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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Nelson Amaral, Assistant Professor

Nelson Amaral
PhD

Associate Professor

Marketing

Faculty of Business and Information Technology

Contact information

Business and Information Technology Building - Room 3048
North Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 6484

nelson.amaral@ontariotechu.ca

Research topics

  • cross-cultural consumer behaviour
  • luxury counterfeits
  • persuasion
  • marketing ethics
  • personal brand relationships

Background

Dr. Nelson B. Amaral is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Ontario Tech University. He received his Bachelor of Pure and Applied Science in Biology from York University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and his PhD in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Amaral is a consumer psychologist with two streams of research. The first theme broadly investigates how consumers process and use information when rendering judgments, decisions and behaviours and particularly, the factors (e.g. distractions, order) that influence judgments and decisions. The second stream of research explores the interrelationship between consumers’ social identities and products or brands. At the intersection of these two areas Dr. Amaral has investigated questions related to understanding cognitive processes that underlie unethical behaviour as well as the effects of counterfeits on luxury brands and cultural differences in the evaluation of counterfeit consumption. He has been invited to present his research on luxury counterfeits in Singapore, France, Monaco and Portugal. His research has been featured in Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and Rutgers Business Review. He has been awarded research grants from The Marketing Science Institute and Asian Consumer Insights fund at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Dr. Amaral brings 12 years of professional experience in sales, marketing management and marketing research to his research and the classroom. He has taught at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, American University in Washington D.C. and Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario. He has taught courses online and in the classroom at both the undergraduate and graduate level, on topics including the principles of marketing, luxury brand management, and personal selling and salesforce management.

Education

  • PhD University of Minnesota
  • MBA University of Toronto
  • BSc York University

Courses taught

  • Social Media Marketing (undergraduate)
  • Integrated Marketing Communications (graduate)
  • Retail Fashion and Luxury Brand Management (undergraduate and graduate)
  • Understanding the Marketplace (graduate)
  • Principles of Marketing (graduate, online)
  • Marketing and Business for Communication (undergraduate)
  • Sales and Sales Force Management (undergraduate)
  • Principles of Marketing (undergraduate)

Research and expertise

  • Kogod Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2015, 2017
  • Kogod Faculty Award for Outstanding Research, 2015
  • Marketing Science Institute Research Grant, $4,000, 2016
  • Institute on Asian Consumer Insight Research Grant, $10,000, 2014
  • University of Minnesota Council of Graduate Students Teaching Award, 2012
  • Carlson School of Management Excellence in Teaching Award (four-time recipient)
  • Carlson Institute for Research in Marketing Travel Grant, 2011
  • Best Paper, Carlson School of Management Multi-disciplinary Research Conference, 2013
  • MMA Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Doctoral Student Award (international competition), 2013
  • Carlson School of Management Travel Fellowship, 2010, 2011
  • Vaile Fellowship for Outstanding PhD Student Recognition 2011
  • Henrickson Fellowship for Excellence in Research, 2011
  • Carlson School of Management Research Fellowship, 2007 to 2013
  • Peter Duncan Memorial Award for Excellence in Econometrics, 2006

Involvement

  • Recent publications

    Amaral, Nelson B., and Carlos Torelli (2018) “Salient Cultural Identities and Consumers’ Valuation of Identity Congruent Brands: Consequences for Building and Leveraging Brand Equity,” Journal for Management and Training for Industries, Vol. 5 (3), 13-30.

    Amaral, Nelson B., and Barbara Loken (2017) “Why Luxury Brand Managers Should Pay Attention to Social Class: Not All Counterfeit Users Are Equal,” Rutgers Business Review, Vol. 2 (3), 350-356.

    Rahinel, Ryan, Nelson B. Amaral, Joshua J. Clarkson and Aaron C. Kay (2016), “On Incidental Catalysts of Elaboration: Reminders of Environmental Structure Promote Effortful Thought,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 64, 1-7.

    Amaral, Nelson B., and Barbara Loken (2016), “Viewing Usage of Counterfeit Luxury Goods: Social Identity and Social Hierarchy Effects on Dilution and Enhancement of Genuine Luxury Brands ,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24 (6), 483-495.

    Amaral, Nelson, (2016), “Luxury Counterfeiting: Marketing Research Review with Brand Manager and Policy Implications”, in Barbara E. Kahn (Ed.), Online Luxury Retailing: Leveraging Digital Opportunities. Research, Industry Practice, and Open Questions. Wharton White Paper Series, Jay H. Baker Retailing Center.

    Chan, Steven and Nelson Amaral (2015), “Not All Fakes Are Created Equal: Cultural Differences in Considering Counterfeits”, in B. Schmitt and L. Lee (Eds.), The Psychology of the Asian Consumer, New York: Routledge.

    Amaral, Nelson and Joan Meyers-Levy (2013) ,"The Effect of Construal Level on Consumers’ Anticipations Involving Ethical Behavior", in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 41, eds. Simona Botti and Aparna Labroo, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research.

    Amaral, Nelson and Barbara Loken (2012), “Viewing Usage of Counterfeit Luxury Goods: How Perceived Social Class Affects Female’s Rating of the Genuine Luxury Brand,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 40, eds. Zeydep Gurhan-Canli, Cele Otnes, and Rui (Juliet) Zhu, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 76-80.

    Torelli, Carlos, Chi-Yue Chiu, Hean Tat Keh and Nelson Amaral (2011), “American = Men? Gender and Cultural Dynamics in the Marketing of Male-Symbolic Brands to Women”, in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 38, eds. Darren W. Dahl, Gita V. Johar, and Stijn M.J. van Osselaer, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 436-437.

    Amaral, Nelson (2010), “How Does the Unconscious Think” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 37, eds. Margaret C. Campbell, Jeff Inman and Rik Peters, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 746-747.

    Amaral, Nelson, Barbara Loken and Stacy Goebel (2010), “Brand Dilution: The Impact of the User of Counterfeits on Original Brand Perception” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 37, eds. Margaret C. Campbell, Jeff Inman and Rik Peters, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 859-860.

    Torelli, Carlos, Chi-yue Chiu, Hean Tat Keh, and Nelson Amaral (2009),"Brand Iconicity: a Shared Reality Perspective" in Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, 108-111.

    Torelli, Carlos, Hi-Yue Chiu, Hean Tat Keh and Nelson Amaral (2008), “Brand Iconicity: A

    Shared Reality Perspective” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 108-111.

    Amaral, Nelson (2006), “Forecasting Vacancy Rates in Ontario: A Multi-year Projection Model”, Rotman School of Management Finance Library Reserves.

    Amaral, Nelson and Paul Friesen (2005), “Pick and Choose” Journal of Property Management, 70 (4), 30-33.