Professor Mick's areas of research and managerial pragmatics broadly include consumer behavior, the rhetoric of advertising, the paradoxical nature of technological products, relationship theory in consumer marketing, theories and consequences of materialism, consumer (dis)satisfaction, consumer and executive wisdom, quality of life, Buddhist psychology, and mindfulness.

Professor Mick’s research has appeared in Journal of Consumer Research; Journal of Marketing; Journal of Consumer Psychology; Harvard Business Review; International Journal of Research in Marketing; International Journal of Advertising; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Public Policy and Marketing; Journal of Retailing; Journal of Business Research; Research Design Quarterly; Educational and Psychological Measurement; and Semiotica. He has also published numerous book chapters and conference papers and has co-edited four books. His last edited book includes more than 30 chapters by international experts focusing on consumer research and quality of life (Transformative Consumer Research for Personal and Collective Well-Being, 2012, Taylor & Francis).  Professor Mick is a founder of the movement known as transformative consumer research, a basis for the 2012 book, at the Association for Consumer Research.

Among his journal publications, one of Professor Mick’s that focused on meaning and semiotics in consumer behavior was named best article in Journal of Consumer Research for 1986-1988, and his 1999 Journal of Marketing article on consumer satisfaction received the Maynard Award for best article that year. He is also a co-recipient of the 2019 Thomas C. Kinnear award for outstanding article in Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, “Mindfulness: The Transformative Potential for Consumer, Societal, and Environmental Well-Being.” He has also been a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business (2014). He has been invited to conduct research seminars at leading universities and business schools worldwide, including Oxford University, London Business School, Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), Erasmus University (the Netherlands), the Stockholm School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, Columbia University, and the Wharton School (the University of Pennsylvania). He is a prior associate editor and chief editor of Journal of Consumer Research (1997-2003), and currently an associate editor of Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. He also serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology. 

Professor Mick is a past president of the Association for Consumer Research (2005), an elected fellow in the Society for Consumer Psychology, and an elected fellow in the Association for Consumer Research (the 37th in its 50-year history and the highest distinction in the field). 

Professor Mick has previously served on the faculties of Indiana University, the University of Florida, the University of Wisconsin, Copenhagen Business School, Dublin City University, and the University of Sydney. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business’ Marketing Department (2014) and of teaching excellence awards at Indiana University and the University of Florida, and he recently served as an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (August – November, 2023).

In current service to UVA, Professor Mick is a member of the UVA Raven Society and of the Contemplative Council for the Contemplative Sciences Center. He also recently co-chaired at the McIntire School the 2021 Transformative Consumer Research conference, which was attended by more than 200 international researchers focused on consumer behavior and quality of life.