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Dr Violetta Wilk

Senior Lecturer

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 2663
Email: v.wilk@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Joondalup  
Room: JO2.231  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7990-769X

Violetta is a Lecturer in Digital Marketing in the School of Business and Law.

Key Research Areas

  • Online Brand Advocacy (OBA)
  • User-generated content (UGC)
  • Brand-generated content (BGC)
  • Big data analysis
  • Social media data analysis
  • Online community
  • Digital marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Digital analytics

Biography

Violetta is a Lecturer and Researcher in Digital Marketing at Edith Cowan University.

She has spent over 15 years in corporate roles creating successful online and offline marketing and branding strategies, campaigns and projects for organisations in the corporate and tertiary sectors, including Curtin University, The University of Western Australia, Property Council of Australia, to name a few.

Violetta’s research expertise includes online brand advocacy, online communities, big data analytics, data visualisation, user-generated content (UGC), interactive internet-based consumer behaviour, and the persuasive contextual attributes of online communication. Her current research project explores the way in which consumers advocate for brands online, why they do so and what pro-brand consequences this may lead to. Through a series of online, big data, qualitative and quantitative studies, Violetta's research investigated, defined and conceptualised a new construct: Online Brand Advocacy (OBA) which led to the development of a parsimonious 16-item OBA scale which has been published in the Journal of Product and Brand Management.

Her recent work has launched a new area for academic inquiry and has introduced important implications for the management of brands online. Violetta is one of only a handful of academics worldwide to be granted the title of Accredited Leximancer Trainer. She specialises in data visualisation of large qualitative datasets using Leximancer. Violetta has used Leximancer in over 20 research studies and has presented about the use of Leximancer to audiences in the US, Spain, Romania, Malaysia and Australia. Violetta maintains strong industry engagement and is a Fellow, Mentor and Certified Practicing Marketer with the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and has recently been appointed to the AMI Western Australian Committee. She has been a Unit Coordinator and Lecturer of Undergraduate, Postgraduate and MBA units. Her industry partners and collaborators include: St John WA, Telethon7, Foodbank WA, West Coast Eagles, Quest, Swan Valley Winemakers Association and City of Joondalup.

Violetta is an Executive Education Course Developer and Facilitator. She has written the curricula for and teaches the following short courses attended by industry representatives in Australia and overseas: Digital Marketing Tactics, Digital Marketing Fundamentals, Digital Marketing Strategy, LinkedIn for Executives, Social Media for Executives, and Social Media Strategy for Communicators.

Violetta has developed and facilitated over 50 Executive Education workshops and presentations for industry and academic audiences on the topics of personal branding, social media and digital marketing. She has presented to the Australian Marketing Institute’s national members, Small Business Development Corporation Western Australian members, Edith Cowan University’s academic staff, and recently, to the executive members of the ANZCHAM Philippines.

Theme Two: Society and Culture; Online Brand Advocacy (OBA), Digital marketing, Online communities, Social media marketing, Online marketing strategy, Digital analytics, Big data

Theme Four: Securing Digital Futures, Data Analytics, Big Data, Data Visualisation, Digital Marketing

2021 Winner of the Edith Cowan University Vice Chancellor’s Staff Award 2021: Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning

2020 - Highly Commended Paper Emerald Publishing Literati Award for "Tackling social media data analysis: Comparing and contrasting QSR NVivo and Leximancer" in the Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal.

2019 - Industry Engagement Award, ECU School of Business and Law

2019 - Award for Best Newcomer by an ECU researcher in The Conversation for the article “How a humble Perth boathouse became Australia’s most unlikely tourist attraction”, The Conversation and ECU.

2016 - Winner of the Best Research Paper Award, ANZMAC Mid-Year Doctoral Colloquium, Curtin University.

2016 - Member of the Winning Team for the Best Re-Positioning Campaign for Freedom Foods, ANZMAC Mid-Year Doctoral Colloquium, Curtin University.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Western Australia, 2018.
  • Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours, The University of Western Australia, 2002.

Research Outputs

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

  • Tunca, S., Wilk, V., Sezen, B. (2023). Defining Virtual Consumerism Through Content and Sentiment Analyses. CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 26(3), 198-213. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0079.
  • Wilk, V., Mat Roni, S., Jie, F. (2023). Social Media Users Perspectives on the Supply Chain: Positivity amongst Negativity During COVID-19 Panic Buying in Australia. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 16(2), 262-287. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJASM.2023.130839.
  • Tunca, S., Sezen, B., Wilk, V. (2023). An exploratory content and sentiment analysis of the guardian metaverse articles using Leximancer and natural language processing.. Journal of Big Data, 10(1), Article number 82. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-023-00773-w.

Book Chapters

  • Vorobjovas-Pinta, O., Wilk, V. (2022). Marketing Suburban Tourism Destinations on Social Media: The Case of the City of Joondalup, Western Australia. Case Based Research in Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Events (219-236). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4671-3_13.

Journal Articles

  • Wilk, V., Mat Roni, S., Jie, F. (2022). Supply chain insights from social media users’ responses to panic buying during COVID-19: the herd mentality.. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 2022(Ahead of print), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-06-2021-0400.
  • Goh, E., Wilk, V. (2022). Showcasing Leximancer in tourism and hospitality research: a review of Leximancer-based research published in tourism and hospitality journals during 2014–2020. Tourism Recreation Research, 2022(article in press), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2022.2129284.
  • Wilk, V., Lambert, C., Meek, S. (2022). Online Brand Detraction in an Online Opinion Platform. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 107(October 2022), Article number 103345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103345.

