Perceptual Differences of Marketing Journals: A Worldwide Perspective

The practice of evaluating faculty and business schools based on their journal publications has increased the emphasis on research output in peer reviewed journals. Since journal standings are a frequently debated issue, this study seeks to examine the perceptual differences of journals between different segments of marketing academics. Based on a worldwide online survey, journals are assessed in terms of four subjective quality metrics: journal familiarity, average rank position, percent of respondents who classify a journal as top tier, and readership. It is demonstrated that an individual's geographic origin, research interests or journal affiliation can have a significant impact on journal rankings.     

The marketing message: Being broadcast loud and clear?

Communication lies at the very heart of marketing; but how well do marketers and marketing academics communicate? Academics, including those in marketing, have been criticized for putting their ideas across in a complex and unclear way. Marketing academics may have some valuable new ideas to “sell” to practitioners; but are they so product orientated that they are ignoring the communications needs of their potential customers? This paper tries to explore the importance of clear communications for academics and practitioners; and to survey how clearly we are communicating through the channel of marketing journals in particular.     

The Global and Regional Dispersion of Publishing in the Field of International Marketing

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically examines the research productivity of academic institutions in the leading international marketing journals, leading generalist marketing journals, and leading international business journals between the years 1999 and 2003 from a regional and country-specific perspective. The research found that across the three groups of journals, the majority of works were authored by academics at institutions located in North America, although North Americans contribute significantly less in the international marketing and international business journals than leading generalist marketing journals. The findings suggest that there is a broadening of non-U.S. influence within the international marketing and international business journals, which should lead to a broadening of international marketing theory.     

Who we are and what we do: A profile of marketing academics in UK universities

This paper explores the professional identity of marketing academics in UK universities by focusing on two aspects, i.e. (1) their background characteristics and (2) the activities typically pursued by them. Specifically, the characteristics of marketing academics are explored in terms of demographic profiles, educational background and career structures, while activity patterns provide insights into the composition and length of the working week, research record and the relative importance of outside sources of income.     

Assessing Marketing Performance: Reasons for Metrics Selection

In recent years both practitioners and academics have shown an increasing interest in the assessment of marketing performance. This paper explores the metrics that firms select and some reasons for those choices. Our data are drawn from two UK studies. The first reports practitioner usage by the main metrics categories (consumer behaviour and intermediate, trade customer, competitor, accounting and innovativeness). The second considers which individual metrics are seen as the most important and whether that differs by sector. The role of brand equity in performance assessment and top management orientations are key considerations. We found consistency between orientation and metrics. Within these categories we identified 19 metrics that could be regarded as primary and could therefore serve as a short-list for initial selection. However, the sector importantly moderates that selection, not least because competitive benchmarking requires similar metrics to be available. Control, orientation and institutional theories appeared to influence metrics selection and the absence of agency theory is probably due to the research method of this paper. We concluded with some propositions formally to test the basis of metrics selection.     

Critical Management Studies and Business Ethics: A Synthesis and Three Research Trajectories for the Coming Decade

We present the findings of a worldwide survey that was administered to business ethic scholars to better understand journal quality within the business ethics academic community. Based upon the data from the survey, we provide a ranking of the top 10 business ethics journals. We then provide a comparison of business ethics journals to other mainstream management journals in terms of journal quality. The results of the study suggest that, within the business ethics academic community, many scholars prefer to publish in the top business ethics academic journals over other mainstream management journals. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that within the business ethics academic field there are two dominant academic communities: one in Europe and one in North America. Each of these academic communities has its own preferred publication outlets, suggesting a potentially problematic bifurcation of business ethics scholarship.     

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.     

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.     

Insights for a post-Brexit era: marketing the UK as a study destination – an analysis of Arab,Chinese, and Indian student choices

ABSTRACT

Britain’s scheduled exit from the European Union (‘Brexit’) has long-term ramifications for strategic marketing. Faced with new challenges and uncertainty, UK universities are increasingly looking beyond EU borders to recruit international students. In this context, we draw upon country-of-origin theory to categorise the factors that influence non-EU international student decisions to select an overseas study destination and institution. Based on the results of a survey with 317 Arab, Chinese, and Indian students attending UK universities, we identify eight factors that influence international student decisions to study in the UK (social safety, education quality, entry obstacles, environment, recommendations, knowledge of host country, work and immigration, and meeting new cultures). The results address gaps in the literature, offering new insights that will help practitioners and academics to better understand how international students select a country and university as a study location.     

The emergence and development of place marketing's confused identity

This paper draws parallels between the emergence and development of place marketing research with the emergence of service marketing as a distinct subject area within marketing. However, the topic area itself remains confused, terms used to describe its various associated phenomena have not been clearly defined, there is little consensus what type of marketing or branding applies to places, and the literature has not resolved the differences in marketing / branding individual places and whole nations, thus leading to confusion for academics and practitioners alike. A thematic review of the literature is presented in order to reflect on the way various aspects of the literature have developed, and how this has impacted on the current debate. The confusion over the use of terms originates from the way the literature developed over time in different subject areas, but also appears to be linked to the way authors successfully target articles for publication, using terms that better align with a journal's focus rather than necessarily using the most appropriate term for the specific construct under investigation.     

Consumer Affairs Responses to Unsolicited Customer Compliments

Whatever their philosophical, methodological and epistemological differences, marketing academics have one thing in common. They are writers. They publish or perish. They produce books, articles, case studies and, on occasion, articles for top-notch journals like JMM. Writing, however, is rarely given much thought by the scholarly community. It is considered a chore, an obligation, a tiresome task between completing the research and seeing it published. This paper examines the often uneasy relationship between marketing and writing. Based upon a study of best academic practice, it shows that there's more to outstanding writing than many suppose. It's not simply a matter of short sentences, plain prose and setting out the facts succinctly. Writing marketing also involves an appreciation of the 3R's, all of which run counter to academic custom and scholarly practice.     

