Robert E. Widing II, PhD, professor of design and innovation and former dean of Weatherhead. He came to Weatherhead from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM Limited) where he served as dean, professor, and managing director. Prior to his work at MGSM, he was provost and professor of marketing at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Widing served as the dean of Weatherhead School of Management from 2012 to 2017.
Earlier in his career, Widing held the Coles Myer Chair of Retailing and Marketing and served as associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Melbourne. He also held appointments at Bond University in Australia and at Weatherhead. In addition, he has held an honorary research appointment at Thammasat University, Bangkok, and a conjoint professorship with Universitas21 in Singapore.
Widing was elected as a Fellow in the International Academy of Management (2017) and also elected as Vice Chancellor and Governing Board Member of the Academy (2018). He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) Foundation from 2017 through 2021 and now serves as an advisor to the GRLI, with the strategic partners of the GRLI being the UN Global Compact, AACSB International and the European Foundation for Management Development. He was awarded the highest marketing research honor in Australasia, the Distinguished Marketing Researcher Award from the Australia-New Zealand Marketing Academy. The Journal of Marketing Education has recognized him as a “Top-Ten” academic marketing researcher in Asia and Australasia. Six of his more than 100 publications have received awards, including ones from the American Marketing Association and the Academy of Marketing Science. He was identified as a Top 25 Sales Scholars by the Global Sales Science Institute.
Widing’s teaching has been recognized through eight awards from four universities, and he has also been listed in Businessweek as an “outstanding faculty member.” He has consulted with and given talks to numerous academic and business organizations in Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Widing received his PhD, MBA and BA from The Ohio State University and joined the faculty at Weatherhead in 2012. He is a dual citizen of Australia and the U.S. and a U.S. Army veteran.
Initially Appointed: 2012
Education
Teaching Information
Teaching Interests
- Marketing Management
Courses Taught
- Managerial Marketing
- Marketing Management
- Customer Relationship Management
Office Hours
By Appointment Only
Research Information
Research Interests
- The effects of market orientation on performance
- Frontline impact on strategy and performance
- Salesperson customer orientation and effectiveness
Awards and Honors
- Nominated for the Weatherhead Undergraduate Teaching Award2020Weatherhead School of Management
External Appointments
- Vice Chancellor, International Academy of Management. 2017 - Present
- American Marketing Association. 1986 - Present
- Committee Chair, Joint OB and D&I committee to develop the Leading and Design Transformational Innovations MBA concentration, 2020 - 2021
- Committee Member, Faculty Council, 2020 - 2023
- Conference-Related, Australia-New Zealand Marketing Academy, Melbourne, Victoria, 2020 - 2021
- Committee Member, International Academy of Management Conference Sterring Committee, Santiago, 2020 - 2021
- Committee Member, International Academy of Management, Bled, 2019 - 2020
- Board of Directors of a Company, International Academy of Management, Santiago, 2018 - 2022
- Editorial Review Board Member, Journal of Business Research, Elsevier Publishing, 2018 - 2022
- Board of Directors of a Company, Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), Brussels, 2017 - 2021
Publications
- Chakrabarty, S. , Widing, R. In Angappa Gunasekaran (Ed.)
A Parsimonious Measure of the Interpersonal Orientation of Salespeople Geneva: International Journal of Business Excellence - Widing, R. (2022). In Robert Peterson (Ed.)
A Comparison of Open and Closed Influencers: An Extension and Replication Dekalb, IL: Journal of Selling - Widing, R. , Laszlo, C. (2021). In Danica Purg, Misho Minkov and Tjasa Cankar (Ed.)
Revisiting Corporate Leadership, Purpose and Governance (vol. 1, 1 ed., pp. 34-41) Bled: International Academy of Management and IEDC Bled School of Management - Laszlo, C. , Widing, R. (2019). In John North (Ed.)
The Changing Role of Business: A Comment on the Recent U.S. Business Roundtable Statement (vol. GRLI Web blog/communications October 2019, October 2019 ed., pp. 9) Brussels: Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative - Terawantonavong, C. , Widing, R. , Whitwell, G. (2017).
Manifest Conflict, Customer Orientation and Performance Outcomes in International Buyer-Seller Relationships (vol. 32, issue 8, pp. 1062-1072) Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing - Chakrabarty, S. , Widing, R. (2016).
The Effect of Perceptual Differences Between Firm Market Orientation and Salesperson Customer Orientation on Salesperson Performance (vol. 16, issue 1, pp. 18-32) Journal of Selling - Chakrabarty, S. , Widing, R. , Brown, G. (2014).
Selling Effectiveness: The Role of Interpersonal Mentalizing Keller Research Report - Chakrabarty, S. , Widing, R. , Brown, G. (2014).
Selling behaviours and sales performance: the moderating and mediating effects of interpersonal mentalizing (vol. 34, issue 2, pp. 112–122) Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management - Widing, R. , Cooperrider, D. L., Laszlo, C. (2013).
Business as an Agent of World Benefit - Chakrabarty, S. , Brown, G. , Widing, R. (2013).
Distinguishing Between the Roles of Customer-Oriented Selling and Adaptive Selling in Managing Dysfunctional Conflict in Buyer–Seller Relationships (vol. 33, issue 3, pp. 245–260) Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management - Chakrabarty, S. , Brown, G. , Widing, R. (2012).
The Role of Top Management in Developing a Customer-Oriented Sales Force (vol. 32, issue 4, pp. 437–449) Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management - Terawatanavong, C. , Whitwell, G. J., Widing, R. , O’Cass, A. (2011).
Technological turbulence, supplier market orientation, and buyer satisfaction (vol. 64, issue 8, pp. 911–918) Journal of Business Research - Chakrabarty, S. , Brown, G. , Widing, R. (2011).
The Consequences of Open Versus Closed Influence Strategies of Salespeople in a Developing Economy (pp. 170) Marketing Management Journal - Bell, S. J., Mengüc, B. , Widing, R. (2010).
Salesperson learning, organizational learning, and retail store performance (vol. 38, issue 2, pp. 187–201) Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science - Chakrabarty, S. , Brown, G. , Widing, R. (2010).
The Effects of Perceived Customer Dependence on Salesperson Influence Strategies (vol. 30, issue 4, pp. 327–341) Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management - Chakrabarty, S. , Brown, G. , Widing, R. (2009).
Closed Influence Tactics: Do Smugglers Win in the Long Run? (vol. 30, issue 1, pp. 23–32) Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
Presentations
- Widing, R. (Panelist/Discussant) ANZMAC2021 Annual Meeting, "ANZMAC: Its Roots, the State of the Academy, and its Future Prospects (Special Session)", Australian New Zealand Marketing Academy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. (2021).
- Widing, R. (Presenter Only), Laszlo, C. (Presenter Only) International Academy of Management Annual Conference, "Revisiting Corporate leadership, Prpose and Governance", IEDC Bled School of Management, Virtual presentation to 300 attendees from around the world. (2020).
- Widing, R. (Moderator), Laszlo, C. (Moderator) International Academy of Management Annual Meeting, "Revisiting Corporate Leadership, Purpose and Governance", IEDC Bled School of Management, Via Zoom to 300 attendees from arounf the globe. (2020).
- Widing, R. The International Academy of Management Annual Meeting, "The Changing Role of Business: Competing Views", International Academy of Management, Seville, Spain. (2019).