Journal of Macromarketing recent issues

In this Issue

Shultz, C. J. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

Metric and Interpretive Explorations of Macromarketing

Shultz, C. J., Holbrook, M. B., Lehmann, D. R. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

Putting Patients First: Social Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations

Chance, Z., Deshpande, R. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world’s poorest countries. Of the over forty million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first part of this article explores the economics of HIV and treatment from a social marketing perspective. The second part of the article uses three specific case histories of successful social marketing organizations in Africa, Asia, and South America to inductively generate a consumer (patient)-centric marketing model. The focal organizations are unique in that they all identify patient needs first, then work backwards to develop economically viable solutions. Their solutions are not without flaws, and the future of these programs remains uncertain, but the authors hope that illuminating specific cases within the consumer-centric marketing paradigm will shed light on ways in which other organizations may be able to serve the poor profitably.

Applying Catholic Social Teachings to Ethical Issues in Marketing

Klein, T. A., Laczniak, G. R. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

This article updates earlier work by the authors and proposes the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to be an encompassing and coherent normative theory, a source of principles that address contemporary issues in marketing, especially when a manager faces ethically charged questions. The authors propose that this application of a tradition in moral theology offers a novel approach for helping resolve contemporary ethical problems in marketing. Their approach to this task pursues two paths. First, the main tenets of Catholic social teaching are presented, along with some discussion of sources. Then, some of the ethical issues associated with contemporary marketing are introduced. These two paths are joined together by connecting Catholic social teaching principles to these questions. Finally, they argue for the value of this approach outside the framework of any denominational or sectarian context.

Effects of International Trade and Economic Development on Quality of Life

Mullen, M. R., Doney, P. M., Ben Mrad, S., Ye Sheng, S. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

The authors integrate theories from macromarketing, economics, and sociology to develop a conceptual model assessing the effects of international trade and economic development on physical quality of life (PQOL), individual freedom, and the environment (carbon dioxide [CO₂] emissions and environmental performance). The study introduces new measures of individual freedom and environmental performance to the macromarketing literature. Research hypotheses are tested on time-lagged data from 104 countries using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that international trade is associated with economic growth that enhances the well-being of people and their ‘‘visible’’ natural environment but with a deleterious impact on global warming through increased CO₂ emissions. Increases in PQOL and individual freedom are associated with lower CO₂ emissions and improved environmental performance. These findings have important implications for public policy makers, marketing academics, and practitioners.

The Institutional Foundations of Materialism in Western Societies: A Conceptualization and Empirical Test

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

Studies of materialism have increased in recent years, and most of these studies examine various aspects of materialism including its individual or social consequences. However, understanding, and possibly shaping, a society’s materialistic tendencies requires a more complete study of the relationship between a society’s institutional patterns and the acceptance of materialism by its members. Consequently, the current study examines five of the institutional antecedents of materialism to understand better how and why it develops as a mode of consumption within a society. More specifically, a model relating materialism and a set of institutionalized patterns of social behavior referred to as the dominant social paradigm was developed and tested in a study of seven industrial, market-based countries. The results suggest that the economic, technological, political, anthropocentric, and competition institutions making up the dominant social paradigm are all positively related to materialism. The implications of the relationship are then discussed.

Effectiveness of Corporate Well-Being Programs: A Meta-Analysis

Anand Keller, P., Lehmann, D. R., Milligan, K. J. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

Health is a major component of well-being and quality of life (QOL) and an increasingly costly one. We examine the role of employers for promoting QOL. A meta-analysis examines the impact of fifty well-being programs, which address six health issues and use seven marketing approaches. The analysis indicates that well-being programs and marketing approaches significantly improve employee health and depend on company size and employee gender. Results, based on sixty studies, show there is significant opportunity to efficiently tailor corporate health programs.

Quaker Travels, Fellow Traveler?: Wroe Alderson's Visit to Russia during the Cold War

Tadajewski, M. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

This article will add an important detail to our knowledge of Wroe Alderson’s life, namely his journey to Russia at the height of the cold war and the subsequent intelligence gathering efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following Alderson’s return from Russia in 1955. It does this by situating the text (AFSC 1956) that resulted from the journey in its historical context, connecting the trip to Russia with the Quaker value system that motivated the expedition. These values are, in turn, related to the files of the FBI via a brief review of the relevant volumes of FBI files that referred to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)—the group that Alderson traveled to Russia with. Using the Quaker publication coauthored by Alderson that details the journey to Russia, this article reconstructs the arguments found in that text. Finally, the author examines why Alderson attracted the attention of the FBI. His characteristic willingness to critique the assertions of a party of Soviet individuals with whom he met, as well as support for Alderson from an unknown Quaker associated with the FBI, would ensure that his credentials as an American patriot were never in danger.

