Gender diversity in academic publishing—comment on Galak and Kahn (2021)

Galak and Kahn (Marketing Letters, 2021) report that females and underrepresented minorities face a less favorable organizational climate within academic marketing as compared to their respective counterparts. We complement this perspective by assessing the extent to which a gender gap is detectable in academic journal publications in marketing. To this end, we collect a data set which covers all publications of a broad range of peer-reviewed academic journals in business, including marketing, across two decades. We then develop an algorithm that allows us to determine the authors’ gender. We use these data to study a potential gender gap in academic marketing journals. Results indicate that a gender gap in academic publishing in marketing is present and substantial, although it has been declining over time. At the same time, it continues to be particularly visible in the most prestigious journals. While marketing is still far from being a role model, the gender gap is smaller in marketing compared to other fields in business. Our analysis complements the findings by Galak and Kahn (Marketing Letters, 2021) by showing that female scholars do not only experience an unfavorable organizational climate, but they are also underrepresented in academic marketing journals.

Commentary on “2019 Academic Marketing Climate Survey: motivation, results and recommendations”

This paper reflects on the conclusions of a survey by Galak and Kahn on the climate experienced by faculty of all genders and ethnicities in the marketing departments of US business schools.

EXPRESS: R2M Index 1.0: Assessing the Practical Relevance of Academic Marketing Articles

Using text-mining we develop version 1.0 of the Relevance to Marketing (R2M) Index, a dynamic index that measures the topical and timely relevance of academic marketing articles to marketing practice. The index assesses topical relevance based on a dictionary of marketing terms derived from 50,000 marketing articles published in practitioner outlets from 1982 to 2019. Timely relevance is based on the prevalence of academic marketing topics in practitioner publications at a given time. We classify topics into four quadrants based on their low/high popularity in academia and practice —“Desert,” “Academic Island,” “Executive Fields,” and “Highlands”— and score academic articles and journals: Journal of Marketing has the highest R2M score followed by Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Consumer Research. The index correlates with practitioner judgments of practical relevance and other relevance measures. Because the index is a work-in-progress, we discuss how to overcome current limitations and suggest correlating the index with citation counts, altmetrics, and readability measures. Marketing practitioners, authors, and journal editors can use the index to assess article relevance, and academic administrators can use it for promotion and tenure decisions. The R2M index is thus not only a measurement instrument but also a tool for change.

Marketing promotion strategy of liquid foundation products based on university market -Taking CHCEDO as an example

This article takes CHCEDO as an example to analyze the marketing promotion strategy of the foundation liquid products. From the two perspectives of industry background and market demand, we explore the marketing promotion strategy of the foundation liquid products in Colleges and universities. Finally, we summarize the academic marketing theory model of the liquid foundation products, and provide suggestions for developing the online and offline marketing of the powder liquid industry enterprises in Colleges and universities.

Online shopping in a restrictive society: lessons from Saudi Arabia

Purpose Western consumers are able to take shopping for granted, their major restriction being financial. This study aims to understand motivations to buy fashion items online in the culturally restrictive environment of Saudi Arabia, which imposes considerable fashion and behavioural restrictions, particularly on women. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research was conducted with a sample of 34 Saudi women in their home country providing a deep insight into the restrictions that women face when shopping and how they react to these restrictions. Two theoretical lenses, psychological reactance and system justification theories are invoked to understand and explain consumer behaviour. Findings Motives for online shopping are quite different in a restrictive society. The definition of utilitarian motivations in online shopping is developed to reflect the drivers to overcome cultural restrictions or to align one’s shopping behaviour with them. Similarly, hedonic reasons for online purchases are expanded to incorporate nuances found only in such societies, where hedonic motivations include enjoying the breaking of societal restrictions. Originality/value This study is conducted is focussed on a country in which little academic marketing research has taken place due to considerable restrictions on movement and access. Western texts on consumer behaviour are not fully appropriate for understanding such a society.