Replication in Advertising Research, 1980–2012: A Longitudinal Analysis of Leading Advertising Journals

Abstract

This study analyzed replication in 1980 through 2012 issues of the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising following the replication logic of the positivistic perspective of quantitatively oriented social science research. The articles were coded as either research or nonresearch articles, and replications within the research articles were coded by replication approach, replication type, and findings of the replication studies relative to original results. Of the 5,269 articles, 2,856 were coded as research articles. Data were partitioned by replication approach to address the criticism that intrastudy replication is not true replication, and then were compared by decade and journal. When both intrastudy and the interstudy approaches were considered replication, 184, or 6.4 percent, of the research articles were identified as replication studies, and replications were found to gradually increase over time and especially after 2000. However, the number of replications dropped to 84, or 2.9 percent, of the journal research articles when intrastudy replications were excluded as replicative studies. Whether intrastudy or interstudy replication, results of almost all of the replications either supported or partially supported the original research. Other findings are reported regarding the different journals.