First steps to creating high impact theory in marketing

Abstract

The business research ecosystem can be transformed by responsible research principles. This commentary offers concrete guidance for developing high impact theory; it provides a tool to assess research benefits and identify participating stakeholders. It also calls for improving doctoral training, countering risk aversion in research topic selection, realigning faculty incentives, and leveraging academic institutions. Keywords Responsible research. Marketing theory. Stakeholders. Impact. Ecosystem. Research priorities Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. ─ Zora Neale Hurston (1942), p. 91 I have been asked to offer some reflections on the essays by Key et al. (2020), hereafter called KCFSP. Their work is thought-provoking and a call to action. This commentary begins by discussing my views on four key issues raised by KCFSP-including points of both agreement and disagreement. These four issues are: the purpose of conceptual research in marketing, changes in the marketing discipline, pathways for creating impact, and the relationship between research topics and impact. Then, the commentary offers my vision of a way forward to create impactful research. It identifies practical steps for researchers who seek to generate high impact conceptual work and create an ecosystem that values high impact work.

The Convergence of Sustainability and Marketing: Transforming Marketing to Respond to a New World

“…I contend that all work in marketing should be considered in light of the SDGs. It will require both individual and collective action to achieve them (Bolton, 2020b). Each of us can choose to contribute useful knowledge that is useful to society and credible by • • Endorsing RRBM principles, becoming a signatory on its website, and engaging in its activities; • • Increasing the impact of your own research through selfassessment and continuous improvement; and • • Leveraging your professional roles (e.g., reviewer, conference track organizer, department chair) to transform the marketing community and its priorities.…”

Guest Editorial: Responsible Research in Marketing

“…Instead, usefulness implies that the research has the potential to change the behaviors of one or more stakeholders to have a positive impact on business, the broader society, or the planet (RRBM Principle 6). The list of potential stakeholders includes the ones traditionally considered in marketing (e.g., managers, customers, academics, policymakers) but can also include accreditation bodies, funding agencies, business school deans, and public news media (e.g., Table 1 in Bolton, 2020). Ideally, these stakeholders should be actively involved (e.g., through incentives, co-creation of research agendas, recognition of useful research, or publicizing such research) without compromising the independence or autonomy of the research (RRBM Principle 5).…”

Assessing and enhancing the impact potential of marketing articles

“…As the goal of this article is to develop guidelines for assessing a paper's impact potential, we confine our attention here to drivers that are observable within a manuscript. For that reason, some measures such as the dissemination of research findings through seminar presentations or social media (e.g., Lindgreen et al, 2020) or efforts to influence managerial and public policy decision making through marketing institutions and consultancy (Bolton, 2020) are beyond our scope here.…”

“…Many authors consider the research question to be the primary driver of impact (Houston, 2019;Stremersch, 2021), emphasizing that impactful research promotes change in matters that are relevant (e.g. Bolton, 2020;Kohli & Haenlein, 2021). Scholars have suggested alternative pathways for identifying relevant and important research topics.…”

“…In academia, one might argue that "being impactful" has become a mantra: citations are counted for promotion applications; scholars' reputation is increasingly affected by their h-index; external funding bodies tend to make decisions based on a research project's expected business or societal impact; and business school accreditation boards and university ranking systems treat impact as a key standard (e.g., Birkinshaw et al, 2016). As a result, scholars engage in ongoing discussion of how marketing research might be made more relevant, important, and useful (e.g., Bolton, 2020;Kohli & Haenlein, 2021;MacInnis et al, 2020;Stremersch, 2021), so acknowledging that the future of marketing as a science will ultimately be defined by its impact.…”