Chris Nelson
Associate Professor of Marketing
Department: Marketing & International Business
Email: cnelson34@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-6105
Brief Biography
Christopher A. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. He holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from West Virginia University. Chris's research focuses on relational selling dynamics and sales technology, including how AI sales agents are reshaping B2B buyer relationships. His work has been published in leading marketing and sales journals, including Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, European Journal of Marketing, and Journal of International Marketing. Before entering academia, Chris began his career in B2B sales and branch management and later served as a project director at Maritz Research.
Chris builds his teaching on a foundation of scholarship and practitioner experience. He teaches professional selling, advanced selling, customer relationship management, and marketing research, and he coaches Â鶹ÊÓƵ's sales competition teams, including a 2026 team that placed third nationally at the National Technology Sales Competition. His research, teaching, and professional experience complement Â鶹ÊÓƵ's strength as a top university in professional sales education.
Outside of work, Chris trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is an active member of Crosslink Church Mebane. He lives in Graham, North Carolina, with his wife and four children.
News & Notes
Education
Master of Marketing Research, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
B.S., Marketing, Gardner-Webb University
Courses Taught
MKT 3110: Principles of Marketing
MKT 3180: Professional Selling
MKT 4140: Marketing Research
MKT 4190: Sales Management
MKT 4200: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Leadership Positions
Publications
Nelson, Christopher A., Lana Waschka, and Gary Hunter (2026) “Inbound Sales Management: Exploring The Substitutability of Autonomous AI Sales Agents in Advancing B2B Relationships” Industrial Marketing Management
Cui, Annie, Christopher A. Nelson, Xinchun Wang, and Shuili Du (2025) "The Effect of Renqing Repair on Trust Recovery: A Cross-culture Study,” Journal of International Marketing
Nelson, Christopher A. and James R. Brown (2024) “Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Adaptive Use of Present Focused and Future Focused Behavior on Trust Recovery,” Industrial Marketing Management
Nelson, Christopher A., Annie Peng Cui, and Xinchun Wang (2024) “More is better but in what direction? The effects of relationship marketing investment breadth and depth on customer gratitude,” Industrial Marketing Management
Bauer, Carlos, John M. Galvan, Tyler Hancock, Gary K. Hunter, Christopher A. Nelson, Jennifer Riley, and Emily Tanner (2024) “Integration of technology with the sales-service ecosystem: The emergent Sales Techno-Ecosystem,” European Journal of Marketing
Nelson, Christopher A., Michael Walsh, and Annie Peng Cui (2023), “Trust Repair After a Sales Manager Error,” Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management
Tomlinson, Edward, Christopher A. Nelson, and Luke Langlinais (2021), “Cognitive Processes in Trust Repair,” International Journal of Conflict Management.
Nelson, Christopher A., Annie Peng Cui, and Michael F. Walsh (2021), "Breach of Trust and Repair: The Impact of Salesperson Words and Actions on Buyer Trust," Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal.
Nelson, Christopher A. and Michael F. Walsh (2021) “The Role of Salesperson Implicit Mindset in Organizational Commitment,” Journal of Selling
Nelson, Christopher A., Michael F. Walsh, and Annie Peng Cui (2020), “The Role of Analytical CRM on Salesperson Use of Competitive Intelligence,” Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing.
