Omar Fares

Dr. Omar H. Fares is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the faculty of business at the University of New Brunswick. Omar earned his Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Science in Management, and PhD in Management from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Omar's main research interest is in the consumer behaviour area, particularly focusing on consumers' interaction with novel digital innovations and the impact of digital innovations on retailers and consumers.

Omar published his research in different impactful journals, such as Computers in Human Behavior, the International Journal of Consumer Studies, the Journal of Financial Services Marketing, and more.

Omar maintains a strong commitment to public engagement and knowledge dissemination. He actively contributes to different media avenues, with works featured in prominent media outlets such as the National Post, Retail Insider, Yahoo News Canada, and many more. He has also made frequent appearances on radio and television channels, including the BBC World Service, CBC News, and CTV, reaching a wide range of audiences globally.

Omar's professional background combines expertise in sales, market research and planning, corporate strategizing, and leadership and training in the banking and retail sectors.

Omar worked for different leading institutions, such as Walmart, CIBC, and Fairstone Bank (formerly Duo Bank).

Select recent publications

Fares, O. H., Hernandez, T., Aversa, J., & Daniel, C. (2025). Determinants of Mall Attractiveness: A Meta-Analytical Review and Future Directions. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 1-34.

Fares, O. H. (2025). “That is scary!”Consumer perceptions and discourses on ChatGPT. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 28(3), 452-473.

Aversa, J. M., Hernandez, T., & Fares, O. H. (2025). The Evolution of Retail Location Decision-Making in Canada. The Professional Geographer, 1-14.

Fares, O. H., Aversa, J., Lee, S. H., & Jacobson, J. (2024). Virtual reality: A review and a new framework for integrated adoption. International Journal of Consumer Studies

Fares, O. H., Aversa, J., & Lee, S. H. (2024). The digital divide: psychographic segmentation in the Canadian banking context. Journal of Marketing Analytics

Gómez, J.M., Fares, O. H. (2024). Remote Work Integrated Learning (RWIL) Field Placement in Retail Management. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice.

Haines, S., Fares, O. H., Mohan, M., & Lee, S. H. (2023). Social media fashion influencer eWOM communications: understanding the trajectory of sustainable fashion conversations on YouTube fashion haul videos. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal

Fares, O. H., Butt, I., & Lee, S. H. M. (2023). Utilization of artificial intelligence in the banking sector: A systematic literature review. Journal of Financial Services Marketing

Gómez, J.M., Fares, O. H., Lee, S. H. M., Mohan, M. (2023). Blockchain in the Food Industry: Integrating Machine Learning in a Systematic Literature Review. Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Baek, E., Haines, S., Fares, O. H., Huang, Z., Hong, Y., & Lee, S. H. M. (2022). Defining digital fashion: Reshaping the field via a systematic review. Computers in Human Behavior

Ng, P., Quach, X., Fares, O. H., Mohan, M., & Lee, S. H. M. (2022). Essential item purchases during COVID-19: A cluster analysis of psychographic traits. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science

Select book chapters

Fares, O. H., Zhu, Q., Lee, S. H. M., & Aversa, J. Consumers' Drivers of Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) Conversational Bot Adoption. In Revolutionizing the Service Industry with OpenAI Models (pp. 114-145). IGI Global.

Select recent presentations

Fares, O.H., Butt, O. (2025) Game On: A Meta-Analysis of Motivational Factors in Business Education. Administrative Science Association of Canada. Waterloo, Canada

Fares, O.H., Lee, SHM. (2025) Who Is Talking To The Bots? The Human Side Of Conversational Bots. American Collegiate of Retailing Association. South Carolina, USA *Best paper (Graduate)

Fares O.H., Lee, SHM. (2024) Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Meta-analysis of Consumption Patterns during COVID-19. Society for Marketing Advances. Tampa, Florida *Best paper award (Consumer Behaviour)

Fares O.H., Lee, SHM., Aversa, J., Gunn, F. (2024) Consumers' View and Discourse on ChatGPT through the Lens of YouTube Comments. International Conference on Information Resources Management. Cairo, Egypt

Fares, O.H., Smith, D., Gunn, F. (2024) Tracing the Development of Retail Scholarship: A Review of Journal Publications 2000-2023. Recent Advances in Retailing and Consumer Science. Canary Islands, Spain

Fares, O.H., Habib, D. (2024). A meta-analysis on the factors driving consumer adoption of the sharing economy. American Collegiate of Retailing Association. Kalamazoo, Michigan

Fares, O.H., Aversa, J., Lee, SHM. (2023) A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of Differences in Consumer Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Role of Culture and Gender. 19th Cross-Cultural Research Conference. Panama City, Panama

Fares, O.H., Aversa, J., Lee, SHM. (2023) Reshaping the future of Digital banking adoption: Meta-analysis. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada. Toronto, Ontario

Fares, O.H., Aversa, J., Lee, SHM., Jacobson, J. (2023). Virtual Reality Integrated Adoption Framework: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Southern Ontario Behavioral Decision Research (SOBDR). Toronto, Ontario

Fares, O.H., Azmy, A., Haines, S., Lee, SHM., Mohan, M., and Le, S., (2023) A Systematic Customer Segmentation Analysis of the Metaverse. 8th International XR-Metaverse Conference. Las Vegas