A Bibliometric Review of the Special Issues of Psychology & Marketing: 1984-2020

Psychology & Marketing (P&M), an internationally reputed journal, publishes original, peer-reviewed, empirical research on the application of psychological theories and techniques to marketing. The aim of this essay is to provide a bibliometric overview of the leading trends in the special issues of P&M over its history (1984–2020). Using bibliometric techniques, we analyze the impact of the special issues via their most cited papers, most productive authors, affiliated institutions and countries, as well as the best guest editors who contributed to the selection of the most cited special issue articles. Using network analysis VOSviewer software, we also group the special issues into four clusters to identify common themes. Further, we develop graphical visualization of coauthorships, bibliographic coupling, and cocitations. Results show that the most productive contributors are from American institutions and that P&M remains well connected to other leading journals in the marketing and psychology discipline, such as the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research.     

Anti-consumption beyond boundaries: From niche topic to global phenomena

The first anti-consumption special issue was published by Psychology & Marketing in 2002. More than a decade later, in 2018, the International Center for Anti-consumption Research held its seventh Symposium at the University of Almeria, Spain. This gathering was accompanied by an open call-for-papers in Psychology & Marketing to create a much-anticipated follow-up special issue. Many papers were received for both the symposium and official call. This editorial introduces the final 10 papers that comprise the Psychology & Marketing 2020 special issue on anti-consumption. While the area of anti-consumption has mushroomed into a vast array of work since 2002, this editorial provides four major themes that help to frame the contributions of the 10 new papers as well as set the scene for future work in anti-consumption. The four themes are: Conceptual clarity and refinement; ideological perspectives; environmental and sustainability focus; and novel outlooks on anti-consumption.     

Ethical myopia: The case of “framing” by framing

The behavioural decision-theoretic concepts of mental accounting, framing and transaction utility have now been employed in marketing models and techniques. To date, however, there has not been any discussion of the ethical issues surrounding these significant developments. In this paper, an ethical evaluation is structured around three themes: (i) utilitarian justification (ii) the strategic exploitation of cognitive habits, and (iii) the claim of scientific status for the techniques. Some recommendations are made for ethical practices. Alan E. Singer is a senior lecturer in Strategic Management at the Department of Management, University of Canterbury. He has previously authored papers in the Journal of Business Ethics and in several other journals including Decision Sciences, Accountancy, International Journal of Forecasting and International Journal of Research in Marketing. Steven Lysonski is an Associate Professor at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a former member of the marketing faculty at the University of Canterbury. He has published widely in such journals as the Journal of Marketing, The European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Advertising and the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Ming Singer is a senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Canterbury. Her research interests lie in the area of organisational and personnel psychology, particularly organisational justice. She has published numerous research articles including papers in Personnel Psychology, The British Journal of Psychology and the International Journal of Psychology.David Hayes is currently an East-West Center graduate student at the University of Hawaii, studying energy resources through the Geography Department. He is also a member of the Energy Program of the Resource Systems Institute, East-West Center. He has an Engineering and Commerce degree from Canterbury University.     

Personal and professional values underlying the ethical judgments of marketers

This study explores the relative influences of two levels of value orientations, personal values and professional values, underlying the ethical judgments of marketing practitioners. The data were obtained from a mail survey of the American Marketing Association's professional members. The results generally indicate that a marketer's ethical judgments can be partially explained by his/her personal and professional values.Anusorn Singhapakdi is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Old Dominion University. His papers focusing on various topics in marketing ethics and corporate/consumer social responsibility have been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, as well as other journals and proceedings.Scott J. Vitell is Associate Professor and holder of the Michael S. Starnes Lectureship in Marketing and Business Ethics at the University of Mississippi. His work has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, andResearch in Marketing as well as various other journals and proceedings.     

Relative Presence of Business-to-Business Research in the Marketing Literature

Relative to its contribution to the U.S. and other developed countries economies, industrial and business-to-business marketing have been underrepresented in the marketing literature. To determine the extent of this underrepresentation, the authors have evaluated thirty-one marketing journals beginning with the initial publication of the Journal of Marketing in 1936. Without the introduction of journals whose specific focus is industrial marketing, the underrepresentation would have been even more severe than it is currently. Six general research areas were also looked at to determine what trends in industrial marketing research have existed. These areas are: buyer behavior, sales management, marketing relationships, innovation and new product development, marketing strategy, and channels of distribution.     

