Rory Mulcahy
Associate Professor in Marketing, School of Business and Creative Industries
Cluster Lead, Work, Live and Play Research Cluster
Email: rmulcahy@usc.edu.au
Telephone: +61 7 5456 5667
Associate Professor Rory Mulcahy is an internationally recognised marketing researcher whose work focuses on how marketing, digital technologies and service systems can address consumer, organisational and societal challenges. His research spans transformative service research, artificial intelligence, consumer behaviour, digital marketing and social marketing.
He has published in leading international journals, including the Journal of Service Research, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Research, attracting more than 4,700 Google Scholar citations and multiple research awards. He has contributed to research projects attracting over A$1.1 million in funding and is currently a Chief Investigator on a A$535,248 National Intelligence Discovery Grant investigating deepfakes. His research has informed industry initiatives, government policy and behaviour change programmes.
An experienced academic leader and mentor, Rory has contributed to 15 PhD completions, including seven as principal supervisor. He previously served as Assistant Associate Dean (Research) at UniSC and currently leads the Work, Live and Play Research Cluster. He is committed to research-led teaching, interdisciplinary collaboration and developing the next generation of researchers.
Research
Publications
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Broadening the phygital experience: a scoping review of value creation for service actors ↗
by Jenna Campton, Melissa Louise Innes, Kirsty Redgen, Renee Barnes, Rory Mulcahy, Retha Scheepers and Simon Oertel
7 August 2026
Journal of Services Marketing
Purpose
This study aims to review phygital research from 2014 to 2025 to map the field, reduce fragmentation and identify key gaps warranting future exploration. The review expands the view of phygital service research (PSR) to include both consumer and employee perspectives, using consumption value theory and the reality–virtuality continuum to code the literature and examine value outcomes and the blend of physical and digital elements.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines to select relevant research across multiple databases. Broad search terms, beyond “phygital”, such as “hybrid” and “physical-digital interaction” were used in a scoping review approach to capture interdisciplinary perspectives. Thematic analysis was applied to reduce fragmentation, categorise actor perspectives, synthesise value outcomes and classify phygital experiences on the reality–virtuality continuum.
Findings
The review identified that most phygital literature largely centres on service employee perspectives, particularly in hybrid work and organisational contexts, while consumer and employee perspectives are rarely examined together, revealing a gap in understanding value co-creation. The literature emphasises emotional and functional value, positive emotional value for consumers and aspects of emotional value destruction for employees, while social and epistemic values are underexplored. Most studies focus on augmented reality enhancing physical spaces, with limited attention to virtual-dominant experiences.
Originality/value
This review advances PSR by offering a multidisciplinary analysis of phygital experiences that integrates consumer and employee perspectives, highlighting the need for a multi-actor approach. It conceptualises value as a multidimensional continuum, incorporating both value creation and destruction, while addressing the overemphasis on emotional and functional value by calling for greater attention to social and epistemic dimensions. It also operationalises the reality–virtuality continuum to clarify phygital configurations, enabling more precise theorisation and identification of underexplored service interactions.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Clear Benefits, Complex Barriers: Brand Communicators’ Perspectives on Transmedia Storytelling ↗
by Richie Barker, Karen E. Sutherland and Rory Mulcahy
5 April 2026
Journal of Creative Communications
Advances in media technologies have afforded audiences greater control over how, and to what extent, they engage with brand content and advertising. In response, brands have pursued more immersive and participatory ways of reaching consumers, with transmedia storytelling—the coordinated communication of a narrative across multiple platforms with each medium contributing unique elements—emerging as one such approach. While scholarship has examined transmedia storytelling in brand contexts, research has largely centred on case studies of completed campaigns or conceptual investigations, leaving the dynamics of practice underexplored. Drawing on 21 interviews and a cross-national survey of 256 brand communicators, this study investigates the challenges of adopting transmedia storytelling, the industry categories perceived as most suited, and whether obstacles vary across sectors or are broadly consistent. Findings suggest that the most significant barriers tend to arise from external and organisational constraints rather than creative limitations. Although obstacles were largely consistent, sectors such as fashion, health and beauty revealed distinct implementation challenges, while categories like automotive and education showed more uniform patterns. Informed by these findings, the Transmedia Brand Storytelling Model for Practice is reframed to emphasise the organisational and relational conditions shaping the practice in contemporary brand communication.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Navigating emotional depletion: the role of emotional intelligence and donor status in shaping donation intentions ↗
by Aimee Riedel, Rory Mulcahy and Katie Mcintyre
24 March 2026
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
Purpose
This study extends marketing knowledge on donation behaviours through Conservation of Resources Theory. It examines how emotional resource management and depletion influence individuals’ likelihood of financially donating and how this varies between donors and non-donors.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model explores the relationship between emotional intelligence and donation intentions, with donor status as a moderator and emotional resource depletion, conceptualised as emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue, as mediators. Survey data from Australian donors (n = 749) and non-donors (n = 301) are analysed using PLS-SEM.