Cui, Annie, Christopher A. Nelson, and Alexis Yim (2020), "Global Luxury Brands: Researching Cross Cultural Differences in Motivations to Consume" in Handbook of Cross-Cultural Marketing Research, Edward Elgar Publishing
Presentations
Nelson, Christopher A. (March 2026), “Preparing BDR-Ready Graduates: an AI-Enabled Teaching Application,” National Conference in Sales Management, Norfolk, Virginia
Nelson, Christopher A. (March 2026), “When Does Social Selling Build Trust? The Role of Salesperson Likability,” B2B Professional Sales Symposium, Atlanta, GA
Nelson, Christopher A. and Laurent Atchley (October 2025), “When Digital Engagement Builds Trust: Exploring Buyer Responses to Salesperson Social Media Use,” Atlantic Marketing Association Conference, Portland, Maine
Nelson, Christopher A., Gary Hunter, and Lana Waschka (October 2024) “Inbound Sales Management: Exploring the Substitutability of Autonomous AI Sales Agents in Advancing B2B Relationships” [Runner Up for Best Paper Award] The effects of relationship marketing investment breadth and depth on customer gratitude, 1st Industrial Marketing Management South American Summit, Brazil
Nelson, Christopher A. (June 2024), AI-Enabled Role Play Feedback and Practice, Sales Educators Academy
Nelson, Christopher A. and Timothy Norvell (May 2024), Proactive Salesperson Relationship Recovery, Academy of Marketing Science, Florida
Peng, Annie Cui, Christopher A. Nelson, and Xinchun Wang (February 2023), “A Cross-Cultural Examination of Trust Recovery: A Salesperson’s Use of Renqing Repair Strategy” AMA Winter Educators’ Conference, Nashville, TN
Nelson, Christopher A., Annie Peng Cui, and Xinchun Wang (January 2023), The effects of relationship marketing investment breadth and depth on customer gratitude, 6th Industrial Marketing Management Summit, Virtual.
Nelson, Christopher A., Michael Walsh, and Annie Peng Cui (February 2022), Trust Repair After A Sales Manager Error, AMA Winter Educators’ Conference, Las Vegas, NV
Nelson, Christopher A., Michael Walsh, and Annie Peng Cui (November 2020), “It Will Not Happen Again.” Repairing Trust after a Sales Manager Error,” Society for Marketing Advances, Virtual
Nelson, Christopher A. and James Brown (2019), “Trust Repair in the Buyer-Seller Relationship,” National Conference in Sales Management, Jacksonville, FL
Tomlinson, Edward, Christopher A. Nelson, and Luke Langlinais (2019), “Cognitive Processes in Trust Repair,” FINT Conference, St. Gallen, Switzerland
McFarland, Richard G., and Christopher A. Nelson (2016), “Trust Recovery in Buyer-Seller Relationships,” EMAC, Oslo, Norway
McFarland, Richard G., and Christopher A. Nelson (2015), “Exploring the Neural Basis of Trust Formation in Marketing,” AMA Winter Educators’ Conference, San Antonio, TX
Nelson, Christopher A. (2015), “The Role of Trust and Information Value on Salesperson Competitive Intelligence” National Conference in Sales Management [Best Doctoral Student Paper], Houston, TX
Nelson, Christopher A. (2015), “Examining the Effectiveness of a Trust Repair Strategy following a Breach of Trust” National Conference in Sales Management, Houston, TX
Nelson, Christopher A., and Richard G. McFarland (2015), “Developing a Model of Trust Repair and Breach of Trust in the Buyer-Seller Dyad” Sales Force Productivity Conference, Atlanta, GA
Awards
2026-2027, FIELDS (Faculty Initiative for Evolving Learning at Departmental Scale) Fellow
2025-2027, Community-Based Course Development Grant
2026, Faculty Research & Development Summer Fellowship
2026, LSB AI Faculty Fellow
2025, Dean's Research Award
2024, IMM Summit Runner-Up for Best Paper Award
2023-2025, Love Faculty Excellence Fellowship
2023, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning Grant
2022, Sales Researchers’ Collaboration Consortium (SRCC) Fellow
2021, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Sustainability Faculty Scholar
2018, First Runner Up for the 2018 AMA Sales SIG Doctoral Dissertation Award
2018, Journal of Consumer Research Author Development Workshop (one of fifteen accepted proposals worldwide)
2015, National Conference in Sales Management Doctoral Fellow
2015, National Conference in Sales Management Best Doctoral Student Paper Award
2015, Full Merit Based Scholarship to the ISBM Seminar Series Class on Personal Selling