Paul W. Fombelle is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
His research examines marketing strategy at the firm, employee, and consumer levels, with a focus on customer feedback management, service failure and recovery, customer identity and service relationships, service innovation, and sustainability and prosocial consumer behavior. His work has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Harvard Business Review, among others. His research has been featured in Forbes and Harvard Business Review, and one paper has been recognized as a Web of Science “Highly Cited” paper, placing it in the top 1% of its academic field.
Paul serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Service Research and on the editorial review boards of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of Business Research. He was named Reviewer of the Year by the Journal of Service Research in 2024, and served as Co-Chair of the Frontiers in Service Conference (Montreal, 2025) and the ServSig Doctoral Consortium (Helsinki, 2026). He is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University.
Paul's research is deeply collaborative with industry. His funded research partners have included Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, local governments, and small businesses to test theory with real customers and real behavioral outcomes. Prior to his academic career, Paul worked in branding at Ogilvy & Mather in New York, where he contributed to accounts including American Express and Post Cereal.
Education
- PhD, Arizona State University
- BS, Ithaca College
Selected Publications
- Jenkins, M. R., Fombelle, P. W., & Steffel, M. (forthcoming). Are apologies always the best policy? Apologies for service failures backfire when consumers are not aware of the failure. Journal of Consumer Research.
- Beck, J. M., Voorhees, C. M., Fombelle, P. W., & Lemon, K. N. (2026). Putting words in their mouths: Firm-generated user content and consumer sharing behavior. Journal of Marketing, 90(2), 135–156.
- Bone, S. A., Lemon, K. N., Voorhees, C., Liljenquist, K. A., Fombelle, P. W., DeTienne, K. B., & Money, R. B. (2017). ‘Mere measurement plus': How solicitation of open-ended positive feedback influences customer purchase behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(1), 156–170. JMR Featured in Harvard Business Review (January 2017) and Forbes (September 2017).
- Fombelle, P. W., Voorhees, C., Gustafsson, A., Witell, L., & Gustafsson, A. (2026). The effects of unconditional gifts on customer-firm relationships. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1–22.
- Smith, K. M., O'Hern, M. S., Jenkins, M. R., Fombelle, P. W., & Noble, C. H. (2025). Product co-creation: A relational synthesis & systematic review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 53(6), 1527–1549.
- LaBrecque, A., Voorhees, C., Khodakarami, F., & Fombelle, P. W. (2024). Native advertising effectiveness: An examination of the interplays between content and context. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(6), 1–21. JAMS
- Fombelle, P. W., Jarvis, C. B., Ward, J., & Ostrom, L. (2012). Leveraging customers' multiple identities: Identity synergy as a driver of organizational identification. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(4), 587–604. JAMS
- Fombelle, P. W., Bone, S. A., & Lemon, K. N. (2016). Responding to the 98%: Face-enhancing strategies for dealing with rejected customer ideas. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(6), 685–706.
- Fang, D., Fombelle, P. W., & Bolton, R. (2021). Member retention and donations in nonprofit service organizations: The balance between peer and organizational identification. Journal of Service Research, 24(2), 187–205.
- Voorhees, C. M., Fombelle, P. W., Gregoire, Y., Gustafsson, A., Bone, S. A., & Sousa, R. (2017). Service encounters, experiences, and the customer journey. Journal of Business Research, 79, 269–280. Web of Science “Highly Cited” Paper — top 1% of academic field.
Selected Presentations
- Tignor, S.M., Fombelle, P.W., and Sirianni, N. “Proud When I Do, Guilty When I Don't: Leveraging the Self-Conscious Emotions to Improve Consumer Well-Being,” Frontiers in Service, Bergen, Norway, June 2016.
- Voorhees, Clay M., Tom Baker, Paul W. Fombelle, Blake A. Runnalls, “Majority and Minority Influence Associated with Online Reviews,” 2016 Winter AMA Educators' Conference, Las Vegas, NV, February 2016.
- Fombelle, P.W., Bone, S.A., Thompson, S., Brady, M., Ray, K., “Cliffs of Dissatisfaction: The Effect of Introducing Technology-Based Innovations on Service Employees & Customers,” Summer American Marketing Association Summer Educators' Conference, Chicago, IL, August 2015.
- Ray, K., Fombelle, P.W., Bone, S.A., Thompson, S., Brady, M., “Cliffs of Dissatisfaction: The Effect of Introducing Technology-Based Innovations on Service Employees & Customers,” Frontiers in Service, Miami Florida, June 2014.
- *2014 Best Practitioner Paper.
- Hill, K., and Fombelle, P.W., “The Uninformed Consumer: Using Curiosity to Elicit Word of Mouth, and Purchase Intentions,” American Marketing Association Summer Educators' Conference, Boston, MA, August 2013.
- *Best Paper Award in Consumer Behavior and Psychology Track.
Research & Teaching Interests
Customer Feedback Management — How firms solicit, respond to, and leverage customer input, including the psychological effects of feedback design on repurchase behavior and the management of rejected co-creation ideas.
Service Failure, Recovery, and Firm Communication Strategy — When conventional recovery strategies such as apologies produce unintended negative consequences, and frameworks to help managers anticipate these outcomes.
Customer Identity and Service Relationships — How customers' social identities intersect with their service relationships, including identity synergy, membership retention, and prosocial engagement.
Service Innovation — Defining and categorizing service innovation, and examining how technology-based innovations affect frontline employees and customers across the customer journey.
Sustainability and Prosocial Consumer Behavior — How message framing, social norms, and autonomy shape consumer participation in sustainability initiatives, tested through field experiments.
Industry & Academic Experience
Paul W. Fombelle is an Associate Professor of Marketing. He received his Ph.D. from the W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. His current research interests examine service innovation, customer feedback management, customer loyalty and relationship marketing, and service experience management. His research has appeared in The Journal of Marketing Research, The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Journal of Business Research. He currently serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Business Research. Paul loves to collaborate with industry leaders in his research. Paul's global research partners span a variety of sectors including technology, financial, health, food/fine dining, retail, and entertainment services. Prior to earning his Ph.D., Paul worked in branding for Ogilvy and Mather in New York, where he helped managed such brands as American Express and Post Cereal. Check out Paulfombelle.com for more details.
Awards & Recognition
- 2026 Co-Chair, ServSig Doctoral Consortium, Helsinki, Finland
- 2025 Co-Chair, Frontiers in Service Conference (premier global service conference), Montreal, Canada
- 2024 Reviewer of the Year, Journal of Service Research
- 2023 AMA Sheth Doctoral Consortium Faculty, Oslo, Norway
- 2020 Best Paper in Service Science and Retailing Track, AMA Winter Conference
- 2018 Thomas Moore Research Fellow
- 2017–20 Web of Science “Highly Cited” Paper Award
- 2018 Web of Science “Hot Paper” Award
- 2014–15 Best Teacher (Top 3), Northeastern University Undergraduate Program
- 2013 Best Paper Award, Consumer Behavior & Psychology Track, Summer AMA Conference
- 2013 Customer Experience Excellence Award, Temkin Group (Oracle Research Project)
- 2014 Best Practitioner Paper, Frontiers in Service Conference — CSL/Oracle Project