Introduction to the special issue of the 3rd International Colloquium on design,branding and marketing

Following the inaugural 1st International Colloquium on Global Design and Marketing that took place in 2011, the organisers wrote that ‘Notwithstanding the centrality of design to the practical world of marketing, …empirical studies of design issues are rare in marketing journals’ (Melewar, Dennis and Kent, 2014, p2241 citing (e.g.) Bloch, 2011; and Luchs & Swan, 2011). Since then, iterations of the Colloquium with associated journal special issues and books have been addressing this issue and developing the new sub-discipline of design | branding | marketing. This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services contains a set of four articles that were selected after several rounds of evaluations and were presented during the 3rd International Colloquium on Design, Branding and Marketing. The symposium was hosted by Bournemouth University from 5 to 6 April 2017. The articles cover topics that deal with retail design, retail strategy, and adoption of innovation and retail education, while contributing to the theoretical perspectives of design, branding and marketing.     

JBBM at 21: Variety of Theories,Methods, and Countries While Giving Further Voice to Emerging Markets Within Africa

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The articles published in the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing (JBBM) are reviewed for three themes: the varieties of theories used and tested, the methodologies of choice, and most pertinent to this article, the countries from which the data were obtained in the empirical studies.

Methodology/approach: Literature review of the JBBM issues, all inclusive.

Findings: The JBBM has had papers involving surveys 74%; case studies 11%; interviews 6%, experiments 4%, and networks 3%. There is a tremendous breadth of country representation, more than most other marketing journals.

Research implications: The authors encourage more frequent investigations into emerging markets, using African countries as exemplars.

Practical implications: To begin to understand marketing phenomena in the variety of African countries, the authors encourage researchers to establish partnerships, with African scholars and global multinationals whose marketing managers may have interest in understanding these markets and who may have data to share.

Contribution of the paper: Although a seemingly infinite number of marketing questions still exist even in well-developed markets, and scholars have begun to recognize opportunities in developing markets, future research will prove useful into emerging and nascent markets.     

Applying Ethical Concepts to the Study of “Green” Consumer Behavior: An Analysis of Chinese Consumers’ Intentions to Bring their Own Shopping Bags

Drawing on the general ethics and social psychology literature, this study presents a model to delineate the major factors likely to affect consumers’ intentions to bring their own shopping bags when visiting a supermarket (called “bring your own bags” or “BYOB” intention). The model is empirically validated using a survey of 250 Chinese consumers. Overall, the findings support the hypothesized direct influence of teleological evaluation and habit on BYOB intention, as well as that of deontological evaluation and teleological evaluation on ethical judgment about the BYOB practice. Teleological evaluation exerts a much stronger influence on ethical judgment than does deontological evaluation. In addition, the findings reveal that consumers who perceive the BYOB practice to be more important are more inclined to rely on their ethical judgment to derive their BYOB intention. Academically, these findings provide some encouraging evidence for the application of general ethics theories to explain green consumption-related practices. Practically, the findings also suggest that a utilitarian approach (i.e., emphasizing the consequences of BYOB) may represent an effective means for the Chinese government to promote BYOB practice among consumers. Dr. Ricky Y. K. Chan is associate professor of the Department of Management and Marketing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests lie in green marketing and behavioral aspects of Chinese consumers. He has contributed to such journals as Business Horizons, European Journal of Marketing, International Business Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Management Studies and Journal of Services Marketing. Dr. Y. H. Wong is associate professor of the Department of Management and Marketing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is the author of a book, Guanxi: Relationship Marketing in a Chinese Context (co-authored with Dr. T. K. P. Leung). His research has been published in journals, including Industrial Marketing Management, International Business Review, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal of International Consumer Marketing and Journal of Services Marketing. Dr. T. K. P. Leung is associate professor of the Department of Management and Marketing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research areas include business to business marketing, Chinese cultures and their implications to Sino-foreign negotiation. He has published articles in such journals as European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Consumer Marketing and Marketing Intelligence and Planning. He also co-authored a research book with Dr. Y. H. Wong titled Guanxi: Relationship marketing in a Chinese context published by the Haworth Press.     

Ethnography for marketers: A guide to consumer immersion

Fuat F?rat has for a long time maintained a radical, outside and critical voice within marketing and consumption theory. He was one of the editors of the landmark book Radical and Philosophical Theory in Marketing, published in 1987, which sought to develop alternative modes of theorizing and conceptualizing both marketing practice and the consuming subject. The continuation of that wider project eventually lead to the foundation of Consumption Markets &; Culture, the journal for which Fuat served as Editor-in-Chief for its initial 10 years of existence. Fuat also co-authored the book Consuming People (1998) in collaboration with Nikhilesh Dholakia. By that stage, in particular following his seminal article on the re-enchantment of consumption, written with Alladi Venkatesh, Fuat had helped to pioneer the study of postmodernism within consumer culture. In this interview, Fuat F?rat discusses his research projects including consumption patterns, postmodernity, theatre, new literacy and also presents more general observations.     

The Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing at 21 and My Perspective on the Field of B to B Marketing

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The author shares his thoughts on the progression of the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing and the field of business-to-business (B to B) marketing over the last 21 years. The author discusses the field of B to B marketing research and examines the gaps that exist between theory and practice and in the quality of papers among the top-tier marketing journals and the three journals that are dedicated to B to B marketing research.

Methodology[#x0002F]approach: Because the article represents both the author[#x02019]s perspective on the current state of B to B research and his views on how well the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing has contributed to and influenced the field, the approach taken is primarily conceptual. Also, the approach allowed the author to opine as to the future direction of the field.

Findings: Although much progress has been made in improving the quality and relevance of B to B research, there still exists a relative gap in the number of submitted papers, the quality of these papers, and the impact, with some exceptions, that B to B scholars have on marketing theory and practice. Much of the gap can be attributed to the lack of adequate doctoral training. The gap is more a relative comparison to those who would follow a business-to-consumer (B to C) research path.

Research implications: Doctoral training for those interested in B to B marketing need to explore other fields of study (e.g., political science, sociology) as well as to be better equipped in more rigorous methods by which to examine the phenomenon that they select to study. The quality of the research in the domain referred to as B to B marketing has improved over the years. The belief that it is more difficult to conduct B to B research than it might be in the B to C world is no longer an excuse for a poorly conceived and executed study. The journal gives a voice to those who wish to study and conduct research in B to B marketing.

Practical implications: The implications for practice are immediate and would result in an increase in the dialogue between academics and practicing managers. Given the importance of B to B marketing to the world[#x02019]s economy, B to B scholars ought to pursue problems that are relevant to the world of practice.

Originality[#x0002F]value[#x0002F]contribution: In light of the fact that this is the 21^st anniversary of the journal, I was asked by Editor-in-Chief David Lichtenthal to present my

opinions as to the state of both the journal and the state of the field. I believe that the article builds on the work of others and hopefully sets a direction for future B to B scholars.     

Relevant for Whom? An Essay to Celebrate JBBM’s 21st Anniversary,in Favor of Paying Greater Attention to the Needs of Students and Practitioners and Less to the Interests of Peers

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To argue that useful research into business-to-business marketing must have practical relevance and that this may call for alternative methodologies to the positivistic “scientific” model favored by leading marketing journals; to suggest that citation by academic peers as measured by impact factors is only one of several criteria relevant to the assessment of academic papers; and to propose a less formulaic presentation of research to make it more accessible to students and practitioners.

Methodology/approach: Informed comment as a participant observer based on extensive experience as an academic administrator (Head of Department, Dean and Deputy Principal), Past Chairman of the Scottish Business Education Council, Past President of the Academy of Marketing, Past Chairman and Trustee Chartered Institute of Marketing, Founding Editor of 3 academic marketing journals and author of more than 50 books and 150 articles and papers.

Findings: Academic research in marketing has become distorted as a result of an excessive emphasis upon journal impact factors reported in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which relate to only a limited selection of published research into the subject of marketing. Not only that, but the research reported largely conforms to a positivistic model that is less appropriate for social and behavioral sciences than for the pure sciences that it seeks to imitate. Nonetheless, publication in journals included in the SSCI counts for more in decisions for academic appointment and preferment than do other publications that may be demonstrated to have equal or greater impact on the audiences for which they are intended. It is argued that this imbalance should be redressed with greater attention given to instrumental knowledge and its impact on practice.

Research implications: The author’s purpose is not to disparage or call into question the quality of academic research published in the top journals, rather it is to draw attention to the distinction proposed by Shankar that recognizes the existence of an external audience and the distinction between instrumental and reflexive knowledge.

Practical implications: It is recommended that academic peer review be continued for academic papers, which would be identified as such, but that other kinds of contribution such as thought pieces, case studies, commentaries, reports, and so on be published subject to appropriate editorial review.

Originality/value/contribution: A point of view with growing support.     

