dsears

Donna Sears, Ph.D. Donna has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and consultant in marketing, tourism, and e-commerce. Donna holds a PhD in Management from McGill University, where she studied consumer behaviour with an emphasis on hedonic consumption. She was awarded the title of Doctoral Fellow for the Society for Marketing Advances (SMA) in November 2006 (Nashville, TN) and 2007 (San Antonio, TX). Following her residency at McGill University, she joined the Faculty of Business at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John campus) where she taught students in both the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelor of Applied Management in Hospitality and Tourism (BAMHT) programs. Donna subsequently joined the F.C. Manning School of Business at Acadia in 2009. Since joining Acadia, Donna has established herself as a wine tourism researcher. She has presented her work at conferences in Italy, Ontario, and British Columbia. Donna’s research interests also include the impact of 3d printing and other new technologies on branding and marketing practices; digital marketing; effective e-marketing strategies for destination marketing organizations; and other aspects of tourism and services marketing. She regularly serves as a reviewer for both regional and international business and marketing conferences. In her non-academic life, Donna can be found training and competing in the equestrian sport of Dressage or working as her own farm-hand on her Kings County, NS (Canada) hobby farm.

More is better …

So far, our research has focused on consumer behaviour in tourism. Specifically, as it relates to the Nova Scotia grape and wine sector.  Since there are natural similarities in consumer behaviour concerning food, wine, and beverages, we are extending our research to include these sectors as well.  Of late, the Province has seen significant growth

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How much? Or what kind? Applying the Differentiated Pleasure Concept to Sensory Analysis of Wine

This research marks the first test of the recently developed differentiated pleasure scale (from Consumer Behaviour) as applied to food science. For six decades now, sensory evaluation of taste has been dominated by the use of Peryam & Pilgrim’s (1957) hedonic scale, measuring liking or preference. To illustrate, this dominant view assumes that the difference

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A Budding Tourism Industry: The Future of Agri-tourism is Cannabis

Specialty/niche tourism offerings are growing, as tourists and other visitors increasingly seek out unique experiences. In Nova Scotia, where artisanal wineries, craft breweries, and micro-distilleries are launching at a rapid pace, it is not surprising that beverage tourism offerings – such as the Wolfville Magic Winery Bus and Good Cheer Trail – are enjoying increased

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The Preference (f)or Pleasure

The Preference (f)or Pleasure: Exploring the Multidimensional Nature of the Hedonic Sensory Experience Sears, McSweeney, Weatherbee & Jantzi Poster presented at the Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, August 2017 Abstract: Sensory research has long relied on the use of a 9-point hedonic scale to measure consumers’ liking of food products. Similarly, marketing research in consumer behavior

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