Amir Ekhlassi

Amir Ekhlassi, PhD, is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Niagara Falls Canada.

Previously, he served as an adjunct professor at ESB Business School, Reutlingen University in Germany. Amir has also been a faculty member and Dean of the MBA and DBA Executive Program at the University of Tehran for seven years. Additionally, he worked as an assistant professor of marketing at the Prague University of Economics and Business. With several years of experience in marketing and branding, including running his own branding agency, his recent research focuses on extracting insights from user-generated content (UGC) using machine learning methods to address marketing challenges.

Courses taught

• Marketing and Sales

Areas of academic interest

Eliciting customer insight from user-generated content (UGC), the application of UGC in new product development (NPD), brand authenticity in social media, the application of artificial intelligence in marketing

Areas of specialization

Marketing management, brand management, digital marketing, new product development, services marketing, marketing research, marketing communication

Awards

• Selected among the most influential 50 graduates, Sharif University of Technology, Festival of 50th year of establishment, 2016
• Member of Iran's National Elites Foundation

Publications

• Azar Nasrabadi, M. Beauregard,Y. Ekhlassi, A. (2024). The implication of user-generated content in new product development process: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 206, 123551
  
  ABS 3*, Q1, IF:12.9, CiteScore: 21.3, CNRS (France), FNEGE (France), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC): A ranking, Chartered Association of Business Schools, Scopus
• Ekhlassi, A. Fouladi, S. Sakhdari, K. (2021). Determining the Factors Affecting Brand Authenticity of Startups in Social Media. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal (QMR), Vol.24, Issue 3. pp.396-419
  
  ABS 2*, Q2, CNRS (France), FNEGE (France), Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC): B ranking, Chartered Association of Business Schools, Scopus
  
• Baghbaniyazdi,S. Ekhlassi, A. Sakhdari, K.(2016). Factors Affecting the Adoption of Entertainment Mobile Applications: An Integrated Framework. Journal of Global Information Management, Vol. 24(4), pp.67-79
  
  ABS 2*, Q2, Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Web of Science Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), SCOPUS, Compendex (Elsevier Engineering Index), INSPEC, CNRS (France), Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC): A ranking
  
  This paper, adopting a grounded theory approach, aims to identify factors influencing the adoption of entertainment mobile application from the developer’s points of view focusing on different phases of application development.
  
• Ekhlassi, A. Divandari, A. Rahmani, K. (2014). Devising a branding model for multipurpose mega-projects in entertainment, residential, tourism, and sport in Iran. Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol.20, No.1, pp. 73-91
  
  Q1 in tourism, leisure and hospitality management, ABS1*, Scopus, JCR Impact Factor: 1.865, Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC): A ranking
  
  While it seems there are very few studies on the branding process for megaprojects in entertainment, residential, tourism, and sport, branding is one of the most important factors in these types of projects. This study has particularly tried to devise a branding model for these types of projects that corresponds to Persian characteristics.
  
• Ahvari, H. Ekhlassi, A. McDonagh, J. (2023). Investigating the effect of motives, social capital, and human capital on commercialization of self-developed products by user innovators: A study of crowdfunding platform. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, Vol 20, No 1, 22 Pages
  
  ABS 1*, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, SJR(2021): 0.34, Q3 in management of technology and innovation
  
• Ekhlassi, A. Zahedi, A. (2018). A unique method of constructing brand perceptual maps by the textmining of multimedia consumer reviews. International Journal of mobile computing and multimedia communications, Vol. 9, No.3,
  
  Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), SCOPUS, Compendex (Elsevier Engineering Index), INSPEC
  
  In this paper, the authors propose a unique method which allows the building of a perceptual map automatically by mining consumer opinions from in particular online product reviews. The authors employ opinion mining techniques to extract and rank the product aspects that are important to customers, during purchasing digital tablets. Subsequently, they generate a score for each brand in these aspects and build the perceptual map using clustering of the brands by these scores.
  
• Ekhlassi, A. Rahideh, A. (2023). A Typology for Sociopolitical Stance of International Brands in the Case of Ukraine War. Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communication, Vol.9, Issues 4, pp.321-334
  
• Ekhlassi, A. Salehi,S. (2017). A Proposed Comprehensive Model for Brand Orientation in Service Sector: Evidences from Airlines. Journal of Economics, Business and Management (JOEBM)
  
  Indexing: Electronic Journals Library, Ulrich's Periodi