Is Marketing Academia Losing its Way? It Depends Where you Look

Abstract

Heterogeneity lies at the heart of the issue of whether marketing academia is losing its way. On the one hand, critics point to research studies that address trivial themes and non-problems. Giving grounds for optimism, on the other hand, are the hundreds of research studies that investigate significant managerial problems in ways that are rigorous, relevant and accessible. Looking ahead, we should re-think the significance of marketing, encourage industry collaboration, streamline journal publication processes, give extra weight to management-relevant criteria when refereeing journal articles, and reflect these practices in the way future generations of marketers are trained.