Faculty and Staff

Bela Florenthal

Professor • Management, Marketing and Professional Sales

I am a Professor of Marketing at William Paterson University, in the Cotsakos College of Business. I received my Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. I have a diverse research background and have published substantially in my discipline.

I received awards for outstanding pedagogical papers and first and second places in case writing competitions.

I served five years as the President of the Beta Gamma Sigma WPU Chapter, an honor society of AACSB-accredited business schools. Our chapter was awarded twice the Exemplary Chapter title during my Presidency, and I received the Outstanding Chapter Advisor award.

I served as the director of the business honors program, where I successfully managed students' completion of their business theses.
I was also the coordinator of the AACSB Assurance of Learning for our college for five years.

Professional Interests

Teaching: Principals of Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, Marketing Management, Marketing Communication Strategy, and Social Media Marketing

Research: Social media, E-learning, Interactivity, E-tailing/retailing, Culture-based behavior, Nonprofit Marketing, and Positive Psychology.

Languages (other than English)

Hebrew  Russian 

Degrees

PhD Marketing, Pennsylvania State University State College, PA

MS Business Administration, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Haifa, Israel

BA Economics, University of Haifa Haifa, Israel

Specialization

motivation theories, e-commerce/e-tailing, interactive marketing, social media marketing, e-learning, and cross-cultural consumer behavior

Representative Publications


A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Millennials’ Engagement with and Donation to Nonprofits: A Hybrid U&G and TAM Framework; , International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing; 2021
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12208-021-00292-5


Nonprofits Meet Millennials: A Hybrid Approach of U&G and TAM to Identify the Drivers of Donation Behavior; Young Consumers; Volume 21, 2020


Young Consumers’ Motivational Drivers of Brand Engagement Behavior on Social Media Sites: A Synthesized U&G and TAM Framework ; Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing; Volume 13, 2019
https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-05-2018-0064


Students’ Motivation to Participate via Mobile Technology in the Classroom: A Uses and Gratifications Approach; Journal of Marketing Education; 2019


Student Perceptions of and Satisfaction with Mobile Polling Technology: An Exploratory Study; , Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education; Volume 26, 2018

Representative Presentations


The Impact of Intentional Prosocial (Wellness) Behavior on College and High School Students
50th Annual ACME 2023 conference ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE MARKETING EDUCATORS FEDERATION OF BUSINESS DISCIPLINES
Houston, TX 2023


HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS EARN COLLEGE CREDITS BY ENGAGING IN “SPREAD KINDNESS” PROJECT
2022 Marketing Educators’ Association (MEA) Conference Marketing Educators’ Association (MEA)
Seattle, WA 2022


PROJECT “SPREAD KINDNESS"
2021 MMA Fall Educators’ Conference Marketing Management Association
, 2021


How a Small Player Can Succeed in a Well-Established Offline and Online Fundraising Market: Raise Craze Case Study
2021 MMA Fall Educators’ Conference 26th Annual Jacobs & Clevenger Case Writer’s Workshop
, 2021

Awards and Honors

Summer Research Support
2022 Faculty Summer Research Forum (FSRF)
08/01/2022

Award
26th Annual Jacobs & Clevenger Case Writer’s Workshop
10/01/2021

Winner of the Jim Kobs Best Pedagogical Paper Award
Marketing EDGE
10/08/2017

First Place in The Jacobs & Clevenger Case Writers’ Competition
Marketing EDGE
10/08/2017

Media

Business professor at William Paterson teaches marketing while students learn to ‘Spread Kindness’ through their brand
https://www.roi-nj.com/2022/12/21/education/business-professor-at-william-paterson-teaches-marketing-while-students-learn-to-spread-kindness-through-their-brand/
William Paterson University professor of marketing and management Bela Florenthal saw a need in class beyond educating her students on the principles of marketing. She saw a generation struggling with mental health issues, and got creative with her course syllabi in trying to flip the script.

In the fall of 2019, as part of her “Marketing Management” and “Marketing Research” courses in the university’s Cotsakos College of Business, Florenthal launched the “Spread Kindness” project, wherein students are required to perform acts of kindness — intentional, selfless acts toward another human, animal or nature without a foreseeable reward to the performer except for feeling good, as her syllabus describes them.

Notable Courses Taught

Practicum and Honor courses

3045 Valley Road

By appointment