Findings
Results show that emotional intelligence increases donation intentions, particularly among donors. For non-donors, emotional intelligence reduces emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue, leading to higher donation intentions. However, among donors, emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue do not mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and donation.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to the literature by highlighting emotional resource management and depletion and how this differs across donors and non-donors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, particularly regarding differences in emotional management between donors and non-donors.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
What Tourism Forgot to Feel: A Foundational Realignment of Emotion Theory and Measurement in Tourism Marketing ↗
by Rory Mulcahy, Vanessa Hunter, Gavin Northey, Sarah Gardiner and Scott Weaven
23 March 2026
Journal of Travel Research
Emotion is not peripheral, but rather foundational to tourism's appeal. It shapes imagination and transforms destinations into meaningful experiences. Yet, while the tourism industry increasingly leverages emotional storytelling to inspire action, academic research has not kept pace. This systematic literature review examines how emotion has been theorised, measured and modelled. Despite decades of critique, a limited emotional repertoire persists, with generalised constructs, such as satisfaction, continuing to dominate at the expense of tourism-relevant emotions, such as romance, awe, boredom, amusement and envy. Theoretical integration remains weak, and emotion is typically examined in post-travel contexts, overlooking the pre-travel, acquisition stage where industry campaigns concentrate their emotional appeals and investment. In response, the article advances six propositions that reposition emotion as a core construct in tourism marketing. Together with the Tourism Emotion Framework, these contributions offer a practical and theoretical foundation for designing, measuring and mobilising emotion across the travel journey.
Magazine article
Deepfakes are distorting this year’s Victorian election. We found out who’s most susceptible to them ↗
by Lucas Whittaker, Aimee Riedel, Rory Mulcahy, Asha Worsteling and Renee Barnes
2026
The Conversation
The Victorian election is still months away, yet voters are already being shown events which never happened. A machete attack at a petrol station, a woman giving birth on the roadside, floodwater pouring down the steps of parliament: all “deepfakes” generated by artificial intelligence (AI), and all reportedly appearing as paid advertising ahead of voters going to the polls.
Previously described as a potential “sleeper issue” for Australian politics, deepfake political content is rapidly becoming a very real electoral challenge.
We have been studying political deepfakes – and how people respond to them – in the lead up to the Victorian state election. Our preliminary results provide important insights into people’s ability to detect deepfakes and will help voters navigate the increasingly fraught information ecosystem as electoral campaigning ramps up.
Showing the five most recent publications. Explore all Rory Mulcahy's publications in UniSC Research Bank
Grants
1 September 2025 - 30 September 2026
Understanding the online communities of mega-events: sentiment and social listening
University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
Grant no. 0980031040.
Margarietha de Villiers Scheepers, Puneet Vatsa, Karen Sutherland, Rory Mulcahy, David Fleischman and Peter English
19 December 2024 - 19 June 2026
Examining the relationship between regional reputation indicators and business confidence
Moreton Bay Regional Council
Grant no. 0980029232.
Rory Mulcahy, Renee Barnes and Margarietha de Villiers Scheepers
29 September 2025 - 6 March 2026
Australian and International Audience Perceptions of Australian Video Game Content
Screen Australia (Australia, Sydney)
Grant no. 0980031079.
Phoebe Macrossan, Rory Mulcahy, Christian Jones and Jacqueline Burgess
7 May 2025
Organisational perspectives on the performance wellbeing of Australian HP coaches
Australian Institute of Sport
Grant no. 0980030516.
Kathy Fahim, Tania Stevenson, Peter English, Rory Mulcahy and David Fleischman
7 April 2025
USC Tax Clinic: Small business financial resilience
Moreton Bay Regional Council
Grant no. 0980030272.
