Establishing discriminant validity has been a keystone of measurement validity in empirical marketing research for many decades. Without statistically showing that constructs have discriminant validity, contributions to marketing literature are likely to foster the proliferation of constructs that are operationally the same as other constructs already present in the literature, thus leading to confusion in the development of theory. This article addresses this concern by evaluating well-established methods for testing discriminant validity through the simulation of artificial datasets (containing varying levels of correlation between constructs, sample size, measurement error, and distribution skewness). The artificial data are applied to six commonly used approaches for testing the existence of discriminant validity. Results strongly suggest that several methods are much more likely than others to yield accurate assessments of whether discriminant validity exists, especially under specific conditions. Recommendations for practice in the assessment of discriminant validity are suggested.

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Careers evolve over time and can take many paths as they develop. Within marketing and sales, a common variant of career progression is to begin in a sales position and then advance internally into a marketing role. Doing so provides employees with unique but complementary sets of skills, experiences, and perspectives that may increase their efficacy as marketers. However, sales-to-marketing job transitions (SMJTs) can also be suboptimal and result in adverse outcomes. Although the sales–marketing interface literature has examined how the two functions work together, the SMJT process is unclear. To provide an understanding of this phenomenon, the authors conduct in-depth interviews across a host of different companies and industries with 56 informants who successfully transitioned intraorganizationally from sales to marketing, informants who transitioned but did not remain in marketing, and executives. They develop a theoretical model consisting of transition motivation, acquisition, preparation, and encounter. They also advance individual and organizational facilitators of SMJTs and discuss SMJTs’ potential positive and negative effects on the organization.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the role that collector identity salience and collecting behaviors have on life satisfaction. The authors also investigate the role that dispositional motivations play in strengthening an individual’s collector identity salience. Design/methodology/approach An online panel management system was used to recruit and compensate a diverse sample of 215 US consumer collectors. The structural model was tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings A partial least squares structural equation model of data collected from a survey of US consumer collectors reveals that creative choice counter conformity and mortality legacy positively enhance collector identity salience, whereas materialism has no effect. Despite not affecting collector identity salience, materialism is found to negatively affect life satisfaction. Crucially, collector identity salience is found to positively affect collector engagement, which, in turn, enhances life satisfaction. Originality/value This research contributes to consumer behavior literature in three distinct ways. First, the authors build upon extant literature which has revealed creative choice counter conformity and mortality legacy as underlying dispositional motivations that contribute to collector identity salience. Second, while materialism has been tied to collecting behaviors via conceptual studies, the authors also examine the broader impact of materialism on an individual’s life satisfaction. Finally, the authors explore how collector identity salience and collector engagement contribute to satisfaction with life.

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