About Nitisha
She pursues research on consumer behavior that emerges at the intersection of market and civic realms: consumer citizenship. Her research explores the relationship between everyday consumer decisions and civic engagement, emphasizing the paradoxes inherent in this dynamic. Examples include the conflict between a consumer's freedom of choice and moral responsibility as a citizen, and the tension between profit-driven capitalism and the citizenship ideal of equitable distribution. She employs theories from the public sphere, moral justification, and market co-creation to understand how consumers navigate these paradoxes. By utilizing ethnographic approaches and in-depth interviews, she bridges these theoretical frameworks with the lived realities of consumers, offering actionable insights for marketing and public policy professionals striving to balance economic interests with societal well-being.
Her undergraduate degree in engineering (BTech in Electronics and Instrumentation from VIT University, India) was instrumental in bolstering her methodical approach to problem-solving and analysis. Post that, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad equipped her with the skills in and knowledge of the business field, sparking her interest in marketing with its richly endowed consumer phenomena. Her professional work experience in the Sales and Marketing domains at the Star Sports network of Star India - a media and entertainment conglomerate, excited her curiosity to probe sociocultural facets of consumer behavior, culminating in her plunge into research at the PhD program at UW-Madison.
For leisure, she writes poetry and short stories, plays the ukulele and the handpan, and performs at poetry and story slams.
Working Papers
Robinson, A. & Epp, A. & Tomar, N. (2023). Challenges to Intervention: Parental Justifications for Vaccine-Hesitancy within Economies of Worth
Tomar, N. Cultural Perspectives on Product Categorization: Interaction between Copyright regime and Collective Creativity in the Marketplace
Tomar, N. & Epp, A. Exploring Market-Mediated Play as a Creative Mode of Public Dialogue: The Case of Story Slams
Seittu, H. & Bhatnagar, K. & Tomar, N. You Don’t Do It Yourself: Rude Awakenings from Enchanting Consumption Myths
Presentations
Association for Consumer Research Conference (2023) Ludic Publics: Transformation through Ludic Consumption
Research Seminar (2023) Resisting Entropy: How Consumers and Objects Share ‘Work’ to Sustain Continued Tech-Product Use
Consumer Culture Theory Conference (2022) Ethnographic Futures in the Pandemic World
Consumer Culture Theory Conference (2022) Community through Competition – Exploring the Trajectories of Deep Play and Communal Experiences Post Disruption
AMA Winter Educators’ Conference (2022) Challenges to Social Solidarity: How Vaccine-Hesitant Parents’ use Emotion Work to Navigate an Economy of Morals
Association for Consumer Research Conference (ACR) (2021) Community through Competition – Exploring the trajectories of deep play and gamification
Association for Consumer Research Conference (2021) The Babel of Collective Consumption: Tensions and Heterogeneity in Communities and Subcultures
Association for Consumer Research Conference (2021) The Seesaw of Loss and Hope: How Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Justify and Experience their Choices within Economies of Worth
Workshop in Consumer Culture Theory at the University of Aveiro, Portugal (2021) Community through Competition – Exploring the trajectories of deep play and gamification
Association For Consumer Research (ACR) (2020) The Interplay of Religious Discrimination/Segregation With Consumption and Production Activities
Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC) (2020) The Impact of Stigmatization and Segregation on Markets and Capital
Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC) (2020) The Seesaw of Loss and Hope: How Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Make Sense of and Experience their Choices to Engage in Oppositional Social Practices
Association for Consumer Research Conference (ACR) (2019) The Bright Side of Darkness – The Effect of Ambient Lighting on Purchase Decision
Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC) (2019) Marketplace performance of stigmatized consumers and producers