A scientific realism perspective on scientific progress in marketing: An analysis of theory testing in marketing's major journals

Abstract

Marketing's scientific progress depends on, among other things, the development and testing of theories that explain and predict marketing phenomena. Ultimately, theory testing should advance the discipline toward broader theories with greater explanatory and predictive power. Using the inductive-realist model (Hunt, 2012) as a framework for scientific progress, this study analyzes three decades of theory testing published in five major marketing journals. The study examines issues of the amount of theory testing, the extent to which theories are tested multiple times, and the disciplinary origins of the theories that are tested. The results show that marketing has been remarkably productive in the development and testing of theories; however, that progress is tempered by the relatively few theories that are tested multiple times.