Trends in the use of statistics in major advertising journals over four decades

The use of statistical techniques in data-based articles appearing in the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research and Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising was analysed over four decade intervals (i.e., 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s) and by journal. Among the trends, the study found: (1) nearly seven of every 10 journal articles reported statistical analyses (68.8% or 541 of 786); (2) the trend for statistically based articles was remarkably consistent over the time intervals and held true for the different advertising journals with one exception; (3) the use of different statistical techniques changed over time, with statistical techniques becoming more diverse and sophisticated through the years, but more so in some advertising journals than in others; (4) statistics were correctly applied in the majority of the research reports relative to ‘study purpose’; (5) the use of different statistical techniques varied by method of data collection generally and within articles appearing in three of the four journals; and (6) the presence or absence of hypotheses and/or research questions in the advertising studies was differentially associated with the application of different statistics. The inquiry serves to move advertising research forward in two ways: first, it documents how statistical analyses have changed over time and, second, it provides insight into where the field might be headed regarding the use of statistical techniques.     

Knowledge Flows Between Advertising and Other Disciplines: A Social Exchange Perspective

Knowledge flows between advertising and other academic disciplines are examined to identify the structure of scientific knowledge, the extent of social exchange and the scientific status of the field. Bibliometric analysis is used to identify who is citing our research and who we cited. Cocitation patterns for the leading advertising journals (Journal of Advertising [JA], Journal of Advertising Research [JAR], International Journal of Advertising [IJA], Journal of Interactive Advertising [JIA], and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising [JCIRA]) and the top 50 citing and cited journals with citation relationships from 2005 to 2014 were examined. Findings revealed that advertising is citing advertising scholarship the most, followed by marketing, consumer research, psychology, and communication. This suggests a “maturing field” where scholars look within the discipline's body of knowledge. In turn, advertising research is cited by advertising, marketing, business (general), communication, and psychology. The overall citing-to-cited ratio suggests that advertising is more a “receiver” than “provider” of knowledge to other disciplines; however, there is variation across the advertising journals. The positioning of advertising journals in the larger disciplinary framework shows close relationships to consumer research and interactive communication. The most common focus among the top-cited articles is digital media, with few articles focusing on traditional advertising. The implications of our findings for the field of advertising are discussed.     

International diversity of authorship in advertising research

Although advertising is a global discipline, several of the world's regions remain under-represented in the leading advertising journals, with North American dominance of review boards and authorship in these journals. Introducing this special issue of the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA), this paper assesses the international diversity of authorship in advertising research by looking at the nationalities of author teams of articles published in the leading advertising journals over the last 10 years. Among advertising journals, international diversity of authorship is clearly greatest in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), and the even greater international diversity of this ICORIA special issue highlights the Journal's international orientation. The fact that diversity of authorship also relates to article citations and therefore to research performance further emphasizes the need for more international diversity of authorship in advertising research.     

Methodological Issues in Advertising Research: Current Status,Shifts, and Trends

This article presents some self-reflective considerations on the methodology applied in advertising scholarly publications, based on a review of articles in four leading journals: Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. This article first identifies two approaches in the positivist paradigm that exert strong impacts on the development of advertising research: the message effects research tradition in the communication field and the consumer psychology research tradition in marketing. With this background, the article next introduces several research questions to explore which methods have dominated advertising research, the role of theory building in affecting the adopted methods and the number of reported studies, differences across the journals, and the degree to which researchers integrate different methods or approaches (quantitative and qualitative) in their research. A content analysis of articles published in these four advertising journals from 2001 to 2015 helps address these research questions and reveals the current status, shifts, and trends in advertising research since the turn of this century.     

Where Should Articles on the Link between Tobacco Advertising and Consumption Be Published?

Abstract

Articles on tobacco advertising's impact should be published in the Journal of Advertising or in comparable specialized scholarly outlets such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing and Journal of Advertising Research, plus economic journals for econometric analyses. Instead, many analyses of the relationship between tobacco advertising and consumption as well as of smoking initiation and prevalence as related to advertising, can now be found in such publications as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the British Journal of Addiction, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. To add insult to injury, those articles are the ones that are frequently quoted on the front pages or in the health columns of major newspapers and magazines as well as by the broadcast media. What is going on here? Should we, as advertising scholars, care about these developments?     

A Bibliometric Study of Advertising Citations

Abstract

A bibliometric investigation identified citation patterns in advertising-related articles published during 1981–83 in a number of core journals and conference proceedings in advertising, marketing, consumer research and communication. Business publications and psychology publications were found to have accounted for more than half of the 6,312 citations coded in this study. Although the raw data indicated that the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Advertising Research were historically the most-cited journals, a method that controls for differences in years of publication, number of articles published per year and frequency of self-citations detected an increased impact, in recent years, on the part of the Journal of Advertising and of consumer-research publications.     

