At this point in my editorship, I’m a little more than halfway in my tenure. I’m also preparing for our Editorial Review Board meeting at Society for Marketing Advances (SMA). Given this point in time, I thought it worthwhile to pause and reflect on the state of the journal.
First, we have a healthy backlog of articles, both in production and in review. This backlog represents a strong increase in regular submissions. Our Special Innovations issue looks strong in terms of quality of submissions, but the total is down this year. We were a little late in getting that process started, entirely my fault, but I think by the end of that process, we’ll have a healthy number of submissions.
More importantly, two new things were done. The first was our first curation. Dawn Deeter, Kansas State University, submitted this curation and it is now available on the MER website. The second was our first special issue in a while, this one on integrating marketing analytics, co-edited by Alma Mintu-Wimsatt of Texas A&M Commerce and Hector Lozada, of Seton Hall. This special issue should be available in early 2018.
These actions are important for two reasons. First, we are broadening participation in the journal, which is important for raising the journal’s visibility and quality, both important drivers for impact. Second, these actions will help us propel the journal to a quarterly publication, hopefully in time for the next editor.
If you have an interest in either curating a topic area (Principles, anyone?) or a special issue, please send me your ideas before SMA. We’ll put these on the agenda for discussion there. In this issue, I believe we are seeing continued progression of the journal in several interesting directions.
We start this issue with a study of marketing simulations. “Factors Contributing to Cognitive Absorption and Grounded Learning Effectiveness in a Competitive Business Marketing Simulation,” by David Scott Baker, James Underwood, III, and Ramendra Thakur. This article is a great application of grounded learning effectiveness, providing solid support for strategies to make simulations more effective.
The second article couldn’t be more different. This look at education in Nigeria is fascinating, particularly against the backdrop of state-funded education in any country and the political debates going on now. “Comparative Service Quality Metrics in Regular and Nonregular Undergraduate Marketing Programs: Implications for Marketing Education and Professionalism” is by Gazie S. Okpara and Agu G. Agu, and is an indication, I hope, of the international possibilities for this journal, in addition to being interesting research.
And then we go to rubbish. Well, the study of rubbish. “Connecting Consumer Behavior With Marketing Research Through Garbology,” by Datha Damron-Martinez and Katherine L. Jackson, does something I’ve argued for a long – promotes the integration of consumer behavior and research, and does so in a fascinating way.
As a dean, I’ve argued that students get more motivated when they are working on something that is real. Gema Vinuales and Judy Harris test that argument in “An Experiential Social Media Project: Comparing Client-Sponsored and Non-Client-Sponsored Alternatives.” Their research is a bit surprising, so be sure to take a look.
“Improving AACSB Assurance of Learning With Importance-Performance and Learning Growth: A Case Study” is an article you should give to your dean. Not only will you help elevate the journal, but it just has good information that deans and associate deans need. Written by James W. Harvey and Kevin F. McCrohan, this piece identifies two fallacious assumptions that have negative consequences for our program design and assessment. I’m going to share this with my curriculum committee because this piece identifies important issues we need to address as a profession.
Concha K. Allen, Riley G. Dugan, Eugen M. Popa, and Crina O. Tarasi close the regular articles with “Helping Students Find Their Sweet Spot: A Teaching Approach Using the Sales Process to Find Jobs that Fit.” Leveraging the job-fit construct, they integrate the selling process as a way to guide faculty when shepherding students through career development.
Scott Wysong and Laura Munoz offer a research note on the application of the book, The Power of Who!, in a principles course. “Research Note: Helping Students Market Themselves with The Power of Who!” Using experimental design, they are able to demonstrate the impact on students, both in terms of understanding marketing and laser-sighting their job search.
Again, at this half-way point, I hope you agree that we’re making great strides. The journal couldn’t do this without the reviewers, and I thank everyone who did one, two, or even three reviews in the past year. One of the things we need to do is to revise the editorial review board. I hope to be able to do that this fall, as we have members who have retired or taken on new responsibilities. Please look for announcements following the SMA meeting.
And I hope to see you in Louisville at SMA – please join us there!