Johan Hagberg

Exploring the performativity of marketing: theories, practices and devices

The academic discipline of marketing has been understood and, some may argue, has been designed to be performative. That is, the theories and models developed in marketing are typically intended to bring about effects, rather than simply to describe. Since its inception in the early 1900s,1 the discipline has concerned itself with developing theories and tools that can be picked up and put to work by marketing practitioners. Examples of such theories and tools include models of market segmentation, marketing communication, consumer behaviour, branding and marketing strategy frameworks, which can be found in most marketing textbooks. Its purportedly close link to practical business problems may have contributed to make marketing a popular subject, equipping students to make practical, valuable judgments about markets and marketing activities. However, over the past 20 years, the academic discipline of marketing has become increasingly concerned about a ‘practice-theory’ gap and the diminishing practical value and relevance of its theories, practices and devices.Calls for marketing scholars to turn their critical analysis onto themselves, their scholarly activities and the types and presentations of theory they produce, abound (Maclaran, Miller, Parsons, & Surman, 2009; Tadajewski, 2010). Such calls have questioned both the purpose of theorising and the relationship between theory and practice in marketing. Brownlie, Hewer, and Ferguson (2007) observe that accounts of the gap between marketing theory and practice typically employ the rhetoric of ‘distance’ between cultures: between the worlds of ‘scholarship’ and ‘practice’. By taking an interest in the performativity of marketing – how marketing theories not only describe reality but contribute to bring that reality about – this Special Issue presents one way of rethinking the relationship between theory and practice. It directs our attention to the concrete ways in which marketing ideas travel between actors (from marketing practitioners to marketing scholars and vice versa) and how such ideas become increasingly abstracted or concretised in that process (Czarniawska & Sevon, 1996; Latour, 1986, 1999). Brownlie et al. (2007) further point out that we have a very limited understanding of how ‘relevance’ might be accomplished and performed (also see, Maclaran et al., 2009). Here, a performative stance encourages us to empirically investigate how marketing theories are made to matter in specific situations. Studying the performativity of marketing offers a response to calls for marketing researchers to reflect on their roles during and after research encounters (Wallendorf & Brucks, 1993) by advancing reflexive resources beyond researcher introspection.This Special Issue, ‘Exploring the Performativity of Marketing: Theories, Practices and Devices’, tries to address these concerns by asking: ‘how is marketing theory performative?’ The individual contributions look at how marketing theories are used in practice and what this means for our understanding of the practicing–theorising landscape of marketing. The issue comprises 10 empirical studies that inquire into how, why and to what effect marketing theories are used and ‘performed’ in marketing practice. We begin this editorial by considering what performativity is and how this concept is used in the marketing literature. We then consider three themes concerning the performativity of marketing that emerge from the articles. Finally, we summarise the implications of these themes and sketch a few research areas for further developing our understanding of the performativity of marketing.

The digitalization of retailing: an exploratory framework

AbstractPurpose – Digitalization denotes an on-going transformation of great importance for the retail sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the phenomenon of the digitalization of retailing by developing a conceptual framework that can be used to further delineate current transformations of the retailerconsumer interface.Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops a framework for digitalization in the retail-consumer interface that consists of four elements: exchanges, actors, offerings, and settings. Drawing on the previous literature, it describes and exemplifies how digitalization transforms each of these elements and identifies implications and proposals for future research.Findings – Digitalization transforms the following: retailing exchanges (in a number of ways and in various facets of exchange, including communications, transactions, and distribution); the nature of retail offerings (blurred distinctions between products and services, what constitutes the actual offering and how it is priced); retail settings (i.e. where and when retailing takes place); and the actors who participate in retailing (i.e. retailers and consumers, among other parties).Research limitations/implications – The framework developed can be used to further delineate current transformations of retailing due to digitalization. The current transformation has created challenges for research, as it demands sensitivity to development over time and insists that categories that have been taken for granted are becoming increasingly blurred due to greater hybridity.Originality/value – This paper addresses a significant and on-going transformation in retailing and develops a framework that can both guide future research and aid retail practitioners in analysing retailing’s current transformation due to digitalization.

The forgotten role of pedestrian transportation in urban life: Insights from a visual comparative archaeology (Gothenburg and Toulouse, 1875–2011):

This paper explores consumer logistics in urban settings by focusing on the evolution of pedestrian transportation. It accounts for how people carry things in the city and how this is related to the frames of the city and other means of transportation. The methodology combines archaeology, observation, and statistics, and rests on systematic coding of photographical archives. It analyses two streets, one in Gothenburg, Sweden and one in Toulouse, France, over four distinctive periods: before World War I, the wars and interwar period, the 1950s–1960s, and the present. Both dramatic and discrete changes are found, such as the simultaneous proliferation in the use of pedestrians’ bags and motorised types of transportation. The paper identifies geographical, technical, and cultural differences, while yielding surprising similarities between the two cities. The paper concludes that the neglected issue of consumer logistics need to be brought into the contemporary discourse on sustainable cities.

