Akshaya Vijayalakshmi

Biography

Akshaya Vijayalakshmi is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Her expertise lies in understanding consumer psychology to create effective advertisements.

Her paper on understanding the impact of Internet ads on children in the Journal of Advertising won the best paper award in 2020. Her research findings are applicable to digital ads, influencer marketing and advertising regulations. Her research extends to teaching in the form of a course titled, Not for Sale: Psychology of Promotions.

In addition to advertising, Akshaya has a keen interest on the topic of gender in the workplace. She is a member of the gender centre. She has successfully led leadership programmes for women executives from different corporate houses. Akshaya has worked with the industry leaders (Rainmaker, WICCI) to develop surveys to understand the issues affecting women’s labour force participation.

Akshaya’s work has been covered in national and local papers in India. She has also written widely for various English media in India.

Area

Primary Area : Marketing

Contact

Email : akshayav@iima.ac.in

Phone : +91-79-7152 4895

Secretary : Vanitha Mudaliar

Phone : +91-79-7152 7912

Teaching

Winner of the Teaching Excellence Award (2016) at Iowa State University

Topics: Advertising, Influencer Marketing, Market Research

Courses:

Not for Sale: Psychology of Promotions

Business Research Methods

Learning by doing Experiments

Executive Education:

Influencer Marketing

Leadership Programme for Women

Cases:

SUGAR Cosmetics: Employee Influencers and Channel Conflict

Case widely covered in the media including the Mint and Economic Times.

What’s in a Name? That we call Fair by any other name will sell as well? (A case on Fair and Handsome’s Name Conundrum).

Research Area

Broadly: Marketing and Public Policy

Specifically: Impact of violence on marketplace interactions, Understanding and Response to Ads

Funded Research Projects

Several research and travel grants from affiliated institutes (Iowa State University, University of South Dakota and IIMA)

Funding from the Transformative Consumer Research study group to understand the role of media and mother's autonomy on children's educational expenditures

Funding from the National Human Rights Commission to study Sexual Harassment of Low-Wage Workers at the Workplace

Selected Publications

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Pritha Dev, and Vaibhavi Kulkarni. "Domestic workers and sexual harassment in India: Examining preferred response strategies." World Development 155 (2022): 105875.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Jenny Lin and Russell N. Laczniak (2020), "Evaluating Adolescents’ Responses to Internet Ads: Role of Ad Skepticism, Internet Literacy, and Parental Mediation." Journal of Advertising. (The first and second authors contributed equally).

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Jenny Lin and Sarah Ricks (2021), “Who spends more on Children’s Education: An Autonomous or An Empowered Mother? A Study from India.” Book chapter accepted for the book Consumer Culture Theory in Asia: History and Current Issues. Routledge.

Melika Kordrostami, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi and Russell N. Laczniak (2018), "Children's Media Consumption: Parental Concerns and Parental Mediation in Iran and the US," Journal of Marketing Management, 34(9-10), 819-840.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Russell N. Laczniak and Deanne Brocato (2019), "Understanding Parental Mediation of Violent Television Commercials," Journal of Consumer Marketing.

Lin, Jenny, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, and Russell N. Laczniak (2019), "Toward an Understanding of Parental Views and Actions on Social Media Influencers Targeted at Adolescents: The Roles of Parents' Social Media Use and Empowerment." Frontiers in Psychology, 10: 2664. (The first and second authors contributed equally).

Ateeque Shaikh, Dheeraj Sharma, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, Rama Shankar Yadav, (2018) "Fairness in franchisor–franchisee relationship: an integrative perspective", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 33(4), 550-562.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien Lin and Russell N. Laczniak (2018), "Managing Children's Internet Advertising Experiences: Parental Preferences for Regulation," Journal of Consumer Affairs, 52(3), 595-622

Muehling, Darrel, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi and Russell N. Laczniak (2017), "The effects of tolerance of negativity on consumers’ responses to comparative attack advertising," Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(7), 703-719.

Brocato, Deanne, Melissa Bishop, and Akshaya Vijayalakshmi (2017), "The role of medium content and ad format congruity in influencing advertising outcomes," Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(4), 371-384.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin, and Melika Kordrostami (2017) ,"11-W: The Impact of Perceived Temperature on Responses to PSA Ads ", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research, eds. Ayelet Gneezy, Vladas Griskevicius, and Patti Williams, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 45, 1064-1064

Lin, Meng-Hsien, Jones, William J., and Akshaya Vijayalakshmi (2017) "A Teaching Innovation on Retail Environmental Design for Consumers with Disabilities," Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 25 (Spring), 1-7 (all the authors contributed equally).

Jones, William J., Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, and Jenny Lin (2016) "Instructing Students on the Use of Behavioral Assessment in Sales Hiring," Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 24(1), 29-35

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Darrel Muehling, and Russell N. Laczniak (2015), "An Investigation of Consumers' Responses to Comparative "Attack" Ads," Journal of Promotion Management, 21(6), 760-775.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin, and Melika Kordrostami (2015) ,"On Second Thought, It Is Not So Funny: Gender Differences in Emotional Reactivity and Emotional Regulation in Violent-Humorous Ads", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research, eds. Kristin Diehl and Carolyn Yoon, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 43, 811-811.