Use of Professional Journal Ads to Promote Accounting Services

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an examination of professional journal advertising by professional accounting firms. Advertisements in the three most widely distributed professional accounting journals were analyzed to ascertain the extent of advertising by accounting firms. Research questions included the following: (1) What is the message or purpose of the ads? (2) What size ads are preferred? (3) What is the information content (firm's location, phone number, etc.) of the ads? (4) Which firms advertise the most?

The findings indicate that the most common advertising message concerned selling computer software, followed by employee recruitment. The most common size ads were between a quarter of a page and a page. Information content ranged from phone number and address to professional credentials and specialized services. Advertisements were widely used by both Big Six and non-Big Six accounting firms. The extent of advertising among Big Six firms, however, is highly varied, with Arthur Andersen & Co. generating the most ads. Advertising allows firms the opportunity to reach consumers, provide useful information, and distinguish themselves from other firms.     

Construct Measurement in Advertising Research

This article presents an initial inquiry into measurement practices in advertising research based on a review of all research articles published in the Journal of Advertising (JA), the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), and the International Journal of Advertising (IJA) between 2012 and 2014. The analysis focused on the measurement of attitude toward the ad (A_Ad), attitude toward the brand (A_Brand), and brand purchase intention (PI_Brand) because these are the most frequently studied constructs in advertising research. The results show there are weaknesses with the theoretical foundation of measures, in that constructs are often not defined and the measures are not taken from measure development studies. Moreover, there is great diversity in the items included in measures, the number of items in the measures, and in the answer scales used to capture responses, which casts doubts on the comparability of results from different studies. The implications of current measurement practice for advertising research are discussed and suggestions are made for how authors, editors, and reviewers can contribute to improved measurement practice.     

Comment on ‘The economics of tobacco advertising: spending,demand, and the effects of bans’

This paper comments on a paper by Lancaster and Lancaster ‘The economics of tobacco advertising: spending, demand, and the effect of bans’, published in the International Journal of Advertising, 22(1). In their response, the authors specifically tackle comments made on their method of meta-analysis.     

Peeking Under the Curtain and Over the Horizon: The Reflections of Another Former Editor

Being an editor of the Journal of Advertising (JA) provides a unique perspective into the publishing process and the field of advertising. In this article I have tried to offer a glimpse of what I learned from this experience. It reveals what I learned (mostly from mistakes I made) about the review process. It also provides some thoughts about how to be a good reviewer. The second part of the article takes a broader view of how the field of advertising research has developed, what might be missing, and how we can expand its development in the future.     

The Journal of Advertising and the Development of Advertising Theory: Reflections and Directions for Future Research

In this article, I provide some thoughts that guided my decision making while I was editor of the Journal of Advertising (2003–2006). Specifically, I reflect on the definition of theory and how it has been and should be used in the advertising discipline. In particular, I attempt to distinguish between weaker (contextual) and stronger (universal) theories and present my views on how future research in advertising can proceed in developing useful theories within this domain.     

Green Grass,High Cotton: Reflections on the Evolution of the Journal of Advertising

This article reflects on my time as the fifth editor of the Journal of Advertising, makes observations about the evolution of scholarship in the Journal over the past decades, offers suggestions for how JA might advance in the coming years, and provides some “words of wisdom” to advertising researchers. Because it is the first in an invited article series of editor reflections, a bit of historical context is provided.     

Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling in the Journal of Advertising: Review and Recommendations

In this article, we review applications of covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) in the Journal of Advertising (JA) starting with the first issue in 1972. We identify 111 articles from the earliest application of SEM in 1983 through 2015, and discuss important methodological issues related to the following aspects: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), causal modeling, multiple group analysis, reporting, and guidelines for interpretation of results. Moreover, we summarize some issues related to varying terminology associated with different SEM methods. Findings indicate that the use of SEM in the JA contributes greatly to conceptual, empirical, and methodological advances in advertising research. The assessment contributes to the literature by offering advertising researchers a summary guide to best practices and a reminder of the basics that distinguish the powerful and unique approach involving structural analysis of covariances.     

Authorship trends and collaboration patterns in business ethics literature

The primary aim of this study is to clarify the authorship trends, collaboration patterns, and impact factors in business ethics literature by looking at articles published between 1960 and 2015 in four leading business ethics journals: Business and Society, Business Ethics: A European Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, and the Journal of Business Ethics. This study showed the growth type of business ethics literature, authorship trends, collaboration patterns, authors' productivity evolved by subperiods and journals, and authors' dominance factor by subperiods and journals. After providing an evaluation of the results of the study, the authors discuss the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.     

