Marketing research: A state-of-the-art review and directions for the twenty-first century

This article provides observations on the state of the art in marketing research during 1987–1997. As such, it updates the earlier state-of-the-art review by Malhotra (1988), which won theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) Best Article Award. The primary thrust of articles published in theJournal of Marketing Research during 1987–1997 is reviewed to determine important areas of research. In each of these areas, the authors summarize recent developments, highlight the state of the art, offer some critical observations, and identify directions for future research. They present a cross-classification of various techniques and subject areas, and make some observations on the applications of these techniques to address specific substantive and methodological issues in marketing research. The article concludes with some general directions for marketing research in the twenty-first century. Naresh K. Malhotra is Regents’ Professor in the DuPree College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America. In an article by Wheatley and Wilson (1987 AMA Educators’ Proceedings), he was ranked number one in the country based on articles published in theJournal of Marketing Research during 1980–1985. He also holds the all-time record for the maximum number of publications in theJournal of Health Care Marketing. He is ranked number one based on publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) since its inception through Volume 23, 1995. He is also number one based on publications inJAMS during the 10-year period 1986–1995. He has published more than 75 articles in major refereed journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, and leading journals in statistics, management science, and psychology. He was chairman of the Academy of Marketing Science Foundation from 1996 to 1998, president of the Academy of Marketing Science from 1994 to 1996, and chairman of the Board of Governors from 1990 to 1992. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy and Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute. Mark Peterson is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include methods, affect, international marketing, and quality of life. His work has been published in theInternational Marketing Review, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Macromarketing. He is on the editorial review board for theJournal of Macromarketing. Susan Bardi Kleiser is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include consumer decision making, product management, international marketing, marketing ethics, and marketing research and modeling techniques. Her research has appeared inResearch in Marketing, Advances in Consumer Research, and several proceedings.     

透析“营销是科学还是艺术”之争

1945年,Converse创造性地提出“营销究竟是科学还是艺术”的问题,至今这个问题都呈“无解”状态.整体看来,“营销是科学还是艺术”之争历经了前科学、科学、后科学三大发展阶段.60多年的发展历史形成了以下特点:相对于“艺术”而言,研究者更偏好讨论“科学”;论据科学性不强与营销科学化目标难以实现.营销学科学哲学转向与研究方法的低层次导致这场争论在低水平重复,而思辩研究的存在是这场争论产生的根本之源.“营销是科学”无疑是这场争论追求的最终目标,而正确地框定营销学理论研究范围与建立营销“一般化”的理论范式将是解决这场争论的根本之策.     

Historical research in marketing: Retrospect and prospect

The history of historical research in marketing is reviewed as background to an examination of the state of the art. We focus on the major current contributors to historical research in marketing, their recent works, and opinions about future prospects for this field.     

Green marketing strategies: an examination of stakeholders and the opportunities they present

As green marketing strategies become increasingly more important to firms adhering to a triple-bottom line performance evaluation, the present research seeks to better understand the role of “green” as a marketing strategy. Through an integration of the marketing, management, and operations literatures, an investigative framework is generated that identifies the various stakeholders potentially impacted through the environmentally friendly efforts of a firm. Specifically, the inter-connected nature of the core business disciplines of marketing, management (both strategy and human resources), and operations are examined as controllable functions within an organization from which strategies can be enacted to affect a firm’s stakeholders. The prior research in these areas is examined to identify potential research opportunities in marketing while also offering a series of representative research questions that can help guide future research in marketing.     

The integration of microcomputers in marketing research and decision making

This paper focuses on the integrative and pervasive use of microcomputers in marketing research and managerial decision making. The marketing research process is conceptualized as consisting of six phases. At each phase, microcomputer applications and illustrative software are identified as implications for the practice of marketing research discussed. Next the paper illustrates the use of microcomputers in selected application areas such as market segmentation, sales forecasting, new product development, pricing and decision support and expert systems. Guidelines for the selection of microcomputer software in specific situations are provided. The paper concludes with some observations on the future applications of microcomputers in marketing research and decision making.     