Journal Articles

  • Willson, G., Wilk, V., Sibson, R., Morgan, A. (2021). Twitter content analysis of the Australian bushfires disaster 2019-2020: futures implication. Journal of Tourism Futures, 7(3), 350-355. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-10-2020-0183.
  • Wilk, V., Soutar, G., Harrigan, P. (2021). Online Brand Advocacy and Brand Loyalty: A reciprocal relationship?. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 33(10), 1977-1993. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-05-2020-0303.
  • Morgan, A., Wilk, V. (2021). Social media users’ crisis response: A lexical exploration of social media content in an international sport crisis. Public Relations Review, 47(4), Article number 102057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102057.
  • Wilk, V., Cripps, H., Capatina, A., Micu, A., Micu, A. (2021). The state of #digitalentrepreneurship: a big data Leximancer analysis of social media activity. The International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(4), 1899-1916. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-020-00729-z.
  • Wilk, V., Sadeque, S., Soutar, GN. (2021). Exploring Online Destination Brand Advocacy. Tourism Recreation Research, 2021(Article in Press), 19p.. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2021.1992952.
  • Morgan, A., Wilk, V. (2021). Sport Organizations and Reconciliation in Australia. Sport in Society, 2021(Article in Press), 23p.. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2021.1934451.
  • Morgan, A., Wilk, V., Sibson, R., Willson, G. (2021). Sport event and destination co-branding: Analysis of social media sentiment in an international, professional sport event crisis. Tourism Management Perspectives, 39(July 2021), Article number 100848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2021.100848.
  • Meek, S., Wilk, V., Lambert, C. (2021). A big data exploration of the informational and normative influences on the helpfulness of online restaurant reviews. Journal of Business Research, 125(March 2021), 354-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.001.

Reports

  • Dowse, A., Wilk, V., Meek, S., Jacques, C., McLaughlin, C., Jaunzems, K. (2021). Understanding Mass Influence: Three Case Studies of Contemporary Mass Influence Activities. Australia. Department of Defence.
  • Dowse, A., Wilk, V., McLaughlin, C. (2021). Understanding Mass Influence: A case study of Facebook as a platform enabling mass influence. Australia. Department of Defence.
  • Dowse, A., Wilk, V. (2021). Understanding Mass Influence: A case study of the Internet Research Agency as a contemporary mass influence operation. Australia. Department of Defence.

Journal Articles

  • Wilk, V., Soutar, G., Harrigan, P. (2020). Online brand advocacy (OBA): The development of a multiple item scale. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 29(4), 415-429. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2018-2090.

Journal Articles

  • Wilk, V., Soutar, G., Harrigan, P. (2019). Tackling Social Media Data Analysis: Comparing and contrasting QSR NVivo and Leximancer. Qualitative Market Research: an international journal, 22(2), 94-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-01-2017-0021.

Journal Articles

Research Projects

  • Empowering Women in Western Australia to Achieve Economic Independence Through Entrepreneurship, Department of Communities (WA), Grants for Women Program, 2024 ‑ 2026, $75,000.
  • Supporting Government and ADF activities in the ‘Grey Zone’: Hybrid Warfare Roles and Opportunities for the Australian Army, Department of Defence - Australian Army, Australian Army Research Scheme, 2022 ‑ 2024, $25,000.
  • Extending the Social Media Users Crisis Response Framework with Online Brand Advocacy: Evidence from the COVID-19 affected supply chain crisis., Edith Cowan University, Early-Mid Career Researcher Grant Scheme 2022 (Stream 2), 2023 ‑ 2024, $14,492.
  • Non-State Actors and the Cybersecurity Dilemma: is De-escalation Possible?, Cyber Security Research Centre Ltd, Cyber Security Research Centre Masters Scholarship, 2022 ‑ 2024, $120,000.
  • Multi-Party Collaborative Project for Three Case Studies of Mass Influencing Organisations, Defence Science and Technology Group of the Department of Defence, Grant, 2021, $35,000.
  • Strategies for countering disinformation harmful to Australia’s interests, Department of Defence, Strategic Policy Grants Program, 2020 ‑ 2021, $109,914.
  • Exploring the Swan Valley Wine Region’s Destination Brand Identity: A Multi-Methods Approach involving local, interstate and international visitor analysis., Edith Cowan University, ECU Industry Engagement Grant, 2019 ‑ 2020, $20,000.

Research Student Supervision

Principal Supervisor

  • Master of Business by Research, An Exploration of the Artist’s and the Consumer’s Online Art Storytelling: A Narrative Transportation Theory Perspective

Associate Supervisor

  • Master of Business by Research, Exploring the barriers for express courier services in using Crowdsourced Last Mile Delivery (CSLMD) ; A study based on Sri Lankan express courier market
  • Master of Business by Research, Semi-State and Non-State Actors, the Transnational Trade in Cyberweapons, and the Cybersecurity Dilemma

Associate Supervisor

  • Master of Business by Research, Exploring the factors that affect hotel senior managers' intentions towards future crisis planning: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
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