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.