dr. Y. Sahhar (Yasin)

Core research interest in Marketing and Service Research. Yasin is primarily interested in customer experience, service experience, value creation/destruction, temporality, customer journeys, service ecosystems, emergence, and actor engagement. He also contemplates on topics in philosophy of science, such as axiology.

Research positioning and methodological expertise. As a researcher, Yasin studies phenomena at the coalface. His  research is explorative and theory-building in nature. His research is primarily positioned into interpretivism with forays into pragmatism. He builds on and applies philosophical approaches such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, and psychoanalytical theory. He deploys qualitative research methods like ethnography and autohermeneutic phenomenology.

Exemplary publication and award history. Yasin has presented his work at several international conferences and published in the Journal of Service Theory and Practice, the European Journal of Marketing, and the book Contemporary Approaches to Studying Customer Experience in Tourism Research. He was the finalist for the AMA SERVSIG Best Dissertation Award 2023 and was awarded the 2022 Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper Award for his paper published in the Journal of Service Theory and Practice. 

H2020 dRural - Workpackage Leader Stakeholder Engagement & Ecosystem Development. Yasin is Work Package Leader Stakeholder Engagement and Ecosystem Development in the dRural project, initiated by the EU, that strives to improve people’s lives in rural areas. In a multidisciplinary and international consortium, his goal in his role as a researcher is to understand and develop Service Ecosystems.

Coordinator, lecturer and supervisor for multiple levels and interdisciplinary students. Yasin is a coordinator and lecturer for Bachelor- and Master-level courses in Marketing, Service, and Qualitative Methods. His courses are oftentimes challenge-based and involves stakeholders from practice. He supervisor students in their theses, typically research that is qualitative in nature and embedded with and in practice. He is also a regular (guest) speaker and lecturer for MBA and executive education.

Rich experience as a Strategic Marketing Consultant. Prior to his full-time academic career, Yasin combined his Ph.D. research with strategic marketing consultancy. As a consultant, he helped industry-leading organisations become more customer-centric by developing or sharpening marketing strategies.