Faculty & Research

Renee Richardson Gosline

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Biography

Renée Richardson Gosline is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Management Science group at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She teaches the MBA course in Branding.

Professor Gosline is generally interested in how social networks affect consumer-brand relationships, and how brands serve as dynamic symbols of social status boundaries. Her current research examines how luxury brands are impacted when they are imitated by counterfeits and “knockoff” imitations. She identifies the circumstances under which imitation can validate, or contaminate, a brand. Professor Gosline’s aim is to contribute to our general understanding of how consumers define authenticity, and how this is shaped by social structure (networks and status, specifically). To this end, she employs a multi-method approach, utilizing both qualitative and experimental methods to uncover consumer insights and develop theory. Professor Gosline’s research interests also include omnivore consumer behavior, social network analysis (particularly how networks constrain consumer choice), and consumer empowerment.

Prior to joining academia, Professor Gosline worked as a Marketing practitioner. She was a Planner and Account Supervisor at Leo Burnett, and a Brand Management Associate at LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton. She has developed brand strategies for mass and niche brands.

Professor Gosline conducted her Doctoral training at Harvard Business School, her Graduate coursework in Sociology at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and her undergraduate studies at Harvard College.