About
A Pacific scholar with a global record
Dr. Shavneet Sharma is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business and Acting Deputy Head of School — Research & Postgraduate Affairs at the University of the South Pacific, where he also serves as Discipline Coordinator. A double gold medalist — recognised as the most outstanding bachelor's graduate in 2015 and the most outstanding PhD graduate of his cohort — he completed his doctorate at USP in 2021.
His research asks why people adopt, trust, and resist what is new: AI chatbots and autonomous shopping systems, the metaverse and online games, drones and digital health. It also looks closely at tourism in the Pacific — emotional solidarity between residents and visitors, destination image, and recovery — and at consumer behaviour with public consequences, from plastic pollution to e-waste.
That work appears in outlets such as the International Journal of Information Management, European Journal of Marketing, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Telematics and Informatics, and Current Issues in Tourism, and has been cited more than 3,400 times. In 2025 he was named in Stanford University's list of the world's top 2% of scientists. Beyond the academy, he is a Certified Fraud Examiner and advised Fiji's Ministry of Trade on the review of the National E-Commerce Strategy.
Acting Deputy Head of School, Research & Postgraduate Affairs
School of Business and Management · USP
Senior Lecturer & Discipline Coordinator
Graduate School of Business · USP
Lecturer
Graduate School of Business · USP
Teaching Assistant → Assistant Lecturer
School of Business and Management · USP
Audit — KPMG & Ernst & Young
Graduate accountant and intern, before academia
PhD · MCom · BCom — University of the South Pacific
Honours
Recognition
Top 2% of scientists worldwide
Named in Stanford University's global list of the world's most-cited scientists.
Vice-Chancellor's Research Award for Overall Excellence
Early Career Researcher · University of the South Pacific.
Gold Medal — most outstanding PhD graduate
Awarded for the most outstanding doctoral thesis and record at USP.
Gold Medal & Vice-Chancellor and President's Prize
Most outstanding graduate, Management & Public Administration — GPA 4.22.
Research
Four questions, one thread: how people decide
Technology & the consumer
Why people adopt, trust, and resist intelligent machines — AI chatbots, autonomous shopping and decision systems, drone delivery, digital health, and the metaverse.
IEEE Trans. Engineering Management · Telematics & Informatics · Int. J. of Information Management
Tourism & emotional solidarity
How residents and visitors come to feel close — or turn against tourism. Destination image, recovery after crisis, sleep tourism, and digital-free travel across the Pacific.
Current Issues in Tourism · J. of Hospitality & Tourism Management · Tourism Management Perspectives
Games & virtual economies
Consumption inside digital worlds: gifting between players, virtual luxury and status, reward-based advertising, and what in-game behaviour predicts in real life.
European J. of Marketing · Psychology & Marketing · Int. J. of Information Management
Sustainability & society
Consumer behaviour with public consequences — plastic pollution, e-waste and digital hoarding, food over-ordering and waste, panic buying, and green work engagement.
Technological Forecasting & Social Change · British Food Journal · Social Responsibility Journal
Publications
The work, in full
Fifty-eight peer-reviewed journal articles, eight book chapters, and eighteen conference papers. Filter by rank, search by topic, or browse year by year.
Editorial & service
Serving the field
Editorial appointments
Reviewing & affiliations
Referee for 20+ journals, including the European Journal of Marketing, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Government Information Quarterly, Internet Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Information, Communication & Society.
American Marketing Association — Academic Member, 2023 —
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners — Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), 2016 —
University leadership — Graduate Research School Advisory Group · SBM Research Committee · MBA Program Advisory Committee · Global Engagement Strategy Committee · Coordinator, SBM Seminar Series.
Teaching & supervision
In the classroom, across the Pacific
Course coordinator for MBA437 Marketing and MBA433 Management Information Systems, delivered across USP's Laucala, Labasa and Lautoka campuses and regionally in Samoa and Vanuatu. Earlier teaching spans total quality management, marketing principles, organisational behaviour, operations, and strategic management — from first-year foundations to the MBA.
Curriculum leadership includes authoring the Graduate School of Business strategic plan (2024), leading the redesign of the full MBA course suite, and running the school's course-alignment and curriculum-mapping exercise (2023).
Holder of the Postgraduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching (2019). Research supervision spans technology adoption, tourism, and public-sector management, with two directed research projects already completed.
Talks & engagement
On stage and in service of practice
“Smart Solutions for Climate Resilience: Harnessing Technology for a Sustainable World”
Global Development Conference 2024 · University of the South Pacific
Track Chair — ICccR & HRM International Conference
International Centre for Cross-Cultural Research & Human Resource Management · University of Jammu
Session Chair — AMA Summer Academic Conference
“Technology and AI: Chatbots, Collaboration, and Changing Consumption” · San Francisco, USA
Session Chair — ANZMAC
Australia & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference · Perth, Australia
Eduniversal World Convention
Business-school ranking conventions — USP, Fiji (2023) and EGADE Business School, Mexico (2024)
National E-Commerce Strategy review
Consultant to Fiji's Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs & Communications
Competitive research funding
US$40,000 — Global Development Conference 2024–25 — alongside seven competitive USP staff research grants (2021–2025) on topics from AI-generated sustainability messaging and e-waste management to digital hoarding, emotional solidarity in tourist–local encounters, and domestic sleep tourism.