Identifying critical problems for mutual cooperation between the private and public sectors: A marketing perspective

The study presented in this article is an application of “futures research.” One objective is to identify some of the more pressing future world-wide problems that require the combined effort of both the government and the private sector to reach a solution. A second objective is to suggest ways in which marketers can become more involved in the solution of them. Prominent problem clusters of particular importance to marketers, including “Social Values,” “Social Institutions,” and “Resources” were uncovered by this research. The authors hope that this article will stimulate marketing research in each of these areas.     

Marketing strategy: An assessment of the state of the field and outlook

This article provides an assessment of the state of the field of marketing strategy research and the outlook. Using institutional theory, the authors develop an organizing framework to serve as a road map for assessing research in marketing strategy. Their assessment of the state of the field based on a review of extant literature suggests that significant strides in conceptual development and empirical research have been achieved in a number of areas. Several recent developments in the business world, including deconglomeration and increased organizational focus on managing and leveraging market-based assets such as brand equity and customer equity, suggest that marketing is likely to play a more important role in charting the strategic direction of the firm. However, the theoretical contributions of the field to the academic dialogue on strategy leave much to be desired. P. Rajan Varadarajan (Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is a professor of marketing and the Jenna and Calvin R. Guest Professor of Business Administration at Texas A&M University. His research interests are in the areas of corporate, business, and marketing strategy; marketing management; and global competitive strategy. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, theStrategic Management Journal, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Business Horizons, and other journals. He is coauthor of a textbook entitled,Contemporary Perspectives on Strategic Market Planning. He served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science, as Chairperson of the Marketing Strategy Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association, on the Editorial Review Boards of theJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of International Marketing, and as an ad hoc reviewer for a number of journals in themarketing and management disciplines. In recognition of his research and publications, in May 1994, he was awarded the Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, the highest honor the University bestows. Satish Jayachandran is a doctoral candidate in marketing at Texas A&M University. His research interests include competitive behavior of firms and the impact of organizational performance on subsequent managerial and firm behavior. His research is forthcoming in theJournal of Marketing and has been presented at American Marketing Association and Academy of International Business conferences. His professional experience spans sales and channels management in the computer industry and account management in advertising.     

The use of students as experimental subjects in marketing research

The ability to generalize experimental observations to some larger environment is frequently a critical issue in marketing and consumer behavior research. A number of books and articles have been devoted to the problems associated with external validity but only recently have marketing scholars begun to examine the validity of employing students as subjects in marketing studies. The research reported in this paper was undertaken in an effort to investigate the validity of using students as surrogates for their parents along a number of selected cognitive dimensions. Testing the responses of both groups with MANOVA, it was discovered that student repsonses were significantly different from their parents on every dimension of interest. The findings suggest that had these particular student subjects been chosen as surrogates for their parents in a marketing research study, the external validity would have been seriously questioned.     

Meta-analysis: integrating accumulated knowledge

Building a foundation of marketing theory requires developing effective ways to aggregate research results. Meta-analyses that accumulate knowledge within a research domain is an important means for summarizing research findings and increasingly is being conducted in various substantive marketing domains. Moderator analysis and structural models using meta-analytic inputs have emerged as a powerful means to advance current knowledge in a research domain, and, importantly, identify fruitful areas for future inquiry. This article reviews the growth of meta-analysis in marketing and identifies several important issues researchers must consider when conducting and reporting a meta-analysis.     

Firm-level export performance assessment: Review, evaluation, and development

Export performance is one of the most widely researched but least understood and most contentious areas of international marketing. To some extent, this problem can be ascribed to difficulties in conceptualizing, operationalizing, and measuring the export performance construct, often leading to inconsistent and conflicting results. This study reviews and evaluates more than 100 articles of pertinent empirical studies to assess and critique export performance measurements. Based on gaps identified in this evluation, guidelines for export performance measure development are advanced, suggesting, however, a contingency approach in their application. Several conclusions and implications for export strategy and future research are derived from this analysis. Constantine S. Katsikeas holds the Sir Julian Hodge Chair in Marketing and International Business at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. His main research interests lie in the areas of international marketing and purchasing, global strategic alliances, and competitive strategy. He has published widely in these fields and his articles have appeared inJournal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Marketing, (formerly Columbia)Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, andManagement International Review, among others. Leonidas C. Leonidou is associate professor of marketing at the University of Cyprus. He obtained his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Bath, and has research interests in international marketing, relationship marketing, strategic marketing, and marketing in emerging economies. He has published extensively in these fields and his articles have appeared in various journals includingJournal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, andManagement International Review. Neil A. Morgan is assistant professor of marketing in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research interests focus on strategic issues concerning marketing resources and capabilities, and marketing planning and implementation processes and their links with business performance. His work has appeared inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, British Journal of Management, European Journal of Marketing, and other journals.     

