Top-tier Marketing Journals Research Articles

The Past and Future of Gender Research in Marketing: Paradigms, Stances, and Value-Based Commitments

This systematic literature review enhances paradigmatic/metaphysic analyses by examining how value-based commitments, intellectual personae, and stances impact the diversity, relevance, and consideration of ethics in gender research published by the top-tier marketing journals in the past 30 years. Theoretical contributions (1) explain how commitments to research values and practices constitute personae and particular stances toward research, (2) attribute value commitments to quantitative/positivist as well as qualitative/neohumanist research, and (3) implicate stances that favor particular theories and procedures and in turn enable the hierarchical development of gender research and its marginalization in the field. Recommendations elaborate the analytic, reflexive, and administrative training and research activities that will foster and reward more relevant, accurate, and ethical research on gender in the marketing academy and in industry. This work is of interest to persons dealing with gender identities, communities, and social issues, those working for greater gender representation and participation in firms and civic organizations, and those concerned with leveraging better marketing research for a better world.

The buying center concept as a milestone in industrial marketing: Review and research agenda

The buying center (BC) has captivated the attention of researchers for >50 years, becoming a central element of organizational buying behavior. While it seems easy to identify the BC participants in any given situation, the marketing literature lacks an integrative framework for examining the nature of BC. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to develop a rigorous BC conceptual model; (2) to provide an assessment of the BC state-of-the-art; and (3) to identify key opportunities for future research. Based on a systematic literature review, the descriptive findings indicate a decreasing number of publications since the late 2000s and that top-tier marketing journals have been almost silent since the early 90s. The domain-based findings suggest a three-layer model driving a thorough understanding of the concept, the main stages associated with BC deployment (formation, dynamics, and outcomes), and the contextual factors influencing BC decision-making.

Practical Implications in Popular Consumer Behaviour Research

Despite the frequent calls to bridge the academic-practitioner divide by making academic research easily comprehensible to practitioners, there are minimal discernible advances in this direction. The objective of this study is to identify the popular trends in academic research and establish the relevance of scholarly works for managerial action. The study initially scrutinises the prominent topics in consumer behaviour between 2005-2016 using subject terms and the Google Scholar (GS) ranking of the reviewed papers. Following which, correspondence analysis is carried out on the themes to check correlation, and then validated using content analysis. A total of 149 research articles with managerial implications on the prominent topics were considered. The themes that emerged were: marketing communication tools (advertising and promotion); influencing strategies (pricing, selling and product offering); and customer reactions (loyalty and satisfaction). The implications common to the themes are consolidated and presented in a way that could act as a quick reference guide for practitioners. The review, though being limited to studies published in top-tier marketing journals, is unique in that no other paper has previously focused exclusively on listing the academic findings of practical relevance that could aid managers in decision-making.

Accessing the influence of strategic marketing research on generating impact: moderating roles of models, journals, and estimation approaches

Although the literature debates the sophistication and contributions of statistical/econometric models to strategic findings, there is a lack of understanding of how different model types contribute to the impact of strategic marketing research. We collected data from 485 studies published in top-tier marketing journals over the last 50 years to assess the influence of core strategy areas, and the moderating roles of models, journals, and estimation approaches on the impact of strategic marketing research, measured in terms of citations of the articles. Using descriptive and regression analyses, we find that strategy research focusing on the “customer” and “other areas” had a relatively greater impact, whereas “sales” had a relatively lesser impact on citations than the “4Ps strategy area.” Linear regression, multivariate analysis, and structural equation models had a significantly higher impact on citations than other models. We also find that linear models and SEM positively and analytical models negatively moderate the relationship between strategy research focusing on “customer” and citations. Further, linear, analytical models and multivariate analyses negatively moderate the relationship between “sales” and citations. While strategy-focused journals positively moderate the relationship between strategic research focusing on “other area” and citations, it has a negative impact on the relationship between strategic research focusing on “sales” and citations. Relationship between strategy research focusing on “customer” and “other areas” and citations respectively is positively moderated by the estimation approach. Our study provides a perspective to the “rigor vs. relevance” debate in strategic marketing research.

