Dr Christine Armstrong

A lecturer in Marketing for the Newcastle Business School since 2011, Christine continues to engage with industry as a strategic marketing consultant for retail, not-for-profit and government organisations. Her enthusiasm for industry engagement underpins her role as Program Convenor for the University’s Executive Master of Business Administration, a practice-oriented graduate business degree for experienced managers.  

Christine’s research focus is on consumer complaints behaviour and management on social media platforms, providing industry practitioners with easy-to-implement strategies to improve their complaint management practices. Her PhD thesis, ‘Organisational Responses to Consumer Complaints on Facebook Business Pages: The Effect on Consumer Behaviours and Attitudes’, examined the effects of organisational interventions and co-user interactions upon the attitudes and behaviours of complainants on Facebook. This research provided strategic marketing insights into how consumers’ perceptions of social risk can reduce online participation, as well as the employee interventions which can be executed to reverse this effect.

Before completing her PhD, Christine graduated as an MBA (with merit) upon receiving the inaugural Club 13 and University of Newcastle MBA Scholarship, which was established to support emerging business leaders.

Christine’s business qualifications marry well with her interest and undergraduate qualifications in the arts, as demonstrated in Christine’s former role as Manager of Film Hunter. During her years with Film Hunter Christine facilitated the filming of commercials, television programs and feature films, such as Superman Returns and Suburban Mayhem.

As well as marketing the Hunter region for film and TV productions, Christine has also worked as an Economic Development Specialist for the City of Newcastle, marketing the city as a business destination to markets throughout Australia, as well as internationally. Christine has also consulted extensively as a marketing researcher and strategist for Grassroots Group, working with a range of retail, educational and professional services clients.

Christine’s focus on industry extends to her academic collaborations and as a senior researcher, she has worked on cross-discipline research projects involving industry partners from the private and public sectors. In recent years, she has worked as senior researcher for a UoN interdisciplinary study into the return on investment (ROI) of effective complaint management, working in collaboration with the industry association for Australian complaint management professionals, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP). Currently, she is working with a research team from the Newcastle Law School, reviewing the complaints handling processes and systems for a state government planning department.

Christine has also recently worked as Project Coordinator for the University’s new International Hotel School. This project involved extensive industry consultation and collaboration, to prepare a business case for a fully integrated tourism, hospitality and events training facility (‘Hotel School’). The Hotel School project aims to redress the labour and skills shortage, and to maximise the opportunities associated with the projected growth of the visitor economy in the Hunter and Central Coast.