Dr. E. Vince Carter
Bio:
With more than 40 years of combined professional and academic marketing expertise, Vince is a versatile and visionary professor whose intellectual approach furthers a quadrangular focus on marketing strategy, digital technology, ethnic culture, and ecological sustainability. A triangular focus was initially forged by Dr. Carter’s prescient 1992 - 1996 (pre-dot.com & pre-Amazon.com) doctoral dissertation, Diversity and Technology: The Effects of Race and Gender on Electronic Shopping Behavior. However, since 2014, Eco-Sustainability became the fourth dimension of Dr. Carter’s intellectual focus in research, teaching, and service -- forming a quadrangular approach.
Academic Research
Dr. Carter’s research in marketing strategy, consumer ethnicity/culture, sustainability marketing, and digital/social-media marketing has appeared in several peer-reviewed academic journals and conference proceedings. He was a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Marketing Management Journal (MMJ) and a past marketing strategy and social marketing reviewer for the Marketing Intelligence & Planning journal.
In ethnic culture consumer/market research, Dr. Carter probed the depth of ethnic diversity using anthropological studies which unite uniqueness in human ethnic heritage, instead of conventional sociological practices for profiling the breadth of diversity to dissect differences in human ethnic heritage. This probative research agenda culminated in Dr. Carter’s original concept of “Universal Ethnicity” as a holistic, pluralistic, dynamic, and fully inclusive approach towards ethnic cultural analysis (including European/White ethnic traditions). Similar to the comparative insights derived from global cross-cultural research, “Universal Ethnicity” discovers the diverse cultural tapestry of authentic ethnic traits/traditions around the world and throughout time. This anthropological mapping of ethnic heritage reveals deeper measurement and meanings than sociological race categories. In accord with anthropological facts and genetic science findings, Universal Ethnicity asserts that ‘Everybody is Equally Ethnic’ and there is no such thing as a non-ethnic human being. The “Universal Ethnicity” concept has been articulated in academic research journals/conferences and guides Vince’s ongoing multicultural marketing endeavors.
In digital technology and ethnic consumer/market culture research, Dr. Carter advanced two forward-thinking theories. The first extended his doctoral dissertation research to combine Afrocentric identity concepts and the Cybernetics theory of Autopoiesis, in the peer-reviewed 1996 Academy of Marketing Science Multicultural Marketing Conference article “Afropoiesis: Towards a Multicultural Consumer Interface in Cyberspace.” The second advanced the notion of “Virtual/Digital Ethnicity” by drawing on pedagogical studies (2007 – 2010) for a peer reviewed academic journal article. The findings confirmed the capacity for virtual avatar identification across ethnic groups to heighten appreciation/acceptance of diverse ethnic groups in social-cultural settings. Dr. Carter was perhaps the first scholar in any field to associate this “Virtual/Digital Ethnicity” propensity with the ideas of two legendary African American thinkers -- Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois (“Double-Consciousness”) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (“Content of Character”).
In marketing strategy and digital technology research, Dr. Carter has formulated multiple theoretical frameworks for configuring dynamic planning processes within the context of future global digital market trends. These peer reviewed academic journal models, include the Dynamic Digital Market-Sphere, Knowledge Economy Strategy Dilemma, Competency Codes for the Digital Future, Servicescapes in Cyberspace, Agents of Exchange Consumer Decision Support Systems, and Cognitive/Temporal Digital Consumption. In marketing analytics research, as a strategic intelligence method, Dr. Carter has pursued the visual artistic intelligence dimension (EQ) of data visualization for decision support, instead of conventional data analytics which relies on numerical logical intelligence (IQ). These creative “Aesthetic Analytics” use artistic representations of consumer interactions to improve students’ cognitive pattern recognition skills, as well as to enrich data visualization in digital dashboards used by marketing strategists.
In marketing sustainability research, Dr. Carter’s pioneering “ECHO-Sustainability” paradigm harnesses historical ecological sustainability practices to plan current and future Green Marketing/Branding. Pilot studies have found a conclusive connection between a brand’s historical heritage and consumers’ perceived authenticity of green brand media messages. Dr. Carter is also formulating Marketing Public Policy approaches to address global Climate Justice and domestic Environmental Racism concerns.
Marketing Education
Dr. Carter has been nationally recognized with over 30 years of experience teaching undergraduate and MBA courses at Historically Hispanic Serving (HHSI), Historically Black (HBCU), global institutes, and mainstream research universities. He has taught nearly every marketing course in the undergraduate/MBA program. As a Marketing Subject Matter Expert and Course Author for national online universities, he has designed and delivered courses in digital learning modes as well. Vince recently launched Cal State Bakersfield’s first eco-sustainability marketing course and obtained certification from the Green Education Foundation (GEF). Prior to this stand alone course, Dr. Carter has delivered multiple course modules dedicated to Eco-Sustainability, Green Marketing/Branding, as well as environmental-friendly Sharing Economy business models using digital/virtual/mobile platforms.
In 2013, Dr. Carter earned the Cengage Learning Best Paper Award at the Fall Marketing Management Association (MMA) national educators’ conference for the paper, titled “Yin/Yang Marketing Education: Blending Visual Art & Information Science Instruction.” In, 2014, Vince received a “Promising Practices” Principles of Marketing Course Redesign Grant, awarded by the CSU Chancellor’s Office, as part of a 4-faculty team from 4 different CSU campuses. In 2019, Vince served on a national panel of marketing faculty selected by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) headquarters in Princeton NJ, to assess the College Level Exam Program (CLEP) “Principles of Marketing” test questions. Dr. Carter’s has reviewed marketing textbooks for McGraw-Hill, Cengage, and Pearson, as well as published his own curated digital content e-book, Test Drive Marketing: A Marketing Principles Operating Manual for Students.
Community Engagement
Dr. Carter’s community engagement has contributed to numerous nonprofit organizations by providing marketing strategy development, multicultural market analysis, art/aesthetic design thinking, ethical social justice practices, as well as eco-sustainability planning.
Dr. Carter is a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA), Marketing Educators’ Association (MEA), and Marketing Management Association (MMA). As part of his ongoing research efforts, Vince engages the Southern California Consumer Culture Community (SC4), Multicultural Marketing Resources (MMR), Network for Business Sustainability (NBSnet), GreenBiz, and The PhD Project. In addition, Vince is a Life Member of the NAACP and a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.