Effect of Ethical Climate on Turnover Intention: Linking Attitudinal- and Stress Theory

Attitudinal- and stress theory are used to investigate the effect of ethical climate on job outcomes. Responses from 208 service employees who work for a country health department were used to test a structural model that examines the process through which ethical climate (EC) affects turnover intention (TI). This study shows that the EC–TI relationship is fully mediated by role stress (RC), interpersonal conflict (IC), emotional exhaustion (EE), trust in supervisor (TS), and job satisfaction (JS). Results show that EC reduces (RS) and increases TS. Lower stress levels result in lower EE, higher JS, and lower TI. Also, supervisor trust (TS) reduces IC and EE. The structural model predicts 53.9% of the variance of TI. Jay Prakash Mulki is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. He has extensively published in the sales management area. His articles have been published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Business Research, and Psychology and Marketing. Jorge Fernando Jaramillo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include marketing strategy and sales force management. Dr. Jaramillo’s research has appeared in multiple journals including the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Marketing Education. William B. Locander is the founding Director of the Davis Leadership Center at Jacksonville University. He is a former President of the American Marketing Association and has served as an examiner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. Dr. Locander has published in several business journals including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.     

A Study on Ethically Problematic Selling Methods in China with a Broaden Concept of Gray-marketing

This paper expands the definition of gray-marketing to include some ethically problematic marketing activities and techniques used in personal selling in China. Based on this, a conceptual model of gray-marketing for a particular type of selling in which both the sellers and the buyers exhibit problematic ethics in an exchange and the associated hypotheses are developed and tested. The findings show that, first, the respondents have different ethical evaluations of different marketing practices used in personal selling such as giving and accepting gifts, buying and accepting meals, and offering and accepting kickbacks. Some of these practices may not be considered unethical. Second, in terms of ethical assessment, gray-marketing practiced by buying agents is more unacceptable than when practiced by sales agents. Third, a person’s ethical evaluation of gray-marketing behavior, empathy for gray-marketing, and belief that gray-marketing has serious consequences, significantly affects his inclination to use gray-marketing. This paper concludes with a discussion of some possible applications of our research findings. Both authors contributed equally to this work. Guijun Zhuang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is a professor of marketing in the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, the People’s Republic of China. His current research interests include marketing channel behaviors, relationship marketing, and consumer choice. He has published in European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, and many leading marketing and management journals in China. Alex S.L. Tsang (Ph.D., City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor at the Department of Marketing, Hong Kong Baptist University. His research currently focuses on cross-cultural consumer behavior, marketing in China, and marketing communication. He has published in Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, and Business Horizons, among others.     

The appropriateness of fear appeal use for health care marketing to the elderly: Is it OK to scare granny?

In this paper we explore the intersection of three topics which have historically been singled out for ethical consideration in advertising and marketing: the use of fear appeals, marketing to the elderly, and the marketing of health care services and products. Issues relevant to using fear appeals in promoting health care issues to the elderly are explored with a consumer psychologist's theoretical view of fear appeals. Next the assumption of the elderly market's vulnerability and indicants of social or psychological function which would differentiate the elderly recipients of marketing communications are examined both in terms of function and ethical concerns.Overall, our review of the theoretical underpinnings of fear-based communication and the psychological characteristics does not indicate that the elderly of today are particularlyvulnerable. While the elderly are probably somewhat more dogmatic than younger consumers and perhaps view outcomes from the perspective of their age, there are no indications that their psychological responses to fear-based appeals differ significantly from those of younger consumers.Suzeanne Benet is on the faculty at Grand Valley State University. She received a Ph.D. in Business Administration. She has also been on the faculty at DePaul University in Chicago. Dr. Benet's research has primarily focused on marketing to the elderly and related public policy concerns.Robert E. Pitts is Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing and the Director of Kellstadt Center for Marketing Analysis and Planning at DePaul University. He served as a member of the faculty of Jacksonville State University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Mississippi. Dr. Pitts' research has appeared in numerous publications including theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Bank Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Social Marketing Education, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Social Psychology, Southern Economic Review, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Behavioral Economics, The Mid-South Journal of Economics, Psychology and Marketing, Marketing and Media Decisions andJournal of Insurance Issues and Practices. Dr. Pitts is the editor ofPersonal Values and Consumer Psychology (Lexington Publishers) and co-author ofBank Marketing, A Guide to Strategic Planning, andEffective Bank Marketing Issues, Techniques and Application. Over the past decade, Dr. Pitts has served as a consultant to such firms as General Motors Corporation, Congolium Corp-Kinder Division, National Standard Steel Corp., WalMart Corp. Training Programs, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce and Council of State Chambers of Commerce.Michael S. LaTour is Associate Professor of Marketing at Auburn University. Dr. LaTour graduated with honors in 1986 in Business Administration. Dr. LaTour's research interests focus upon arousal responses to advertising and associated ethical issues. He has published in a variety of scholarly journals includingThe Journal of Business Ethics, The Journal of Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, The Journal of Health Care Marketing, andThe Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.Second and third authors contributed equally to this article.     

