Gulnur Tumbat received her M.B.A. degree from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. After working as a business analyst for Turkish Aerospace Industries for two years, she got her Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from University of Utah, David Eccless School of Business where she worked with Professor Russell W. Belk. (She also holds BSc and Msc in Environmental Engineering, and published in the same field before getting her MBA and changing her career).
Her main research interests are at the intersections of risk discourses, consumer culture, marketplace dynamics, and technology, where she uses interpretive research tools. She published in prestigious academic outlets such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Theory, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Advances in Consumer Research, European Advances in Consumer Research, and Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption.
Her main teaching interests include consumer behavior, advertising, and brand management. She has taught also at University of Utah, Universite de Nice Sophia Antipolis, American University of Beirut, and Bahcesehir University Istanbul and Silicon Valley campuses.
Coskuner-Balli, Gokcen and Gülnur Tumbat (2017) “Performative Structures, American Exceptionalism, and the Legitimation of Free Trade,” Marketing Theory, 17(1), 31-50.
Tumbat, Gülnur and Russell W. Belk (2011), “Marketplace Tensions in Extraordinary Experiences,” Journal of Consumer Research 38(7), 42-61. **Recipient of the Sid Levy Award for the Best CCT Article Based on a Dissertation, 2nd Place.
Tumbat, Gülnur (2011), “Co-constructing the Service Experience: Exploring The Role of Customer Emotion Management,” Marketing Theory 11(2), 187-206.
Belk, Russell W. and Gülnur Tumbat (2005), “The Cult of Macintosh,” Consumption, Markets, and Culture, 8(3), 205-217. **One of the most downloaded 25 articles from the Consumption, Markets & Culture during 2009-10. **The 3rd overall most cited publication from the Consumption, Markets & Culture as of 2015.
Assocation for Consumer Research Doctoral Symposium Faculty Mentor, Association for Consumer Research Conference, San Diego, CA, October 2017.
Advertising Education Foundation, Visiting Professor Program Fellowship @ Ogilvy & Mathers in Manhattan, New York, NY, June 2012.
The Sidney J. Levy Award 2nd Place for The Best Consumer Culture Theory Dissertation Article published in 2010, 2011.
San Francisco State University Professional Development Council Mini-Grant Award, December 2006.
39th AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow, Texas A&M University, College Station-TX, June 2004.
University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business, Global Business Program Scholarship for Dissertation Research, 2004.
First Place People's Choice Award for the video Towards a Meaningful Identity: The (F)Utility of Lifestyle Research, ACR Film Festival, Association for Consumer Research Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 2003.
12th Robert Mittelstaedt Doctoral Symposium Fellow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Marketing, March 2003.