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Contours of the marketing literature: Text, context, point-of-view, research horizons, interpretation, and influence in marketing

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Abstract

The marketing literature is the elemental material out of which all of our academic articles are created. It is not possible to conduct an empirical study in academic marketing without referencing the theories, arguments, prior studies, and findings of our literature. While observation, scale development and measurement are all signature features of modern academic marketing, they can only be intelligible when contextualized in terms of the history, structure, and development of theory found in our literature. Despite the fact that 75% of the most cited marketing articles are literature-based, conceptual/theoretical in nature (Clark & Key in AMS Review, 11, 416–431, 2021), our discipline has moved in a methodological/mathematical modelling direction (Yadav, 2010; Key et al., 2020). Yet this move has not increased the influence of the field as many expected. Despite this situation, other than a few articles on the literature review, the marketing literature per se has received little attention. In light of this, the purposes of this paper, are to: 1) extend the limited work on the nature and uses of the marketing literature; 2) encourage the development of studies that have proven influential, namely conceptual/theoretical articles; 3) provide materials for doctoral seminars suitable to nurturing a deeper appreciation of the complexities of our literature and its application in theory development; and 4) provide fresh perspectives for marketing scholars in the best uses of our literature. Borrowing from fields that specialize in the study of academic literatures, the authors identify several important features of the marketing literature, including: how our literature as texts differs from spoken research presentations and why this matters; demonstrating why an article’s context, point-of-view, and research horizons are critical to a reasonable interpretation and use of articles; and how academic marketing articles gain influence.

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Notes

  1. The field of Rhetoric of Science explores such differences as style, expectations, and rigor across academic disciplines. For example, see Penrose and Katz (1997), Harris (2017).

  2. The full citation report is available at https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/citation-report/cc67996a-51bf-498d-a142-e59ce1060788-402152b7.

  3. Including a “RETRACTED” notice on the article’s Web of Science entry.

  4. While it is not our purpose here to discuss the retraction of academic articles per se, suffice it to say that there are numerous cases in marketing and other business-related disciples. For examples, see the website Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/

  5. The wider literature on author/reader horizons also includes cultural and historical settings (Gadamer, 2004). However, in the context of this paper on academic marketing texts, we limit discussion of author/reader horizons to professional training, theoretical and methodological preparation and subsequent academic reading.

  6. The Journal of Marketing article is actually the transcript of a speech given by Drucker at the Philadelphia chapter of the AMA on June 6th 1957.

  7. For a fuller discussion of the complicated nature of impact and influence, see Sugimoto and Larivière (2018), Andrés (2009)

  8. The journals included in the study were, Accounting Organization and Society, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, and Journal of Accounting and Economics; Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Review of Financial Studies; Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Strategic Management Journal; and Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, and Marketing Science. Because the Web of Science database does not curate all important journals, some, such as the AMS Review, could not be included in their study because it had not been around long enough.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, College of Business, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA

    Terry Clark

  2. Department of Marketing, Strategy, and International Business, College of Business and Administration, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, 80918, USA

    Thomas Martin Key

  3. Department of Marketing, School of Business Administration, Stetson University, Deland, FL, 32723, USA

    Carol Azab

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Clark, T., Key, T.M. & Azab, C. Contours of the marketing literature: Text, context, point-of-view, research horizons, interpretation, and influence in marketing. AMS Rev 13, 232–249 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-023-00267-1

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