Dr Máire O Sullivan

BSc Chem (Hons), H Dip Mgt & Mkt (Hons), PhD Commerce, PGCE THE (Merit)

I am a Lecturer in the Department of Marketing and International Business at Munster Technological University. I have worked both agency and client side in marketing roles, hold a Ph.D. in Commerce and have been teaching at university level for over 15 years, in Ireland and the UK.

I was awarded my Ph.D. in Commerce at UCC in 2018, for a project using ethnographic methodology to study members of the Knitting consumption community, both on- and off-line. This work on gendered, therapeutic and craft consumption can be found in the European Journal of Marketing.

Post-PhD I found myself becoming fascinated by the world of Multilevel Marketing. In 2021, I was asked to be a member of the steering committee for the inaugural ‘MLM: The Consumer Protection Challenge’ conference. I remain active in the conference’s organisation to date. Please see mlmconference.com for details of the next conference. I am excited to have multiple chapters in the forthcoming book Critical Perspectives on Multi-Level Marketing, eds. Deanna Grant Smith and Claudia Groβ, Edward Elgar.

I also maintain a research interest in the topics of academic integrity and pedagogy, now including developments in GenAI. I am currently conducting SATLE (Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement) funded research in this area as part of a multidisciplinary group.

Sample Publications

European Journal of Marketing cover — O Sullivan M, Richardson B (2020), “Close knit: using consumption communities to overcome loneliness”. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54 No. 11 pp. 2825–2848, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-02-2019-0145

Screenshot of the conversation article — O Sullivan, Máire, ‘Multi‑level marketing has been likened to a legal pyramid scheme – the backlash against it is growing’, The Conversation, August 8, 2019

Screen shot of a PhD thesis in a repository at UCC — O Sullivan, Máire (2018) Close Knit: an investigation of the therapeutic consumption tribe, PhD thesis

Media mentions:

The New York Times
Bishop, Katie (2024), ‘They Spent Their Life Savings on Life Coaching’, New York Times, 2 Jun.
The Irish Times
Doyle, Jessica and Awobadejo, Adesewa (2022), ‘The young Irish women losing money in too-good-to-be-true social media sales jobs’, The Irish Times, 20 Mar.
ABC Life
Scott, Kellie (2020), How to not lose a friend over multi-level marketing, ABC Life, 28 Jan.
Marie Claire
Pascoe, Ally (2019), The False Promises And Brutal Reality Of Multi-Level Marketing, Marie Claire Australia, 16 Dec.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Bouris, Catherine (2019), It may look attractive, but beware the toll of ‘MLM’ on friendships, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 4.