Call for Papers: 2016 Global Marketing
Conference & Special Issue of Journal of Business Research
Marketing anthropology research (MAR):
artifacts/closet digs, field experiments, and direct observation of marketing
and/or customer interactions and other behaviors
Manuscript submissions must be received by
January 15, 2016
The 2016 Global Marketing Conference (GMC)
will be held in Hong Kong, on July 21– 24, 2016. This year¡¯s conference theme is, ¡°Bridging Asia and the World: Global Platform for Interface between
Marketing and Management.¡± For more information about
the 2016 GMC, please visit the following web site (http://gammaconference.org/2016/). A special Conference track
on Marketing and Anthropology offers an exciting opportunity to answer calls
for research that puts consumers back into the research process (e.g., Denzin,
2001).
Marketing Anthropology Research (MAR) offers
a unique vantage point for contributing to the discipline of marketing
research. MAR embraces adherence to several central propositions including the
following viewpoints. Advances in theory in the field of marketing research
require accurate and deep explication of naturally occurring thinking,
assessments, communications, and behavior of consumers (see Woodside and
Martin, 2015). MAR recognizes the severe limits in asking questions and
encourages advancement of methods beyond scaled response metrics. MAR
researchers are historically and locally situated within the phenomena studied.
They recognize that research methods are not neutral in their effects on theory
creation and testing. Consumer research joins the research and researched (see
Denzin, 2001). Rather than adopting a net effects standard on the influence of
individual independent variables, MAR researchers more often embrace a gestalt
recipe perspective – both
in crafting and testing theory. MAR researchers are bricoleur, piecing together
data from multiple sources.
The literature identifies at least five
branches of MAR. Interpretive Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) research recognizes
consumer culture derives from a social arrangement between lived culture and
social resources. CCT examines issues relating to relationships among consumers¡¯ individual and collective identities
in areas including product symbolism, rituals, and consumer product/brand
stories (e.g., Arnould and Thompson, 2005; Arsel and Thompson, 2011).
Unobtrusive field experiences are a second branch of MAR. This branch posits
that controlled experiments and actual behavior often differ significantly
(Levitt, List, and Reiley, 2010). Field studies collect data in-situ that
examines people as while they are in the act of being consumers to better
understand their decision making processes and motivations (Ariely and
Simonson, 2003; Lee and Ariely, 2006). Even less obtrusive is participant observation
research. This third MAR branch views the researcher(s) as watching and
interpreting consumer behavior. Observation research assumes people would act
differently if they realized that someone was studying their behavior. Data
rely on etic interpretations of consumer behavior (Belk, Sherry, and
Wallendorf, 1988; Bowen, 2002). Participatory Action Research (PAR) represents
the fourth MAR branch. PAR assumes consumer involvement in the research process
helps to improve their overall welfare. This approach assumes the study group¡¯s active participation increases trust and improves information
quality (see Whyte, 1989). Social change issues such as purchasing affordable
health insurance offer fertile ground for using PAR in consumer research
(Ozanne and Saatcioglu, 2008). In-situ long interviews represents MAR¡¯s fifth research branch. Respondents sharing narratives of their
experiences provide rich data because the information most accessible if
collected as stored in the mind (see Schank, 2000). Unstructured or
semi-structured long interviews (McCracken, 1988) helps to release information
that is often stored unconsciously (Zaltman, 2003). These thick descriptions
provide deep insights on actual thinking, evaluations, and behavior of
consumers (Martin, 2010; Woodside, 2010).
All submissions, reviewing and notification
will be conducted electronically through email. If you do not receive
confirmation of your submission within seven days, please contact the track
chairs. Please submit manuscripts in an MS WORD document in Times New Roman 12-
font. Submissions should have page numbers and be limited to 20 pages of text
in length. References and citations should follow the Journal of Business
Research style. Please place all tables and figures at the end of the
manuscript (following the references). The manuscripts title page should
include the corresponding author¡¯s name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail
address. Names and contact information for other authors should be included as
well. Submissions will be evaluated by a double-blind review process.
Information identifying the submission authors should only be listed on the
title page. ONLY selected GMC conference papers from research reports presented
at the 2016 Global Marketing Conference in Hong Kong will be considered for a
special edition of the Journal of Business Research on Marketing Anthropology
Research.
Conference submissions should be sent to both
track chairs/guest editors. Authors may contact the track chairs with inquiries
relating to the issue.
Professor Drew Martin, University of Hawaii at Hilo, 200 West
Kawili Street, Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4091, USA, drmartin@hawaii.edu,
Tel: +1-808-974-7553, Fax: +1-808- 974-7685.
Professor Arch Woodside, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue,
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA, arch.woodside@bc.edu, Tel:
+1-617-552-3069, Fax: +1-617-552-6677.