John O. Summers

Guidelines for Conducting Research and Publishing in Marketing: From Conceptualization through the Review Process

A primary mission of institutions of higher learning is the generation and dissemination of knowledge. The low acceptance rates at the leading research journals in marketing, typically in the single digits to low teens, suggests the need to increase the quality of the research manuscripts produced. This article presents a set of guidelines for researchers aspiring to do scholarly research in marketing. Discussed are issues such as developing the necessary research skills, conceptualizing the study, constructing the research design, writing the manuscript, and responding to reviewers. Also presented are the authors personal observations concerning the current state of research in marketing.

An assessment of country of origin effects under alternative presentation formats

Empirical research concerning the effects of country of origin (COO) on consumers’ evaluative reactions to products has produced mixed and sometimes inconsistent results. Potential explanations for this situation include differences in the countries considered, populations sampled, products investigated, availability of product cues other than COO, the format in which the product cues were presented to the subjects, and the types of evaluative reactions considered. The authors present the results of three experiments designed to investigate the impact of three presentation formats (i.e., single cue, explicit multiple cues, and implicit multiple cues) on COO effects for four evaluative reactions (i.e., perceived quality, product evaluations other than quality, affect, and purchase intentions). COO effects were strongest for the single-cue format and weakest for the implicit multiple-cues condition. Perception of product quality was most strongly affected by COO, followed by product evaluations other than quality; COO had its smallest effect on purchase intention. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.