academy. Athens, Greece.
Book Chapter: 
Rudkowski, J. (2014). Retailer-Non-Profit Organization (NPO) Partnerships: Building Trust with Socially-Conscious Consumers. Handbook of Research on Retailer-Consumer Relationship Development. (Chapter) Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Teaching in 2021-2022:
Undergraduate Retail Management Courses
RMG 400 Merchandise Buying and Planning I
RMG 907 Relationship Marketing
RMG 806 Retailer Perspectives on Category Management
RMG 908 Issues and Innovations in Retail Management II
Prior Courses Taught:
Undergraduate Retail Management Courses
RMG 200 Intro to Retail and Services Management
RMG 434 Intro Logistics and Supply Chain Management
RMG 801 Retail Career Strategies
RMG 909 Merchandise Buying and Planning II
RMG 916 Managing B2B Channels
RMG 800 Special Topics in Retailing: Independent Research Study
Undergraduate Marketing Courses
MKT 100 Principles of Marketing
MKT 510 Innovations in Marketing