Interpreting Macromarketing: The Construction of a Major Macromarketing Research Collection

Shapiro, S. J., Tadajewski, M., Shultz, C. J. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:09:39 PDT

This commentary introduces a four-volume tome, Macromarketing, a major research collection for which the authors served as editors. Equity, poverty, and societal development were the primary foci. A lengthy vetting process resulted in eighty articles for inclusion. Among them are articles recently published in the Journal of Macromarketing; most of the articles however are drawn from economics, foreign policy, sociology, and the literature of other disciplines. This eclectic mix reveals other fields and leading scholars in them who share interests with macromarketers. The table of contents and organizational structure of the tome are presented in Table 1. Influential articles that ‘‘just missed the cut’’ for reasons explained in the commentary are included in Table 2.

In this Issue

Shultz, C. J., Kilbourne, W., Witkowski, T. H. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:25 PDT

Wisdom: Exploring the Pinnacle of Human Virtues as a Central Link from Micromarketing to Macromarketing

Mick, D. G., Bateman, T. S., Lutz, R. J. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

The macromarketing system is largely the function of many micromarketing decisions made each day. But this connection has not been probed thoroughly in the macromarketing literature, and there is a need for conceptual frameworks that can successfully link the challenges of effective micromarketing with the laudable goals of the macromarketing field, which focuses on the interdependencies between marketing and society. To this end, we explore wisdom, the zenith of human virtues, through pertinent literature and in-depth interviews with executives nominated for their wise decision making. We discovered that wisdom in marketing is characterized by the recognition and management of five central paradoxes (e.g., the need for expertise versus the need to admit knowledge limitations and the need to enact authority and accountability versus the need for ego control). We discuss the implications of these findings for the theory, practice, and teaching of macromarketing and for basic wisdom theory.

The Cross-National Market in Human Beings

Pennington, J. R., Ball, A. D., Hampton, R. D., Soulakova, J. N. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

Human trafficking, as defined here, is moving human beings across borders for the purpose of enslaving them. Human trafficking may be in the sex trade, forced labor or service, extraction of body parts, or other forms of exploited labor or debt bondage. The market is believed to be extensive, with its own distribution channels, pricing systems, and other market functions. The purposes of this article are to present an understanding of cross-border human trafficking as a marketing system, to explicate the societal effects of that system, and to show how the extent of cross-border trafficking may be estimated, using as an example several countries where it is believed to be a substantial problem. Additionally, we seek to show that cross-border human trafficking may be a much more serious problem than what is visible to governments.

A Political Economy of Regulatory Failure in US Packaged Food Markets

Redmond, W. H. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

An increasing number of consumers are seeking to lead healthier lives by eating more healthful foods. In the United States, however, some are unknowingly consuming foods that are less healthful and wholesome than they expect. Through information on packages, food marketers draw attention to apparently healthful aspects of foods, while minimizing attention to the less desirable properties. A salient aspect of this situation is that such marketing practices are permissible under rules established by the relevant regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this sense, the situation constitutes a market failure, which is enabled by a regulatory failure. The political economy framework is used to examine the regulatory failure. The article takes a critical view of certain food marketing practices and argues that, for at least some customers, consumer interests are being subordinated to food firm's interests.

Children's Relative Influence in Family Decision Making in Urban China

Flurry, L. A., Veeck, A. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

With its strict population policy and unprecedented economic growth, urban China offers a unique environment in which to examine how radical changes in state policy can affect family consumption behavior. The objectives of this study are to examine children's influence in purchase decision making and to explore factors thought to explain variation observed in children's influence. A survey of 819 urban Chinese families was conducted to directly compare the influence generated among three generations of family members in nuclear and extended family households from both the parents' and the children's perspectives. The analysis found that, while the influence of children varied by product category and by the character of the purchase decision, the children's influence on family decision making was less dominant than would be suggested by the popular image of China's only children.

Fair Trade's Dual Aspect: The Communications Challenge of Fair Trade Marketing

Golding, K. M. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

Effective communication strategies are fundamental to achieving sustainable consumption, yet there is a gap in the literature with respect to their design. Moreover, there is considerable debate with respect to the starting point for such strategies: whether the shift to sustainable consumption can be achieved within the dominant social paradigm or whether a new paradigm is required. Fair trade (FT) marketing presents a valuable case study of these issues in practice. Case analysis of a campaign by the Divine Chocolate Company suggests the importance of transcending the polarization of the radical and pragmatic visions of FT and also the within or without dichotomy of macromarketing in terms of moving consumers along a pathway to sustainable development. The campaign's synergism further has significant implications for the design of communication strategies to effect sustainable consumption. These are presented in terms of two working propositions for exploration in alternative contexts.

