Business PhD Spotlight: Natalie Bolen

As a PhD candidate in marketing at the Alberta School of Business, Natalie Bolen studies consumer behaviour with a simple but powerful question in mind: how do the people around us shape the experiences that matter the most? After all, most of life’s best stories begin with, “So I brought the wrong person, and…”

Trained originally in psychology, Bolen approaches marketing as applied human behaviour. “I’m following my curiosity while solving problems that have practical implications for businesses and for everyday well-being,” says Bolen.

Bolen holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master of Science in Marketing from the Edwards School of Business. Between degrees, she worked in programming at a children’s science museum, where she became fascinated by how people experience science, health, and learning together. During her master’s research — supported by a Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR) grant and later featured in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix — she examined women’s experiences in the healthcare system. One finding stood out: what often determined whether an experience felt positive or negative was not the system itself, or even health-related outcomes, but the way people treated one another within it.

That insight continues to guide her doctoral research today. Bolen studies what she calls “companion selection” — how consumers decide who to bring along to meaningful experiences like concerts, sporting events, travel or recreational classes. While common sense suggests we should match the friend to the activity (such as bringing the Oilers fan to the game; the Swiftie to the Eras Tour), her research shows that most people default to a habitual “go-to” companion instead — your best friend or significant other who ends up at brunch, the airport and everything in between. These patterns, though easy and comforting, may limit new connections and experiences. By identifying ways to gently disrupt these habits, Bolen’s work aims to help people expand their social networks, which can lead to enhanced long-term well-being.

She shared her work on who we spend time with and why it matters at the 2024 Alberta School of Business’ PhD student conference. Bolen stated that “so far, we’ve found that habits play a big role, but they don’t always maximize enjoyment.”

Bolen is also developing a typology of activities to better understand how different experiences shape social interaction. This work hopes to, in turn, shape research on activities going forward. She also studies how people react when someone else posts about them online, finding that being visible in others’ social media spaces can make individuals feel both vulnerable and special. This insight has implications for privacy, asymmetric narratives online, and online and offline relationships.

Bolen chose the Alberta School of Business because of the strength of its marketing faculty, its collaborative research culture, and its reputation for excellence. In the classroom (as in her research), she challenges students to see marketing not simply as persuasion techniques and clever ad slogans, but as applied psychology with real consequences for people's lives. Inspired by her advisors, Dr. Jennifer Argo and the late Dr. Gerald Häubl, Bolen is guided by a simple aim: to produce research that makes everyday experiences a little more thoughtful, a little better — and maybe even help us choose better company along the way.