Directions for marketing knowledge development: Opinions of marketing research managers

If future academic research is to make a meaningful contribution to marketing practice, we must know more about the strengths and gaps in our existing marketing knowledge base. This article reports the findings of a survey of marketing research managers employed by firms serving both consumer and industrial markets. Data were collected on researchers' perceptions of (1) importance of decision making areas, (2) need for additional knowledge accumulation, and (3) type of additional knowledge development. Survey results suggest that some decision areas are perceived to be in far greater need of further study than others, and that academic research output does not always correspond to the information requirements of marketing practitioners. General Electric Company     

An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research

Most methodological fields undertake regular critical reflections to ensure rigorous research and publication practices, and, consequently, acceptance in their domain. Interestingly, relatively little attention has been paid to assessing the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in marketing research—despite its increasing popularity in recent years. To fill this gap, we conducted an extensive search in the 30 top ranked marketing journals that allowed us to identify 204 PLS-SEM applications published in a 30-year period (1981 to 2010). A critical analysis of these articles addresses, amongst others, the following key methodological issues: reasons for using PLS-SEM, data and model characteristics, outer and inner model evaluations, and reporting. We also give an overview of the interdependencies between researchers’ choices, identify potential problem areas, and discuss their implications. On the basis of our findings, we provide comprehensive guidelines to aid researchers in avoiding common pitfalls in PLS-SEM use. This study is important for researchers and practitioners, as PLS-SEM requires several critical choices that, if not made correctly, can lead to improper findings, interpretations, and conclusions.     

Gender,income differences,and marketing: Examining the “earnings gap” in three areas of marketing

This research explores empirically a socioeconomic/equity issue that has been extensively investigated in many areas, but never marketing—the so-called “earnings gap.” Specifically, the study investigates income differences between men and women in marketing, while controlling for differences in business experience, level of education, corporate level, type of industry, and size of firm. The research focuses on three areas in marketing: (1) marketing management, (2) marketing research, and (3) advertising agency management. Findings indicate that there is an “earnings gap” for marketers. Importantly, however, the data show that a substantial portion of the gap can be explained by variables other than sex.     

The structure of marketing channel relationships

Distribution channel research has been advanced in recent years by contributions based on the political economy paradigm, transaction cost analysis, and relationship marketing. Drawing on these bodies of thought, we propose a new conceptualization of the structure of marketing channel relationships. Relationship structure is defined in terms of decision-making structure and operational integration. The proposed model of channel structure antecedents and consequences is consistent with the major research paradigms but extends beyond simple categorical assemblages of constructs to provide an ordered set of relationships based on theory and empirical research. This conceptualization reconciles some apparent contradictions in the literature and provides a clear focus for structure, process, and performance research in channels. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Louisiana State University. He has published in the areas of marketing channels, retailing, and logistics. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Channels, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management, Journal of Marketing Education, and others. He served as the managing director of public relations with the Federal Express Corporation before entering the Ph.D. program at Alabama. He holds a B.B.A. in accountancy from the University of Mississippi and an M.A. in marketing from the University of Alabama.     

Marketing survey research best practices: evidence and recommendations from a review of <Emphasis Type="Italic">JAMS</Emphasis> articles

Survey research methodology is widely used in marketing, and it is important for both the field and individual researchers to follow stringent guidelines to ensure that meaningful insights are attained. To assess the extent to which marketing researchers are utilizing best practices in designing, administering, and analyzing surveys, we review the prevalence of published empirical survey work during the 2006–2015 period in three top marketing journals—Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Marketing (JM), and Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)—and then conduct an in-depth analysis of 202 survey-based studies published in JAMS. We focus on key issues in two broad areas of survey research (issues related to the choice of the object of measurement and selection of raters, and issues related to the measurement of the constructs of interest), and we describe conceptual considerations related to each specific issue, review how marketing researchers have attended to these issues in their published work, and identify appropriate best practices.     