Empirical regularity in academic research productivity patterns in marketing

In any academic discipline, published articles in their respective journals represent “production units” of scientific knowledge, and bibliometric distributions reflect the patterns in this productivity across authors or “producers”. We use a comprehensive data set from 11 leading marketing journals to examine whether there is any empirical regularity in the patterns of research productivity in the marketing literature. Our results present strong evidence that there is indeed a distinct empirical regularity. It is the so-called generalized Lotka's Law of patterns in scientific productivity: the number of authors publishing n papers is approximately 1/n^c of those publishing one paper. We find the empirically estimated value of the exponent c to be 2.05 for the overall bibliometric data across the leading marketing journals. For individual journals, the estimated values of c range from 2.15 to 2.83, with lower values indicating higher authorship concentration levels. We also find that variations in authorship concentration levels across journals and over time are driven by a journal's maturity, its topical focus, its attractiveness as a publication outlet, the characteristics of its review process, and the extent of author collaboration present in the journal. We discuss the general implications of our findings.     

Intelligence Vs. Wisdom: The Love of Money, Machiavellianism, and Unethical Behavior across College Major and Gender

This research investigates the efficacy of business ethics intervention, tests a theoretical model that the love of money is directly or indirectly related to propensity to engage in unethical behavior (PUB), and treats college major (business vs. psychology) and gender (male vs. female) as moderators in multi-group analyses. Results suggested that business students who received business ethics intervention significantly changed their conceptions of unethical behavior and reduced their propensity to engage in theft; while psychology students without intervention had no such changes. Therefore, ethics training had some impacts on business students’ learning and education (intelligence). For our theoretical model, results of the whole sample (N = 298) revealed that Machiavellianism (measured at Time 1) was a mediator of the relationship between the love of money (measured at Time 1) and unethical behavior (measured at Time 2) (the Love of Money → Machiavellianism → Unethical Behavior). Further, this mediating effect existed for business students (n = 198) but not for psychology students (n = 100), for male students (n = 165) but not for female students (n = 133), and for male business students (n = 128) but not for female business students (n = 70). Moreover, when examined alone, the direct effect (the Love of Money → Unethical Behavior) existed for business students but not for psychology students. We concluded that a short business ethics intervention may have no impact on the issue of virtue (wisdom). Thomas Li-Ping Tang (Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University) is a Full Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing, Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). He has taught Industrial and Organizational Psychology at National Taiwan University and at MTSU. Professor Tang teaches, has taught, MBA/EMBA courses in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), France (Nantes), and Spain (Valencia). He serves, has served, on 6 editorial review boards and reviews papers for 28 journals. His research interests focus upon compensation, the Love of Money, business ethics, pay satisfaction, and cross-cultural issues. He has published more than 100 journal articles in top behavior sciences and management journals (e.g., Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Management Research, Management and Organization Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Business Ethics.) and presented more than 190 papers in professional conferences and invited seminars. He was the winner of two Outstanding Research Awards (1991,1999) and Distinguished International Service Award (1999) at Middle Tennessee State University. He also received the Best Reviewer Awards from the International Management Division of the Academy of Management in Seattle, WA (2003) and in Philadelphia, PA (2007). Yuh-Jia Chen (Ph.D., Columbia University) is an Associate Professor of Business Statistics in the Rinker of School of Business at Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL 33416. He has taught statistics at Middle Tennessee State University and Teachers College, Columbia University. His research interests lie in money attitude, choice and decision-making, risk-taking behavior, and compensation. His publications have appeared in behavior sciences and management journals (e.g., Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Journal of Business and Psychology, and Journal of Business Ethics).     

Selling and sales management

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm), almost 14 million Americans are employed in sales or sales-related jobs. Many organizations derive their entire revenue stream from the efforts of salespeople. As part of the domain of marketing, the academic study of selling and sales management is relatively young. Consider that the Journal of Marketing has been published for 70 years, while the Journal of Marketing Research has been in publication for 43 years (www.marketingpower.com). For its part, the specialized journal in selling and sales management, The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, has been published for just 26 years. Therefore, while there are a great many widely-used and studied models in the field, there is still much to be learned about this topic. As highlighted in this article, the research published in 2006 indicates the range of interesting and relevant work being conducted in the area.