Advertising and the Hawaiian Pineapple Canning Industry, 1929--39

Hawkins, R. A. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

In 1931, the Hawaiian pineapple canning industry was belatedly affected by the collapse of its principal market, the continental United States, which was in the depths of the Great Depression. The pineapple canners lost half of that market and prospects for recovery looked bleak. Canned pineapple was a nonessential food. However, the canners formed a new industry association and engineered a remarkable recovery during the remainder of the 1930s. It is often argued that those industries or companies that continue to invest in advertising during economic downturns experience better outcomes than those that either cut or eliminate expenditure on advertising. The few case studies that exist support this hypothesis. This historical case study suggests that advertising played a key role in the Hawaiian pineapple industry's revival, whereas the disorganized Californian peach canning industry, which invested less in advertising, remained in crisis throughout most of the 1930s.

Rethinking the Emergence of Relationship Marketing

Tadajewski, M., Saren, M. — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:26 PDT

In this article, the history of relationship marketing (RM) is challenged. Similar to discussions of the marketing concept, the debates surrounding RM are largely ahistorical. This is despite numerous scholars indicating that RM has a far longer history than is currently appreciated. In contrast to received wisdom that RM emerged in the late 1970s, it is demonstrated that RM themes have been present in the marketing literature for longer than is recognized by the contemporary scholars.

Examining the Interactions among Markets, Marketing, and Society

Shultz, C. J. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

``Marketing History at the Center'': Papers from the 2007 CHARM

Witkowski, T. H. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

Marketing History Special Issue Reviewers

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

Discovering the Consumer: Market Research, Product Innovation, and the Creation of Brand Loyalty in Britain and the United States in the Interwar Years

Schwarzkopf, S. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

This article discusses the use of market and consumer research at Lever/Unilever and its advertising agency in Britain and the United States, J. Walter Thompson (JWT), in the interwar period. Research surveys conducted by JWT in the 1920s and 1930s helped Lever reposition its international soap brand Lux. The case demonstrates that Lever deployed qualitative market research techniques much earlier than usually acknowledged. Qualitative and quantitative consumer research methods allowed marketers at Lever and JWT to take account of autonomous consumer practices that limited the scope of management. The article also shows that marketing's cultural practices often predate its conceptualization and academic theorization.

``A More Definite System'': The Emergence of Retail Food Chains in Canada, 1919--1945

Boothman, B. E. C. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

Examinations of the rise of modern retail activities traditionally have emphasized developments in the United States, where firms could exploit strong economies of scale and scope and could service transcontinental markets. In middle-sized economies such as Canada, the opportunities for expansion were more limited and firms often were slower to adopt new modes of marketing organization. This study reappraises the rise of large retailers in the Canadian grocery industry during the interwar era. It provides an overview of the issues that propelled the formation of the firms, their organizational traits, and the factors that slowed the ability of the firms to achieve market dominance.

Marketplace Activism: A History of the African American Elite Market Segment

Branchik, B. J., Davis, J. F. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

A distinct and significant African American elite market segment began its growth prior to the U.S. Civil War, flourished as a result of two world wars, and has continued to expand and diversify. Today, the segment comprises three subsegments including a conventional upper middle-class, the traditional elite, and the nouveau riche. This market segment is distinct both from other African American groups and from the white elite in terms of products and services consumed. This distinction results from this group's isolation and lack of opportunities through the civil rights era and the importance placed on such factors as ancestry and affiliation within this group. This paper presents a four-phase periodization model of the development of the African American elite market segment, linking its development to key events and historical eras. This segment has practiced a unique form of economic consumer activism in the marketplace—referred to as ``marketplace activism''—in the quest for respect and equal treatment in American society.

``To guide, help and hearten millions'': The Place of Commercial Advertising in Wartime Britain, 1939--1945

Clampin, D. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

This paper examines the cultural representations of commercial advertising. Based on a case study of the British home front during the Second World War, it explores the efforts of commercial advertisers to speak in the idiom of the time, charting their reactions to the dramatic events being played out around them. Alongside this, it draws on a variety of sources to characterize the nature of the people's interaction with the war and thereby examines whether the more down-to-earth language of advertisers proved to be more appropriate than the lofty rhetoric of government propaganda. The conclusion suggests that commercial advertising offers an important insight to the historian in characterizing past cultures and societies.

