Janice Rudkowski

Dr. Janice Rudkowski is an Assistant Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management. Janice is a proud alumna of Ryerson 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.

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.

• 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

• 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.

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.