Replications hardly possible: reporting practice in top-tier marketing journals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of replications for science, and in particular the knowledge development process. Design/methodology/approach Descriptive research on the disclosure of sample parameters which are needed for replication was conducted. The analysis includes 2,982 studies from four top-tier marketing journals. Findings Published parameters are insufficient for replication and, therefore, impede knowledge development. Originality/value The paper offers a unique data set for further investigation. In total, 2,982 studies from the defined journals (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science) were analyzed. Hereby this paper enables insights into reporting practices of current marketing research and highlights the role of replication research in validating earlier research. It empirically shows, to the authors' best knowledge for the first time, that the insufficient reporting is one of the major reasons for the lack of replications.

Faculty Scholarship Has a Profound Positive Association With Student Evaluations of Teaching—Except When It Doesn’t

Conventional wisdom holds that research-productive faculty are also the finest instructors. But, is this commonly held belief correct? In the current study, the notion that faculty scholarship exhibits a positive association with teaching evaluations is investigated. Reflecting the data structure of faculty nested within university, the current study uses hierarchical linear modeling, and finds that scholarship displays a positive correspondence with teaching evaluations, but only for male faculty publishing in elite or top-tier marketing journals. Although this linkage is only found under specific conditions, it stands in contrast to much of the extant literature, which reports little to no correlation between research and teaching evaluations. In addition, significant control variables and interactions, at both the faculty level (i.e., gender, faculty title) and university level (i.e., tuition, entry GPA, flagship university), are identified. In total, the findings suggest that while there is an association between elite publications and student evaluations, the primacy of research in the academy may, nonetheless, not always be in the best interest of students.

The Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing at 21 and My Perspective on the Field of B to B Marketing

ABSTRACTPurpose: The author shares his thoughts on the progression of the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing and the field of business-to-business (B to B) marketing over the last 21 years. The author discusses the field of B to B marketing research and examines the gaps that exist between theory and practice and in the quality of papers among the top-tier marketing journals and the three journals that are dedicated to B to B marketing research.Methodology[#x0002F]approach: Because the article represents both the author[#x02019]s perspective on the current state of B to B research and his views on how well the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing has contributed to and influenced the field, the approach taken is primarily conceptual. Also, the approach allowed the author to opine as to the future direction of the field.Findings: Although much progress has been made in improving the quality and relevance of B to B research, there still exists a relative gap in the number of submitted papers, the quality of these papers, and the impact, with some exceptions, that B to B scholars have on marketing theory and practice. Much of the gap can be attributed to the lack of adequate doctoral training. The gap is more a relative comparison to those who would follow a business-to-consumer (B to C) research path.Research implications: Doctoral training for those interested in B to B marketing need to explore other fields of study (e.g., political science, sociology) as well as to be better equipped in more rigorous methods by which to examine the phenomenon that they select to study. The quality of the research in the domain referred to as B to B marketing has improved over the years. The belief that it is more difficult to conduct B to B research than it might be in the B to C world is no longer an excuse for a poorly conceived and executed study. The journal gives a voice to those who wish to study and conduct research in B to B marketing.Practical implications: The implications for practice are immediate and would result in an increase in the dialogue between academics and practicing managers. Given the importance of B to B marketing to the world[#x02019]s economy, B to B scholars ought to pursue problems that are relevant to the world of practice.Originality[#x0002F]value[#x0002F]contribution: In light of the fact that this is the 21st anniversary of the journal, I was asked by Editor-in-Chief David Lichtenthal to present myopinions as to the state of both the journal and the state of the field. I believe that the article builds on the work of others and hopefully sets a direction for future B to B scholars.

Focus on Authors

Focus on Authors

A Bibliometric Study of Citations to Sport Management and Marketing Journals

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of seven sport management and marketing journals on sport-related research published in 20 top tier generic management and marketing journals. Ten top tier management and 10 top tier marketing journals were inventoried to ascertain the number of sport-related management and marketing manuscripts published in those journals from 1987 to 2007. Twenty-five sport management and 51 sport marketing-related manuscripts were identified in the generic journals. From these manuscripts, twelve citations to the seven sport journals were identified in the management publications and 98 citations to the seven sport journals were found in the marketing publications. Sport Marketing Quarterly (62) was the most cited sport management and marketing journal followed by the Journal of Sport Management (28). Results also identify citation frequency by year, first citations and time taken for the seven sport journals to record first citations, author citation frequency and field of author affiliation and its impact on citation patterns. Implications for sport journal focus and editorial policies are discussed as well as the impact of citations in the generic marketing journals compared with the generic management journals.

Focus on Authors

Focus on Authors