{"id":755,"date":"2026-02-26T14:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=755"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:14:19","slug":"finding-community-in-the-marketplace-dr-meredith-rhoads-journey-into-marketing-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2026\/02\/26\/finding-community-in-the-marketplace-dr-meredith-rhoads-journey-into-marketing-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Community in the Marketplace: Dr. Meredith Rhoads\u2019 Journey into Marketing Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marketing began long before Dr. Meredith Rhoads ever declared it as a major \u2013 it began in her father\u2019s small furniture store in West Frankfort, Illinois. As a child, she watched her dad build relationships, serve his community, and make decisions that affected real families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had this front-row seat to what it means to run a business in a close-knit place,\u201d the assistant professor of marketing recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it then, but that shaped everything about how I view marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawn to both creativity and strategy, she pursued an undergraduate marketing degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and quickly fell in love with it. But her understanding of the field expanded dramatically during her MBA program, when she began working with faculty on a research project examining older consumers and their interactions with service providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat project opened my eyes,\u201d she said. \u201cIt showed me how marketing touches vulnerable populations and how the marketplace can either preserve or diminish dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, Dr. Rhoads joined the new product development team at Anheuser-Busch, flexing her creative muscles while exploring new beverage concepts and emerging markets. Her work frequently took her into bars, restaurants, and community spaces to observe consumers in their own environments. \u201cI kept finding myself in projects where I was collecting qualitative data,\u201d she said. \u201cI loved talking to people \u2013 getting to their motivations, emotions, and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those experiences revealed a clear pattern: she was most energized when she was doing research, working directly with consumers, and uncovering human-centered insights. Combined with her love of university environments, that realization led her to pursue a PhD at the University of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was there that her research identity truly took shape. Dr. Rhoads gravitated toward questions about community \u2013 how people build it, how the marketplace affects it, and how systems can either include or exclude individuals. \u201cI grew up in a town where people showed up for each other,\u201d she said. \u201cThat has stayed with me. I\u2019m drawn to understanding how community forms and how marketing can support or impede that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work now spans several streams: how neighborhoods and city planning shape social bonds; how small local businesses act as community anchors; and how vulnerable consumers, including those with disabilities or resource constraints, navigate the marketplace. Across all her projects, she centers dignity, access, and inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her recent paper Service Design for Humanitarian Value<\/em>, published in Journal of Service Research, captures that mission. Working with a longtime research team, she studied a diverse set of social service providers \u2013 from food banks to home meal programs to organizations serving formerly incarcerated individuals. The goal was to understand how these providers conceptualize the value they create. Rather than viewing them as a single category, Dr. Rhoads and her co-authors developed a framework outlining three layers of humanitarian value: triaging immediate needs, building long-term capacity, and empowering individuals toward independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat stood out is that poverty takes many forms: financial, social, emotional. These organizations are doing so much more than people realize,\u201d she explained, \u201cThey\u2019re meeting people where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She hopes the framework helps policymakers and local leaders better allocate resources and understand shifting community needs. \u201cUltimately, I want my research to matter,\u201d she said. \u201cI want it to lead to real change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That commitment to meaningful impact is also what brought her to the Lacy School of Business. After visiting dozens of universities nationwide, she knew her heart belonged back in the Midwest. Butler immediately felt different. “From the moment I stepped on campus, it felt like home,” she said. “People here care about people. They care about community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the classroom, Dr. Rhoads teaches consumer behavior, advertising, and introductory marketing. Her goal is to help students see the humanity within the discipline. \u201cWe live in a consumer society. Marketing touches everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI want students to understand the deep core needs that drive behavior and realize how enduring many of those needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She weaves concepts from psychology, sociology, and anthropology into her courses, encouraging students to think critically about how markets shape lives and how businesses can create value responsibly. She also hopes to inspire the next generation of marketing researchers. \u201cWe have endless data now,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what matters is asking good questions, questions that lead to insights that help people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she\u2019s not teaching or conducting research, Dr. Rhoads can be found exploring Indianapolis with her four children, ages 19, 17, 13, and 10. She loves biking, yoga, and discovering local restaurants and neighborhood spots. \u201cI\u2019m drawn to places with heart,\u201d she smiled. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s the small-town girl in me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in her second year at LSB, she is energized by the collaborative spirit within the LSB community. \u201cThis is a place where ideas have no ceiling,\u201d she said. She hopes her work will continue strengthening connections with local businesses, nonprofits, and policymakers. \u201cI believe in backyard research \u2013 studying what\u2019s right in front of us. There\u2019s so much opportunity to make Indianapolis stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Marketing began long before Dr. Meredith Rhoads ever declared it as a major \u2013 it began in her father\u2019s small furniture store in West Frankfort, Illinois. As a child, she watched her dad build relationships, serve his community, and make decisions that affected real families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this front-row seat to what it means to run a business in a close-knit place,\u201d the assistant professor of marketing recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it then, but that shaped everything about how I view marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawn to both creativity and strategy, she pursued an undergraduate marketing degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and quickly fell in love with it. But her understanding of the field expanded dramatically during her MBA program, when she began working with faculty on a research project examining older consumers and their interactions with service providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions\/758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}