Advertising ethics: A contextual response based on classical ethical theory

F. P. Bishop argues that the ethical standard for advertising practitioners must be utilitarian. Indeed, the utilitarian theory of ethics in decision-making has traditionally been the preference of U.S. advertising practitioners. This article, therefore, argues that the U.S. advertising industry's de-emphasis of deontological ethics is a reason for its continuing struggle with unfavorable public perceptions of its ethics — and credibility. The perceptions of four scenarios on advertising ethics and the analyses of the openended responses of 174 members of the American Advertising Federation to those scenarios suggest that advertising practitioners need a stricter adherence to deontological ethics than is indicated in this study.Cornelius B. Pratt is Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising at Michigan State University. His research has been published in such journals as theJournal of Media Planning, Journal of Business Ethics, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Public Relations Quarterly, andJournalism Quarterly.E. Lincoln James is Associate Professor and Assistant Chairperson in the Department of Advertising at Michigan State University. His work has appeared in several scholarly journals, including theInternational Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Direct Marketing, Journal of Media Planning, andWeberforschung und Praxis.     

Bribery and extortion in international business: Ethical perceptions of Greeks compared to Americans

This study investigates the differences in he way bribery and extortion is perceived by two different cultures — American and Greek. Two hundred and forty American business students and two hundred and four Greek business students were presented with three scenarios describing a businessman offering a bribe to a government official and three scenarios describing a businessman being forced to pay a bribe to an official in order to do business. The Reidenbach-Robin instrument was used to measure the ethical reactions of the two samples to these scenarios. Results indicate that ethical reactions to bribery and extortion vary by (a) the nationality of the person offering the bribe, and (b) the country where the bribe is offered. In addition, Greeks perceived some of the scenarios as being less unethical than did Americans.John Tsalikis is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Florida International University. His research interests include marketing ethics, international marketing, and direct marketing. His articles have appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of International Consumer Marketing.Michael S. LaTour is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Auburn University. His research interests include marketing ethics, and emotional responses to advertising. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, and theJournal of Advertising.The authors contributed equally to this article.     

Construct heterogeneity and proliferation in advertising research

Abstract

This paper presents results from a study of measurement practice in leading advertising journals. The focus is on heterogeneity in measurement operationalizations of the same construct and construct proliferation (i.e. when constructs have different names but overlapping content). These issues were addressed by analyzing the measurement operationalizations in all articles published in three leading advertising journals between 2012 and 2014. Results show considerable heterogeneity in the operationalizations of three common advertising constructs (ad credibility, ad irritation and perceived humour) for which almost every study used a unique operationalization. Results also show considerable construct proliferation as different names were used for the same constructs and there was overlap in the operationalizations of several advertising constructs. The paper offers a discussion of implications for advertising research and suggests steps that can be taken towards improving measurement practice.     

广告产业的内涵及研究意义

广告从作为一种重要的营销手段发展成为一个相对独立的产业并没有引起广告学者和产业经济学家的足够重视。广告产业研究是广告产业实践提出的新要求,是广告学和产业经济学研究的具体化和深化,拓宽了产业经济学的研究领域,完善了广告学科体系,对指导中国广告产业发展具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

HANDLING NONRESPONSE IN LOGISTICS RESEARCH

Assessing and controlling for nonresponse bias is critical for the validity and reliability of survey‐based logistics research. In order to gain a better understanding of how researchers assess and report nonresponse bias in their studies, we analyzed articles published from 1998 through 2007 in three top logistics journals (International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal). We describe and explore how nonresponse has been handled in these articles. Our findings show that first, survey response rates have declined over time; this influences the generalizability of survey results in case of nonresponse. Second, an average of 44% of published mail survey articles does not mention tests for detecting nonresponse bias.     

The construction of qualitative research articles: a conversation with Eileen Fischer

Eileen Fischer, Professor of Marketing and Anne & Max Tanenbaum Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at the Schulich School of Business at York University, has published research on entrepreneurs, consumers, and markets in several leading management and marketing journals. Professor Fischer has served on the editorial review boards of Consumption Markets & Culture; Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice; Family Business Review; Journal of Business Venturing; and Journal of Small Business Management and is a current co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. In preparation for this conversation, the interviewers invited questions about the construction of qualitative research articles from multiple junior scholars in the field of consumer culture theory (CCT). This invitation yielded dozens of questions that were whittled down to the final questions you see here.