Masterful scholarly competences and the development of impactful B2B marketing theory: Contributions of Dr. Shelby D. Hunt

Abstract

Academia has been described as a marketplace of ideas, whereby scholars compete to establish thought leadership via publication of their work in top journals of their disciplines. Within the bazaar of B2B marketing scholarship, few scholars generated as deep an impact as the late Shelby D. Hunt. In this manuscript, we adapt R-A Theory to the context of the academic publishing enterprise. Based on Dr. Hunt's retrospective writings and personal perspectives shared by his collaborators, we identify critical basic resources and higher-order competences underlying the success of Dr. Hunt's ideation, development, and promotion of impactful B2B theories. Next, we illustrate how his deployment of three scholarly competences - opportunity recognition, theory development, and theory retailing - contributed to the success of his Commitment-Trust and RA theory programs. The paper closes with a discussion of key lessons scholars and the academy can draw in crafting new indigenous marketing theories.