Peter Baxter, Karen Sutherland, Kirsty Redgen, Leanda Garvie, Rory Mulcahy, Puneet Vatsa and Margarietha de Villiers Scheepers
Showing the five most recent grants. Explore all Rory Mulcahy's grants in UniSC Research Bank
Teaching and supervision
Supervision
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Completed
Consumer Blame Attribution: Exploring Culpability and Severity in Brand Transgressions with Social Media Influencers
Students: Sara Abbasi
Principal Supervisor: Karen Sutherland
Co-Supervisor: Rory Mulcahy
2022 - 2026
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Completed
Mobile TV Drivers and moderators of continued Mobile TV usage: A three-country comparison
Students: Markus Pirro
Principal Supervisor: Rory Mulcahy
Co-Supervisors: Margarietha J de Villiers Scheepers and Rania Shibl
2022 - 2026
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Completed
The changing agency of human and technological actors in digital transformation as a corporate entrepreneurship, adaptive capability
Students: Stuart Cranney
Principal Supervisor: Margarietha J de Villiers Scheepers
Co-Supervisor: Rory Mulcahy
2023 - 2026
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Completed
Appraisal and Coping with Status Demotion in Hierarchical Loyalty Programs
Students: Christian Becke
Principal Supervisor: Rory Mulcahy
Co-Supervisor: David Schmidtke
2024 - 2026
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Current
When "AI-assisted" meets trust and regulation: how generative AI endorsement and UGC-style cues shape consumer trust, when disclosure and human oversight claims help or backfire, and what that means for Australia's emerging AI disclosure frameworks
Students: Research student (name withheld)
Principal Supervisor: David Fleischman
Co-Supervisors: Rory Mulcahy and Craig Cameron
2026
Showing the five most recent supervisions. Explore all Rory Mulcahy's supervisions in UniSC Research Bank
Professional
Professional activity
Editorial
Associate Editor - Journal of Services Marketing ↗
Rory Mulcahy
Editorial
Associate Editor - Journal of Consumer Behaviour ↗
Rory Mulcahy
Editorial
Editorial Board Member - Journal of Service Management ↗
Rory Mulcahy
Editorial
Editorial Board Member - Health Marketing Quarterly ↗
Rory Mulcahy
Editorial
Editorial Board Member - Journal of Social Marketing ↗
Rory Mulcahy
Showing the five most recent activities. Explore all Rory Mulcahy's activities in UniSC Research Bank
Awards and memberships
2024
ANZMAC Best Paper in Track Award
Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (Australia)
2024
Australasian Marketing Journal Best Paper Award
Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (Australia)
2023
Journal of Services Marketing Best Reviewer Award
Emerald Group Publishing (United Kingdom) (United Kingdom, Bingley)
2022
ANZMAC Best Paper in Track Award
Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (Australia)
2020
UniSC Best Performing Researcher Award
University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
2020
Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper (Bob Johnson) Award
Emerald Group Publishing (United Kingdom) (United Kingdom, Bingley)
2018
UniSC Best Early Career Researcher Award
University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
2016
International Social Marketing Conference Best Paper Award
International Social Marketing Association
Education
2015
Doctor of Philosophy
Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations
Queensland University of Technology (Australia, Brisbane) - QUT
Bachelor of Business (Honours)
Queensland University of Technology (Australia, Brisbane) - QUT
Media
Rory Mulcahy's specialist areas of knowledge include:
- Social marketing
- Digital marketing
- Services marketing
News
Deepfakes are distorting this year’s Victorian election. We found out who’s most susceptible to them
28 SepThe Victorian election is still months away, yet voters are already being shown events which never happened.
More short holidays close to home boost wellbeing, UniSC-led study finds
17 SepTravel plays a far more critical role in mental health and wellbeing than previously thought, according to new University of the Sunshine Coast-led research.
Belonging, atmosphere key to attracting event-goers
3 SepVenues that become entwined in the cultural fabric of a community can be as enticing as the events they hold, according to University of the Sunshine Coast research.
For the love of the game – time to stamp Australian-made on our games industry
24 AugAustralian video games are delivering social, cultural and emotional value to players worldwide, but greater visibility and support are needed for the industry to reach its full potential.
New EU laws make AI content labels compulsory – but might just make it harder to spot deepfakes
17 AugAs the world is increasingly flooded with deepfakes, the European Union is taking action to help people distinguish what is real and what is not.