Za Zdorovye!: Soviet Health Posters as Social Advertising

Fox, K. F. A. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

Soviet-era health campaigns relied heavily on posters. Soviet-era health posters can be viewed as social advertising, aiming to attract interest and to motivate behavior change. Health-related posters from major Russian and US collections were analyzed in terms of their themes and the types of appeals used. These posters, promoting cleanliness and better infant and child care and attacking smoking and drunkenness, used a variety of appeals, including use of statistics and graphs, testimonials, appeals to authority, appeals to fight the enemy, and bandwagon, rational and shame appeals. The Institute for Health Education, founded in Moscow in 1928, played a leading role in creating and distributing health posters. The process of identifying themes, selecting artists, reviewing and pretesting posters, and undergoing censorship review is described.

Global Family Policy: Journal of Macromarketing, 2010

Gentry, J. W., Commuri, S. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:50 PST

Ad Hoc Reviewers--December 2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

In this Issue

Shultz, C. J. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

Infotransformation of Markets: Introduction to the Special Issue on Marketing and Information Technology

Zwick, D., Dholakia, N. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a driving force behind major economic, social, and cultural shifts from the modern to the postmodern, from local to global markets, from production to consumption, and from industrial to informational economies. While much has been written about the relationship between marketing and technology, most of the work regards marketing as an a priori category onto which new technologies are simply overlaid as they come along. These instrumentalist—functionalist views of ICTs in marketing are not particularly well suited when—as in macromarketing— the focus is on marketing systems and consumption systems. The present collection of articles provides one of the most insightful one-stop learning shops of the changing character of markets in the information age. From the fractal views of the ethical economy and its emergent collaborative production-provisioning-consumption system to the realities of the persistent digital divide in the age of the mobile phone, articles in this issue touch on important elements of marketing in the age of information. We invite you to enter and enrich these discussions.

The Ethical Economy of Customer Coproduction

Arvidsson, A. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

In this article, the author argues that customer coproduction should be understood as an expression of a large-scale trend toward the increasing power and relevance of social production. Social production consists in the self-organized systems of (mostly immaterial) production that have evolved around the diffusion of networked information and communication technologies. An analysis of the genealogy of social production is shared; this includes tracing it to the process of re-mediation of social relations put in motion by the expansion of the capitalist economy into the fields of culture and consciousness and the concomitant socialization of production relations. The author then argues that social production, including customer coproduction, follows a very particular economic logic—that is, an ethical economy where value is related to social impact rather than monetary accumulation. A detailed analysis of the logic of this ethical economy is offered; it draws out some implications for the successful management of ever more customer-centric brands, whereby the consumers are directly involved in the processes that add value.

The Wisdom of Consumer Crowds: Collective Innovation in the Age of Networked Marketing

Kozinets, R. V., Hemetsberger, A., Schau, H. J. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

Past theories of consumer innovation and creativity were devised before the emergence of the profound collaborative possibilities of technology. With the diffusion of networking technologies, collective consumer innovation is taking on new forms that are transforming the nature of consumption and work and, with it, society and marketing. We theorize, examine, dimensionalize, and organize these forms and processes of online collective consumer innovation. Extending past theories of informationalism, we follow this macro-social paradigm shift into grassroots regions that have irrevocable impacts on business and society. Business and society need categories and procedures to guide their interactions with this powerful and growing phenomenon. We classify and describe four types of online creative consumer communities—Crowds, Hives, Mobs, and Swarms. Collective innovation is produced both as an aggregated byproduct of everyday information consumption and as a result of the efforts of talented and motivated groups of innovative e-tribes.

Co-creating Second Life: Market--Consumer Cooperation in Contemporary Economy

Bonsu, S. K., Darmody, A. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

In this article, we draw on our participant observation in the virtual-technology context of Second Life to explore cocreation's prepossessing claim of consumer empowerment and its connections to contemporary forms of social organization. We conclude that while consumers are genuinely empowered by co-creation practices, this empowerment that frees the consumer in a diversity of ways also offers significant avenues for entrapping the consumer into producing for the firm. In the end, co-creation is a veneer of consumer empowerment in a world where market power, in large measure, still resides in capital. On this basis, we suggest that the seeming demise of capitalism espoused by some scholars is premature to the extent that capitalism has the uncanny ability to meld into newer social formations such as those afforded by Second Life. Thus, a more realistic vision is an interloping of the ethical and capitalist economies.

