About Dr. Iryna Pentina
Dr. Iryna Pentina is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Toledo, where she researches how consumers form emotional relationships with artificial intelligence. With over 6,300 citations, 55+ peer-reviewed publications, and dual Fulbright awards, she has spent two decades studying how people build trust and relationships in digital environments.
Origins
From linguistics and education in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Dr. Pentina's early work explored how people learn and communicate across cultures. After earning a Ph.D. in Education from Kharkiv State Pedagogical University, she pursued an MBA and Ph.D. in Marketing in the United States, joining the University of Toledo in 2008. Her early publications in the Journal of Retailing and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research established her expertise in digital consumer behavior.
Building the Toolkit
Through the 2010s, Dr. Pentina became one of the most-cited researchers on social media trust and digital consumer relationships. Her 2013 study on trust in Twitter (Computers in Human Behavior, 198 citations) and 2014 work on social media as a news source (246 citations) demonstrated her ability to understand how people form relationships with digital platforms. She received her first Fulbright Scholar grant in 2013 to conduct research in Ukraine.
Convergence
When AI chatbots and conversational agents emerged, Dr. Pentina's two decades of studying digital trust, social media relationships, and cross-cultural consumer behavior uniquely prepared her to ask the right questions. Her 2022 Replika study (323 citations, Altmetric score 156) became one of the most-cited papers on chatbot consumer behavior. Her 2023 systematic review in Psychology & Marketing mapped the entire landscape of consumer-machine relationships β the first review focused specifically on this relational dimension.
Now
Today, Dr. Pentina studies AI companion psychology, chatbot dependence, and the ethical implications of human-machine emotional bonds. She received her second Fulbright (France, 2022), serves on the University of Toledo AI Research Committee, and continues to publish in top-tier journals.
Education
- US
Ph.D. in Marketing (Minor: Sociology)
University of North Texas
- Ukraine
Ph.D. in Education
Kharkiv State Pedagogical University
- US
MBA in Business Administration
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- Ukraine
BA/MA (Honors) in English Linguistics
Kharkiv State University