An exploratory investigation of user involvement in new service development

Due to major structural changes in the service sector, many service managers are recognizing the need to continually develop new services that are timely and responsive to user needs. Thus, user input and involvement in new service development are an important area of inquiry. Although there has been a resurgence of academic and practitioner interest in new service development, there is a dearth of research on how users are involved in new service development. This study first combines insights from extant literature and exploratory interviews with practitioners to identify four key elements of user involvement, including objectives, stages, intensity, and modes of involvement, and then investigates these four elements in 12 service firms. Based on the findings, the author develops an inventory of activities that needs to be carried out in involving users in a new service development project. Intekhab (Ian) Alam is an assistant professor of marketing in the Jones School of Business, State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia and a master's of business in marketing (by research) from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He conducts research in the area of new product and service development and international marketing. His research has been published (or is forthcoming) in theJournal of International Marketing and Exporting, Journal of Services Marketing, American Marketing Association— Marketing Educator's Conference Proceedings, and several other international conference proceedings. He also has extensive consulting experience in the areas of new product/service development.     

Export marketing,interfunctional interactions,and performance consequences

Firms with export operations have internal environments that are often geared toward serving the home market. As a result, export marketing and other business functions compete for resources, which thus increases the likelihood of conflict between them. Using survey responses from more than 700 exporting firms, the authors test a model of the antecedents and consequences of two important interaction variables: exporting’s interfunctional connectedness and conflict. The model explains 52 percent and 49 percent of variance in exporting connectedness and conflict, respectively. The authors identify the key drivers of successful interactions as follows: management commitment, organizational training and reward systems, relative functional identification, centralization, and export employee job satisfaction and commitment. The authors also demonstrate that connectedness is most critical for export success when export markets are in a state of turbulence, whereas conflict is most detrimental when the firm’s export environment is stable. John W. Cadogan (j.w.cadogan@lboro.ac.uk), Ph.D., is a professor of marketing in the Business School at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. His primary areas of research interest are international marketing, marketing strategy, and sales management. He has published on these issues in theJournal of International Business Studies, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theInternational Marketing Review, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Strategic Marketing, and other academic journals. He received his degree from the University of Wales (United Kingdom). Sanna Sundqvist (sanna.sundqvist@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in international marketing in the Department of Business Administration at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland). Her research interests deal with the international diffusion of innovations, market orientation (especially in an international context), and consumers’ adoption behavior. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Risto T. Saiminen (risto.salminen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor of industrial engineering and management, especially marketing, in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. His primary areas of research interest are customer relationships and networks in business marketing, pedagogy in industrial engineering and management, and international marketing. He has published on these issues in theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Management, theEuropean Journal of Engineering Education, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, and theAustralasian Marketing Journal. He received his degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Kaisu Puumalainen (kaisu.puumalainen@lut.fi), Ph.D., is a professor in technology research in the Department of Business Administration at Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Her primary areas of research interest are innovation, international marketing, and small businesses. She has published on these issues in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, R&D Management, theCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, theJournal of International Entrepreneurship, theAustralasian Marketing Journal, and theInternational Journal of Production Economics. She received her degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland.     

Shifting perspective on the Shifting Paradigm in Marketing Research: A new paradigm in marketing research

Conclusion Professor Perreault is to be applauded for bringing to our attention, in such a forceful manner, some of the changes taking place and those that are to come in marketing research. He has more than achieved his objective of fostering debate and dialogue concerning these changes. We have attempted to interpret the issues raised by Perreault (1992) in a more balanced way in the context of a new paradigm for marketing research and make some predictions of our own as to where marketing research is headed. We hope that readers find our ideas thought-provoking.     

Factor analysis: Key tool in consumer behavior research

Quantitative techniques are in frequent use by students of consumer behavior. Most of these techniques, such as correlation analysis and Chi-square tests for significant differences are treated in the various quantitative methods courses taught in or for schools of business across the country. Factor analysis, on the other hand, is rarely included in the content of these courses. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon to find journal articles in which results of factor analytic studies are reported. This state of affairs must produce some frustration among marketing practitioners and even among some academicians, who find it difficult to interpret those results, much less understand how they were obtained. This article is designed to assist those who need to read and comprehend journal articles, who need to discuss such articles with others and who may find it desirable to use factor analysis in their own work.