Christina Saenger

Dr. Christina Saenger - profile photo

Dr. Christina Saenger

Dean and Professor

Management & Marketing, Williamson College of Business Administration

Williamson Hall 3410

phone: (330) 941-2737

csaenger@ysu.edu

Bio

Christina Saenger, Ph.D., is Interim Dean and Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Kent State University. As a higher education leader, she is committed to strategy, collaboration, and student-centered innovation. In the classroom, she designs high-impact learning experiences that integrate real-world projects, certifications, and applied decision-making. Her research focuses on how consumers construct and communicate brand meaning in social contexts, with publications in journals such as the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, and Psychology & Marketing. She serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Consumer Marketing and the Journal of Advertising Research. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Saenger worked in client account management in the marketing and advertising industry—experience that continues to inform her outcome-driven approach to leadership and instruction.

Research Interests

consumer behavior in a social world, consumers' use of brands in identity construction and expression, cognitive processing of product and brand information

Teaching Interests

Marketing, Social Media, Interactive Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Management, Advertising & Promotions, Marketing Research.

  • 2012

    Ph D, Marketing

    Kent State University

    Dissertation/Thesis Title — "Attachment Style, Identity Congruence, and Gift Preference: A Dyadic Model of Gift Exchange"

  • 2005

    MBA, Strategic Marketing

    University of Akron

  • 2003

    BA, Business & Organizational Communication

    University of Akron

  • 2022

    Youngstown State University

    Distinguished Professor title

  • 2022

    Youngstown State University

    Distinguished Professorship Award in the area of Research

  • 2021

    Youngstown State University

    Distinguished Professorship Award in the area of Teaching

  • 2017

    Youngstown State University

    Distinguished Professorship Award in the area of Service

  • 2017

    Youngstown State University

    Research Professorship Award

  • 2014

    University of Tennessee- Martin

    Most Influential Professor

    Selected by student athlete as Most Influential Professor.

  • 2011

    AMA/Kent State University

    American Marketing Association Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow

    Selected to represent Kent State University's Marketing PhD program at a consortium on marketing research.

  • 2011

    Kent State University

    Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award

    Awarded for highest student evaluations among PhD student teaching fellows.

  • 2010

    Kent State University

    Dean's Best Paper Award

    Awarded for best PhD student research paper in marketing discipline.

  • 2025 -

    Youngstown State University

    Interim Dean, Williamson College of Business Administration

  • 2022 - 2025

    Youngstown State University

    Associate Dean, Williamson College of Business Administration

  • 2019 -

    Youngstown State University

    Associate Professor of Marketing

  • 2014 - 2019

    Youngstown State University

    Assistant Professor of Marketing

  • 2012 - 2014

    University of Tennessee - Martin

    Assistant Professor of Marketing

  • 2007 - 2012

    Kent State University

    Teaching Fellow

  • 2003 - 2007

    InfoCision Management Corporation

    Account Executive

  • 2003 - 2003

    craver marcom, inc.

    New Business Coordinator

  • 2001 - 2002

    AAA The Ohio Auto Club

    Customer Service Representative

  • 2025 - present

    Dean

  • 2024 - 2025

    Director

  • 2022 - 2025

    Associate Dean

  • 2024

    "Betrayed by AI: How perceived betrayal by a virtual assistant affects consumers’ purchase intentions for recommended products"

    C. Saenger, C. Kuchmaner, P. Bateman

    Journal of Business Research, Elsevier BV, volume 185, p. 114940

  • 2021

    "How Limited Consumption Experiences Affect Word of Mouth"

    C. Saenger, V. Thomas

    Marketing Letters, volume 32, issue 2, p. 149-163

  • 2021

    "An Extended Reciprocity Cycle of Gratitude: How Gratitude Strengthens Existing and Initiates New Customer Relationships"

    D. Bock, V. Thomas, J. Wolter, C. Saenger, P. Xu

    Psychology & Marketing, volume 38, issue 3, p. 564-576

  • 2020

    "Celebrity influence on word of mouth: The interplay of power states and power expectations"

    V. Thomas, K. Fowler, C. Saenger

    Marketing Letters, volume 31, issue 1, p. 105-120

  • 2020

    "Compensatory word of mouth as symbolic self-completion: When talking about a brand can restore consumers’ self-perceptions after self-threat"

    C. Saenger, V. Thomas, D. Bock

    European Journal of Marketing, volume 54, issue 4, p. 671-690

  • 2019

    "Fostering beneficial consumer responses to in-feed sponsored posts"

    C. Saenger, D. Song

    Journal of Consumer Marketing, volume 36, issue 5

  • 2020

    "Feeling excluded? Join the crowd: How social exclusion affects perceptions of consumer-dense retail environments"

    V. Thomas, C. Saenger

    Journal of Business Research, volume 120, p. 520-528

  • 2019

    "Enhancing Students' Marketing Information Literacy"

    K. Fowler, V. Thomas, C. Saenger

    Marketing Education Review, volume 29, issue 1, p. 52-64

  • 2017

    "Do You Want to Talk About It? When Word of Mouth Alleviates the Psychological Discomfort of Self-Threat"

    V. Thomas, C. Saenger, D. Bock

    Psychology & Marketing, volume 34, issue 9, p. 894-903

  • 2017

    "The Strategic Use of Contextual and Competitive Interference to Influence Brand-Attribute Associations"

    C. Saenger, R. Jewell, J. Grigsby

    Journal of Advertising, volume 46, issue 3, p. 424-439

  • 2017

    "Promoting or protecting my brand: The identity-expression and fear-of-imitation conflict"

    V. Thomas, C. Saenger

    Journal of Consumer Marketing, volume 34, issue 1, p. 66-73

  • 2014

    "Associative and dissociative comparative advertising strategies in broadening brand positioning"

    R. Jewell, C. Saenger

    Journal of Business Research, volume 67, issue 7, p. 1599-1566

  • 2013

    "Consumption-focused self-expression word of mouth: Scale development and its role in consumer research"

    C. Saenger, V. Thomas, J. Wiggins Johnson

    Psychology & Marketing, volume 30, issue 11, p. 959-970

  • 2022 - present

    Editorial Review Board Member
    Journal of Advertising Research

  • 2019 - present

    Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer
    Journal of Business Research

  • 2018 - present

    Editorial Review Board Member
    Journal of Consumer Marketing

  • 2016 - present

    Reviewer, Journal Article
    European Journal of Marketing

  • 2015 - present

    Editorial Review Board Member
    Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives

  • 2009 - 2022

    Reviewer, Conference Paper
    Association for Consumer Research North American Conference

Return to directory