Articles

Blog post on parental mediation in Iran in the Journal of Marketing Management blog site

Exploring the COVID-19 opportunity for domestic violence campaigns in World Advertising Research Council

Articles in the Media

On free public transport rides to women in The Hindu

Articles on the #MeToo movement in EPW Engage and Pragati

Impact of the COVID-19 related lockdown on domestic violence (in The Hindu) and domestic workers (in the Scroll.in)

Understanding the state of domestic workers because of the lockdown in the Scroll.in

Impact of COVID-19 on informal sector workers in the Hindu Businessline

Advertising and gender stereotypes in Brand Equity and Hindu Businessline

On product packaging in the BW Businessworld

On cause-based marketing in The Hindu Businessline

On sensory marketing in the BW Businessworld

Messaging in the COVID-19 era in the Brand Equity, Economic Times

Consumer behavior shifts due to COVID-19 in Forbes India

Impact of plastic packaging in cosmetics on the environment in the Telangana Today

Impact of plastic water bottles on the environment in the Telangana Today

Impact of online learning on the MBA Experience in the Forbes

Viability of cloud kitchens in the Indian Express

On the viability of employee influencers in the Financial Express

Faculty Podcasts

Podcast on parental management of media and advertising.

Newsletters

Summary of few of my papers in the IIMA Faculty Newsletter

Adapting Marketing to the COVID-19 era in the Trade Promotion Council for India Newsletter

Other Publications

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Jenny Lin and Sarah Ricks (2021), “Who spends more on Children’s Education: An Autonomous or An Empowered Mother? A Study from India.” Book chapter in Consumer Culture Theory in Asia: History and Current Issues. Routledge.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Jenny Lin and Russell N. Laczniak (2020), "Evaluating Adolescents’ Responses to Internet Ads: Role of Ad Skepticism, Internet Literacy, and Parental Mediation." Journal of advertising. (The first and second authors contributed equally).

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Russell N. Laczniak and Deanne Brocato (2019), "Understanding Parental Mediation of Violent Television Commercials," Journal of Consumer Marketing.

Lin, Jenny, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, and Russell N. Laczniak (2019), "Toward an Understanding of Parental Views and Actions on Social Media Influencers Targeted at Adolescents: The Roles of Parents' Social Media Use and Empowerment." Frontiers in Psychology, 10: 2664. (The first and second authors contributed equally).

Ateeque Shaikh, Dheeraj Sharma, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, Rama Shankar Yadav, (2018) "Fairness in franchisor–franchisee relationship: an integrative perspective", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 33(4), 550-562.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien Lin and Russell N. Laczniak (2018), "Managing Children's Internet Advertising Experiences: Parental Preferences for Regulation," Journal of Consumer Affairs, 52(3), 595-622.

Melika Kordrostami, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi and Russell N. Laczniak (2018), "Children's Media Consumption: Parental Concerns and Parental Mediation in Iran and the US," Journal of Marketing Management, 34(9-10), 819-840.

Muehling, Darrel, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi and Russell N. Laczniak (2017), "Individual Differences in Negative Information Processing: Tolerance of Negativity," Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(7), 703-719.

Brocato, Deanne, Melissa Bishop, and Akshaya Vijayalakshmi (2017), "The role of medium content and ad format congruity in influencing advertising outcomes," Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(4), 371-384.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin, and Melika Kordrostami (2017) ,"11-W: The Impact of Perceived Temperature on Responses to PSA Ads ", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research, eds. Ayelet Gneezy, Vladas Griskevicius, and Patti Williams, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, 45, 1064-1064.

Lin, Meng-Hsien, Jones, William J., and Akshaya Vijayalakshmi (2017) "A Teaching Innovation on Retail Environmental Design for Consumers with Disabilities," Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 25 (Spring), 1-7 (all the authors contributed equally).

Jones, William J., Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, and Jenny Lin (2016) "Instructing Students on the Use of Behavioral Assessment in Sales Hiring," Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 24(1), 29-35.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin, and Melika Kordrostami (2015) ,"On Second Thought, It Is Not So Funny: Gender Differences in Emotional Reactivity and Emotional Regulation in Violent-Humorous Ads", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research, eds. Kristin Diehl and Carolyn Yoon, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 43, 811-811.

Vijayalakshmi, Akshaya, Darrel Muehling, and Russell N. Laczniak (2015), "An Investigation of Consumers' Responses to Comparative "Attack" Ads," Journal of Promotion Management, 21(6), 760-775.

Awards & Honors

2020 - Best paper award for "Evaluating Adolescents’ Responses to Internet Ads: Role of Ad Skepticism, Internet Literacy, and Parental Mediation." Published in the Journal of advertising

Faculty & Research

Akshaya Vijayalakshmi