A Longitudinal Review of Models in Marketing Research: An Abstract

Abstract

This research offers a dynamic perspective on the evolution and use of marketing models through a content analysis of articles published in the top five marketing journals from 1990 to 2017: Journal of Marketing (JM), Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), Journal of Consumer Research (JCR), Marketing Science (MS), and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Research (JAMS). Three independent researchers classified articles by their content (conceptual, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed), type of data source (experiment, survey, and observation), type of model (choice, hazard, panel data, nonlinear, theoretic, etc.), and subject (consumer behavior, research methodology, channels of distribution, etc.). The results of the analysis show that the number of studies per article has been steadily increasing in JCR (from 1 in 1990 to 5 in 2017), JM and JMR (from 1 in 1990 to 2 in 2017), less so in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (from 1 in 1990 to 1.5 in 2017), and no change taking place in Marketing Science. In methodological terms, conceptual and survey research exhibit a declining trend whereas experimental and observational research is increasing. This study looks at changes in the adoption of model types. Our findings reveal that researchers have been using simple linear models less with the ratio of linear regression models/more complex models being 50/50 in 1990 and 30/70 in 2017. The top five frequently used modeling methods in marketing (by percent of studies) include linear regression, choice, theoretical, multivariate, and structural equation models. However, the use of theoretical, multivariate, and structural equation models has been declining, while the use of hierarchical linear, dynamic, panel data models has been increasing. We believe that the rise of the latter models can be attributed to the increased availability of time-series cross-sectional data. We also find some journal-specific preferences for particular models. Our research sheds light on the interplay of research methods and the trends in model types in the top five marketing journals as well as provides direction for future research.