Leon Schiffman

Professor of Marketing
J. Donald Kennedy Endowed Chair in E-Commerce

Leon G. Schiffman, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in business from the City University of New York after receiving an M.B.A. from the City College of New York and a B.B.A. from Pace University. He was previously the Lippert Distinguished Scholar of Marketing at the Zicklin School of Business of Baruch College of the City University of New York. Prior to his position at Baruch, he was Professor and Chairperson of the Marketing Department at the Graduate School of Management at Rutgers University, and a member of the faculty at Pace University.

Professor Schiffman is a nationally recognized expert on the behavior of the older consumer. His pioneering research on the elderly consumer, especially his studies of the psychological and sociological aspects of perceived age and innovative behavior of older consumers has been published in numerous marketing journals and frequently referenced by other researchers. He has spoken on the topic of consumer gerontology at many national and international conferences. Dr. Schiffman's research interests also include the consumer behavior dimensions of e-commerce and consumer's use of the Internet, the diffusion of consumer technology, and consumer quality of life issues. He has authored or co-authored a variety of monographs and books including Consumer Behavior, 8th edition (Prentice-Hall, 2004), a leading book on this subject.

The recipient of various awards and honors, Dr. Schiffman received two awards for outstanding teaching in 1997 and 1998 and has participated in more than 50 Ph.D. dissertation committees, 25 of which he chaired.

As a research practitioner with more than 25 years of business experience, Dr. Schiffman has conducted qualitative and lifestyle research for such national and international firms as AT&T, Citibank, The Hertz Corporation, Lever Brothers, Mobil Oil and Patek Phillipe.

Undergraduate Courses Taught

Graduate Courses Taught

Teaching and Educational Philosophy

To address the realities of today's marketplace, Dr. Schiffman has adopted a dual focus in his teaching.  He is committed to both encouraging his students to acquire an understanding of a set of core marketing principles, and to providing them with the opportunity to establish oral and written presentation skills that will give them a sharp competitive edge and enable them to make an immediate measurable contribution within their work environment.

In most of his classes, students are required to work together within groups (as consulting teams). The students are striving, as teams, to prepare professional-quality written reports and formal presentations for their real world clients (e.g., Honeywell Security, Domini Funds-Socially Responsible Investment Company, Terk Technologies, Speco Technologies, Automobile Club of New York, and MAC Group). This pedagogical approach enables students to develop and refine their work group skills, their data collection and analytical skills, and their written and oral communications skills. This approach is challenging, motivating and fun for the students, and gives large New York-based and national firms pragmatic samples of what students from The Tobin College of Business have to offer.

Recent Publications

Textbook

Consumer Behavior. 8th Edition. (Schiffman and Kanuk) (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004). In addition, there have been a series of recent translations and special regional editions.

Articles and Other Publications

“Towards a Better Understanding of the Interplay of Personal Values and the Internet” (Schiffman, Sherman and Long), Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 19, No. 2 (February 2003), 169-186. 

“In the Air Again: Frequent Flyer Relationship Programs and Business Traveler’s Quality of Life” (Long, Clark, Schiffman, and McMellon) International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 5 (2003), 42-432.

“Trends and Issues in Political Marketing Technologies—Direct Marketing and Marketing Research” (Sherman and Schiffman), Journal of Political Marketing, 2002 Vol.1, No. 1, pp. 231-233.

“Political Marketing Research in the 2000 U.S. Election” (Sherman and Schiffman), Journal of Political Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 2-3, Spring 2002, pp. 53-68.

“Implicit Meaning in Visual Print Advertisements: A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Contextual Communication Effect” (Callow and Schiffman) International Journal of Advertising, 21 (2002), 259-277.

“Trusting Souls: A Segmentation of the Voting Public” (Schiffman, Sherman, and Kirpalani), Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 19 (December 2002), 993-1008.

“Cybersenior Empowerment: How Some Older Individuals Are Taking Control of Their Lives” (McMellon and Schiffman) Journal of Applied Gerontology, 21, 2 (June 2002), 157-175.

“The Influence of Gender on the New Age Elderly’s Consumption Orientation” (Sherman, Schiffman, and Mathur), Psychology and Marketing, October 2001, Vol. 18, No. 10, pp. 1073-1089.         

“Cybersenior research: A practical approach to data collection” Journal of Interactive Marketing (McMellon and Schiffman), 2001, 15(4), 46-55.

Journal Editorial Review Boards

• Journal of Business Research, Associate Editor—Consumer Behavior (May 2003-present)
• Journal of Political Marketing, Senior Editor—Political Marketing Research Issues (2002-present)           

Academic and Professional Honors

• 2001 Distinguished Scholar Award, Society for Marketing Advances
• Fellow, International Society for the Study of Quality of Life
• Distinguished Teaching Awards

E-mail: SchiffmL@stjohns.edu
Office:  Bent Hall, Room 234
Phone:  718-990-7503