A journey from working in the public sector to publishing in A* Journal Dr. Satinder Kumar | Punjabi University

Prof. Satinder Kumar, Assistant Professor, Marketing, School of Management, Punjabi University

Dr. Satinder Kumar is best known for his work on Marketing and Digital Marketing. An Alumnus of Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr. Satinder Kumar is a Management post-graduate, specializes in Marketing and graduate in commerce. He has qualified two times UGC-NET and done a Doctoral degree in the area of “Ethical Issues in E-Marketing” from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Dr. Kumar has remained up-to-date with trends in his field and specializes in Digital Marketing.  He has been an Assistant Professor in the area of Marketing at the School of Management Studies (SMS) since 2009, prior to joining SMS, he was APC (General) in Education Department where he serves around five years. He has published more than 40 articles/research papers in a wide range of leading management and psychology journals including Journal of Tourism Management (ABDC classified, A* category), Heliyon, IIMS, Abhigyan (FORE School of Management), Paradigm (IMT Ghaziabad), IIT and many more renowned journals. Got Best Paper Award in IIM Indore, NASMEI Summer Marketing Conference 2019. He has participated in various FDPs and workshops & presented papers at National and International conferences/Seminars including IIM Indore, IIM Tiruchirappalli, IIM Kashipur, IIT Delhi, AGBA at Indonesia, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Hyderabad) and many more renowned Institutes. He is on Panel of Inderscience, Scopus and ABDC indexed journals as Reviewer and Research Advisor.

Thank you so much, Prof. Satinder, for this interview.

Inkpothub: Tell us about your research journey.

Prof. Satinder: After completing a Master in Management as Marketing specialization (2003), I started my career with the Public sector (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) where I served for four & a half years. During these days something was missing in my life as I was not happy with the Job. One day my mother told me to leave this job and try for something in which I have the interest. 2008 was the luckiest year of my life as after qualifying the NET (UGC) I enrolled for the doctoral degree. This was the year when I have started my research journey. In 2009 I joined the School of Management Studies (SMS) as regular faculty of marketing. My main reason for pursuing a Ph.D. was the perfect match of my interest in the research and it was my mother’s dream to see me somewhere in the academic sector as a researcher. I had to face a number of problems during research but I tried to overcome by finding opportunities in the problems as I always believe in completing what I have started. During the struggle life, I have attended a number of short courses that could enhance my skills and broaden my horizons. A lot of rejections and learning has been there in my research journey and be ready with all these things for my future.

Inkpothub: Tell us about your research paper published “Journal of Tourism Management (ABDC classified, A* category)”.

Prof. Satinder: A Paper in high ranking Journal I suppose has been a dream for everyone and my dream become true when I got the acceptance from “Journal of Tourism Management (ABDC classified, A* category)”. Being a part of State public University it was very difficult for us to develop the research paper for such kind of journal as the resources are limited but we tried our best. Today we Proud, but it really took a lot of time, with no support.

This study aims at developing and testing comprehensive set of indicators that would help to conduct meaningful assessment of a progress towards sustainable tourism development. Few brief highlights from paper:

• Striving for a sustainability of tourism industry is working for sustainable community development.
• Tourism industry cannot be sustainable without monitoring and evaluating its progress.
• Broad-based participation of stakeholders during the development of sustainability indicators is highly demanding.
• It is hardly possible to know where we are and where we are going without having carefully developed and validated sustainability indicators.
• End users of sustainability study should be consulted during the development and validation of sustainability indicators.

Inkpothub: How you handle rejections or reviewer’s comments?

Prof. Satinder: I have always taken rejections and reviewer’s comments in a positive way and tried to learn something new to make the research work better improvement.

Recently I got rejection along with some negative comments from “Product and Brand Management Journal” it’s A Category Journal. Instead of feeling insulted I will improve the paper and will send again in another good journal.

Inkpothub:  What is your experience as a reviewer of Journals and research advisor?  

Prof. Satinder: I have worked as a reviewer for different journals and learned a lot. Becoming a reviewer is mainly about the passion to contribute to improving the quality of research output. Reviewing manuscripts for an academic journal represents a commitment of time and energy, limited resources in a physician’s busy life. Perhaps the most important benefit of being a reviewer is the ability to have a contribution to literature.

Inkpothub: Writing research papers is a big and long task. It is time-consuming. What keeps you motivated?

Prof. Satinder: Writing a research paper has always been motivational for me. Research papers require students and academics to locate information about a topic, take a stand on that topic, and provide support for that position in an organized report. Every step of the research and writing process takes time, and it is up to us to set aside the time we will need to complete each step of the task. I have been significantly motivated as I have a genuine desire to learn more about the topic.