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The commodity approach in marketing research: Is it really obsolete?

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine a paradox in the marketing literature. This paradox concerns the commodity approach to marketing research. On the one hand, the commodity approach is perceived as obsolete. Few marketing journals or textbooks refer to it as a marketing research method. On the other hand, commodity based papers are still prominent in the marketing literature. Industrial products and the marketing of services are still the focus of a substantial amount of research. In order to empirically investigate the actual status of the commodity approach in scholarly marketing research, this paper presents a content analysis of articles appearing in theJournal of Marketing (1936–1989) and theAMA Proceedings (1957–1989). The goal of the content analysis is to measure how the adoption rate of the commodity approach has evolved over the past 54 years. Is the commodity approach as obsolete as it is perceived to be? Results show that (1) the adoption rate of the commodity approach is cyclical, (2) different commodities are studied more frequently in each of these cycles, and (3) current papers are more theoretical and less descriptive than earlier papers adopting the commodity approach. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A00BV057 00010

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami, USA

    Walter Zinn

  2. Grand Valley State University, Allendale, USA

    Scott D. Johnson

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  1. Walter Zinn
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  2. Scott D. Johnson
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Zinn, W., Johnson, S.D. The commodity approach in marketing research: Is it really obsolete?. JAMS 18, 345–353 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723920

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