Agencing practices: a historical exploration of shopping bags

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic process of agencing through a practice-based historical analysis of shopping bags. This paper draws upon practice-based studies regarding consumption and markets and is based on an archive study of a Swedish packaging magazine from 1935 to 2013. The paper analyses the transformation of shopping bags from their introduction in shopping to the current situation of them being taken for granted, but at the same time, contested. The paper shows how shopping bags over time have been included in and contributed to the shaping of different practices and have been, in turn, transformed by these practices. The case of shopping bags suggests that agencing is a process in which capacity to act is acquired by continuous arranging of elements in different practices, as well as adjustments of these elements in relation to each other.

Socio‐cultural retailing: what can retail marketing learn from this interdisciplinary field?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the on‐going cultural turn in retail marketing by offering an overview of the interdisciplinary field of socio‐cultural retailing and discussing how this body of work can contribute conceptually, methodologically and substantively to the field of retail marketing.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a literature review of socio‐cultural retail studies in marketing, cultural geography, sociology, and anthropology. The literature is analysed in relation to the substantive, conceptual and methodological domains of retail marketing.Findings – Drawing on the literature review, the authors argue that socio‐cultural retail studies can contribute to the field of retail marketing substantively, conceptually and methodologically, thus broadening its current scope and domains.Originality/value – This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary field and identifies how it can contribute to the field of retail marketing. It is valuable for ...

How much is it? Price representation practices in retail markets

This article explores the notion of price representation, the various ways in which prices are made available to market participants, an important aspect of contemporary markets that has been relatively neglected in previous research. Specifically, the article uses the representation of prices in contemporary retail markets as a backdrop for theorizing about the role of price representations. We propose a number of conceptual relations between price representations, prices and the practices of producing them. We further elaborate on what price representations represent by relating their generation to the process of qualifying goods. We conclude by relating our conceptual discussion to existing research, drawing out implications for future research on prices and pricing, for theorizing about markets and for marketing strategy.

From basket to shopping bag: Retailers’ role in the transformation of consumer mobility in Sweden, 1941-1970

PurposeThis study aims to follow the gradual transformation of consumer mobility inmid-20th-century Sweden in connection with the introduction of self-service retailing.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on an analysis of the magazineICA-Tidningen, published by the major Swedish retailer ICA, for the period from 1941 to 1970.FindingsThe paper describes the transformation of consumer mobility as a set of interrelatedchanges that involved both retailers and consumers, the interrelationship between modes of transportand container technologies and how self-service not only transformed the interior of retail stores butalso had more far-reaching implications.Originality/valueWhen attempting to understand the reconfiguration of shopping practices in the20th century, there is a tendency to focus on large infrastructural changes. These studies tend tooverlook gradual, mundane and everyday translations. This paper contributes methodological toolsand analyses that account for such mundane transformations.

Travel modes in grocery shopping

Purpose Although the movement of goods by consumers represents a large proportion of the economic and environmental impact of the distribution chain, this topic has been insufficiently explored in the retailing literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of shopping travel-mode choice in the context of grocery shopping. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents findings from a Swedish national survey of 1,694 respondents that included questions regarding travel-mode choices and consumer characteristics, mobility conditions, shopping behaviours and environmental interests and engagements. Findings This paper shows how travel modes interrelate and how various consumer characteristics, shopping behaviours, mobility conditions and environmental interests and engagements relate to and affect travel-mode choice in grocery shopping. General travel patterns and distance to store are shown to be the most important factors in explaining the mode of transport for grocery shopping. Originality/value This paper presents data from a national representative survey and provides novel analyses of travel-mode choices in grocery shopping and the interrelationships among those choices, in addition to the interrelationship between travel-mode choice and the use of home delivery. This paper contributes to a further understanding of consumer mobility in the context of grocery shopping.

Bicycles, cyclists and loads: a comparative analysis of cycling practices in Gothenburg and Toulouse

Abstract This article reports on a video-based analysis of bicycling practices in Gothenburg and Toulouse. It is based on actor-network theory, an approach that studies human and non-human entities and their contributions to social action equally. The paper examines bicycles and their interactions with cyclists and loads in the transport of people and goods. Accordingly, this paper presents methodological, theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of bicycle transportation as a possible method for developing sustainable urban environments. This paper also presents an innovative way to study ordinary social practices and describes how these practices shape associated societal issues.

The production of social space: shopping malls as relational and transductive spaces

Purpose – The concept of space is commonly transcending the binary separation between materiality and abstraction structuring social theory, being both a built, immutable environment and what is derived from uncoordinated spatial practices embedded in social norms and instituted behaviours. As a consequence, organization theorists have been only marginally interested in organized spaces and spatiality, examining primarily office spaces and other visual, symbolic spaces in organizations. Organized space is relational and transductive, constructed to be able to both accommodate various needs and demands and to be able of responding to emerging information. Organized space is thus transient and fluid, only temporarily stabilized, and fundamentally open to external influences. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A study of shopping center development practices demonstrates how various actors representing heterogeneous interests collaborate to balance various interests such as...