Editorial

Last year, the JMM published a 'New Blood Edition' for the Academy of Marketing, to support the development of new academics in marketing. The call resulted in 36 submissions, four of which were selected for publication within the very short timescales to which we were working.     

Marketing in the UK and US Not-for-Profit Sector: The Import Mirror View

This article explores the US and UK literature on not-for-profit (NFP) marketing. The emphasis is on journal articles that have appeared in the area. The purpose of the review is to discover if their are any lessons that can be learnt from the US situation in order to gain a greater understanding of the UK NFP marketing. This is in the tradition of the ‘import mirror’ view of comparative research. The environment within which NFP marketing takes place is discussed. This is followed by a review which looks at journal types, research areas, type and quality of research and issues arising from the application of NFP marketing in the US and UK The review reveals that there is considerably more literature on NFP marketing in the US. Popular subjects are segmentation and health care. The UK literature is still largely concerned with the appropriateness and applicability of marketing in the NFP sector: The lesson taking is that the UK should not go down the US path but rather a) develop suitable courses for NFP managers and b) explore the use of the newer service concepts of relationship, service quality and internal marketing.     

MNE executive insights into international advertising programme standardisation

The standardisation/adaptation debate in international advertising has been a key topic of discussion among practitioners and academics for over 40 years (Agarwal 1995). The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence executive decisions to standardise or adapt as determined by experienced international marketing executives working for large multinational enterprises (MNEs). The investigation initially provides a review of existing literature about the constructs under investigation and then, through in-depth qualitative interviews, it aims to develop an understanding of the factors executives consider important in the standardisation/adaptation decision in order to develop their international advertising strategies. This paper suggests that recognition of the impact of competition, culture, education, marketing institution and consumer related determinants have increased in importance over the years, affecting decisions of advertising theme, creative expression and media mix. Of these, advertising theme is the easiest and most appropriately standardised theme, whereas, creative expression and media mix are most susceptible to adaptation as per the requirement of the MNEs. The paper concludes by highlighting managerial and academic implications.     

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.     

The Effects of Firm Size and Industry on Corporate Giving

Recent downward trends in corporate giving have renewed interest in the factors that shape corporate philanthropy. This paper examines the relationships between charitable contributions, firm size and industry. Improvements over previous studies include an IRS data base that covers a much broader range of firm sizes and industries as compared to previous studies and estimation using an instrumental variable technique that explicitly addresses potential simultaneity between charitable contributions and profitability. Important findings provide evidence of a cubic relationship between charitable giving and firm size and evidence of strong industry effects. The plus-minus-plus regression coefficient sign pattern for the cubic firm size model suggests that small and large firms give more relative to total receipts with lower giving ratios among medium size firms. One interpretation for this finding is that small firms are close to the communities they serve while high visibility creates a need for large firm philanthropy. Strong industry effects provide evidence of inter-industry differences in giving culture and/or different public relations requirements across industries. Christie H. Amato (Ph.D., University of Alabama) is professor of marketing at the Belk College of Business Administration, University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Dr. Amato's research interests lie in the area of strategic marketing, productivity, quality of life and ethics. She has published articles in top marketing journals including: Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Research. Louis H. Amato (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is professor of economics at the Belk College of Business Administration, University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Dr.␣Amato's research interests lie in the areas of market structure and profitability, productivity, quality of life and ethics. He has published articles in top journals including Southern Economic Journal, Review of Industrial Organization, and Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics.     

Marketing Culture and Customer Retention in the Tourism Industry

During the last few years considerable attention has been focused on the essence of cultivating a culture which fosters the effective operationalisation of marketing practices in tourism firms. This issue is considered an important source of competitive advantage in the tourism industry where sophisticated marketing is still in its developmental stages. Considering the high level of interaction between a tourism firm and its customers, the significance of effective marketing activities cannot be overstated. In addition, maketing academics and managers assert that a strong marketing culture will lead to customer retention via customer satisfaction. This study is based on an empirical examination of the link between UK tourism firms’ marketing culture and customer retention. Our results reveal a moderately strong relationship between marketing culture and customer retention. Finally, implications of the findings for tourism managers and avenues for future research are discussed.     

A citation analysis of selected marketing journals

Citation analysis is one method of assessing the quality of a journal in a discipline. Over eight thousand citations are analysed to determine the frequency of use of a selection of American and European marketing journals. The rankings demonstrate the pre-eminence of American journals; and an analysis of marketing citations by general business journals indicates that research published in marketing journals is having an impact on other business areas.     

Agent-based modeling in marketing: Guidelines for rigor

Agent-based modeling can illuminate how complex marketing phenomena emerge from simple decision rules. Marketing phenomena that are too complex for conventional analytical or empirical approaches can often be modeled using this approach. Agent-based modeling investigates aggregate phenomena by simulating the behavior of individual “agents,” such as consumers or organizations. Some useful examples of agent-based modeling have been published in marketing journals, but widespread acceptance of the agent-based modeling method and publication of this method in the highest-level marketing journals have been slowed by the lack of widely accepted standards of how to do agent-based modeling rigorously. We address this need by proposing guidelines for rigorous agent-based modeling. We demonstrate these guidelines, and the value of agent-based modeling for marketing research, through the use of an example. We use an agent-based modeling approach to replicate the Bass model of the diffusion of innovations, illustrating the use of the proposed guidelines to ensure the rigor of the analysis. We also show how extensions of the Bass model that would be difficult to carry out using traditional marketing research techniques are possible to implement using a rigorous agent-based approach.