The Playfulness of eBay and the Implications for Business as a Game-Maker

Molesworth, M., Denegri-Knott, J. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

The purpose of this article is to theorize and to illustrate how eBay as a game may both support and undermine playful consumption. In reaching that aim, we argue that business models such as eBay that operate in an experiential economy supplying new games for restless consumers to play may find it hard to sustain their initial success. As internal and external forces transform "playful" behaviors into "professional" ones and as imaginative and autotelic play is rationalized such that its purpose becomes extrinsic, consumer boredom may follow. Conceptually, we make a case for an appraisal of consumption as playful activity, borrowing key concepts from Caillois's sociology derived from play to guide our analysis of recent developments in eBay's business model as well as to flesh out an explanation as to how eBay engages playful consumption. We conclude by commenting on society's preferred play forms for businesses and for consumer culture.

A New World of Literacy, Information Technologies, and the Incorporeal Selves: Implications for Macromarketing Thought

Fyrat, A. F., Vicdan, H. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

We discuss issues that require attention by (macro)marketing scholars in view of how people use new technologies of communication, specifically the Internet. Despite roadblocks because of lack of new literacy, lack of access to technologies, and modern marketing orientations, major transformations are foreseen. We discuss how trendsetters with access engage in constructing selves (e.g., iconic and (dis)embodied selves) that invigorate and that are fueled by technological as well as cultural transformations. We highlight the pivotal role that macromarketing must play in directing these transformations by (1) providing avenues for the development of a new literacy required today, (2) reconfiguring the markets and marketing systems to permit people's engagement in participatory practices, and (3) embracing and encouraging multiple orders and navigation among them. Following observations regarding trends in people's orientations toward life and construction of selves, we propose avenues for (macro)marketing scholarship and research to guide the above-stated directions.

Exploring the Digital Divide in Mobile-phone Adoption Levels across Countries: Do Population Socioeconomic Traits Operate in the Same Manner as Their Individual-level Demographic Counterparts?

Stump, R. L., Wen Gong, , Zhan Li, — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

Although the adoption of mobile phones has been skyrocketing globally during the current decade, present adoption levels are quite uneven across countries. Such disparities are also found over a range of other information and communications technologies and have been characterized as a "digital divide." Although the adoption of mobile phones has been the focus of numerous studies, relatively few have systematically and comprehensively investigated the adoption of this technological innovation at the country level of analysis and over a broad range of nations. This study addresses this research gap by examining the effects of three country-level socioeconomic factors paralleling the individual-level demographic traits that in past studies have predominantly predicted early adoption of innovations. We rely on secondary data obtained from several reputable sources to examine this phenomenon across 170 nations. Theoretical, managerial, and policy implications based on our empirical findings, along with directions for future research, are presented.

Reviews and Communication: What Do We Know about Economic Development?

Dapice, D. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

This article is an idiosyncratic review of several recent books on development, some older ones, and a critique of development economics as applied to promoting development. It discusses various analyses of factors causing economic development or preventing it, suggesting that general theories only go so far and specific knowledge is needed. Some of this knowledge concerns the thinking of elites, their choices of whether or not to stay in their country and under what terms, and how various interest groups relate.

Structuring the Global Marketplace: The Impact of the United Nations Global Compact

Nason, R. W. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

During the past seven years, the United Nations Global Compact has become the largest voluntary corporate-citizenship initiative attempting to elevate and level the norms of corporate behavior in world markets. Its strategy of attracting volume of members versus commitment to performance of the Compacts 10 principles does not provide a base of innovators and early adopters necessary to gain respect from the vast majority of international companies. Thus, the Compact is unlikely to instill the norms embedded in its ten principles in the world market in any meaningful way to engender fairer and more efficient global markets.

An Open Source, Controversies-based Macromarketing Chapter: An Initial Step toward a Free Online Macromarketing Course?

Shapiro, S. J. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST

This article first discusses the pedagogical usefulness of an "open source" chapter now available to all at the Macromarketing Society's Web site. That chapter begins by examining the chasm that existed between macromarketing as a field of inquiry and the then (2005) prevailing American Marketing Association definition of marketing. Next, the article attempts to familiarize readers with the domain, or various areas of study, within macromarketing. Finally, its author both makes the case for and provides eight examples of a controversies-based approach to the study of macromarketing. As regards the next step in macromarketing pedagogy, it is argued that the time for authoring a macromarketing textbook has come and gone. Rather, that next pedagogical step should involve the design of a free, online macromarketing course universally available for use, in whole or in part, both by interested instructors and by students of macromarketing or marketing and society.

Abstracts from the 2008 Conference of the Macromarketing Society

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:05 PST