Mary Ann McGrath

Perceptions and realities of male shopping behavior

Abstract While shopping by men is on the rise, perceptions of male shopping behavior, as well as how men actually shop, remain underexplored. We first describe three common stereotypes of male shopping behavior: “Grab and Go,” “Whine and Wait,” and “Fear of the Feminine.” We then demonstrate how actual male shopping behavior belies these stereotypes. For example, men often evaluate alternatives, bargain, and even shop in “feminine” stores. Our theory of male shopping behavior is rooted in studies of gender roles in the United States. We argue that men who shop have achieved gender role transcendence, and have found ways to satisfy an ethic of achievement in the marketplace.

Unacquainted influencers: When strangers interact in the retail setting

Abstract We explore the phenomenon of influence between unacquainted consumers in the market setting. Using three qualitative techniques that entailed 60 hours of observation in a variety of retail settings, depth interviews with eight consumers, and a prescribed format of shopping with five consumers, data are compiled and interpreted to reveal a number of overt and covert interpersonal influences and roles assumed by both influencers and recipients of influence as the dyads interact. For example, recipients of influence who proactively act as help-seekers or influencers can assume the role of either proactive or reactive helper in a social exchange. Marketing implications are offered for retail sales personnel, such as appropriateness to intervene between competitors or the strategy not to intervene between help seeker and reactive helper.

American Girl and the Brand Gestalt: Closing the Loop on Sociocultural Branding Research

This article describes an investigation of the American Girl brand that provides a more complete and holistic understanding of sociocultural branding. Recent research on emotional branding, together with prior work on brands’ symbolic nature and their role as relationship partners, represents a significant shift in the way marketers think about brands and brand management. However, a full understanding of powerful and emotionally resonant brands has been elusive, in part because sociocultural branding knowledge has accumulated in a piecemeal way and lacks coherence and integrity. In addition, powerful brands are extraordinarily complex and multifaceted, but in general they have been studied from a single perspective in a single setting. On the basis of a qualitative exploration of the American Girl brand that is both deep and broad, the authors posit that an emotionally powerful brand is best understood as the product of a complex system, or gestalt, whose component parts are in continuous interplay and together constitute a whole greater than their sum. Studying American Girl from the perspectives of various stakeholder groups in many of the venues in which the brand is manifest, the authors attempt to close the sociocultural branding research loop and identify implications for brand management.

Giving voice to the gift: The use of projective techniques to recover lost meanings

The field of consumer–object relations has recently emerged as a significant area of inquiry. Renewed attention has been devoted to understanding the meanings of gift giving as a result of this emergence. In this study, we employ projective techniques to uncover meanings that are less accessible by more direct measures. We analyze these meanings, and demonstrate the utility of projective techniques as a complement to other methods of investigation.

Shopping with consumers usage as past, present and future research technique

Abstract Shopping with consumers, a method that has yielded useful data in the past, is demonstrated as a method that can efficiently and effectively generate naturalistic text. We review how shopping with consumers has been utilized within retailing research, compare this method with other techniques applicable to the study of consumer shopping behavior, and provide a detailed description of how we have used the method in our own research. Recommendations for future use of the method are offered for both managers and researchers.

Shopping with consumers: reflections and innovations

Purpose – This paper reflects on the protocol suggested for using shopping with consumers (SWC) as a means for gathering high‐quality, naturalistic text in the field.Design/methodology/approach – The original SWC method combined accompanying consumers in the field as they shopped with in‐depth interviews.Findings – This paper reflects on how SWC has been used in past research, including new and innovative applications of the method to a variety of research phenomena.Research limitations/implications – The primary limitation of the approach is the amount of time required to implement SWC thoroughly.Practical implications – SWC has the advantages of a multi‐method research design. In addition, SWC hastens trust and rapport with informants, potentially yielding richer data.Originality/value – This paper is unique in terms of reflections on how a variety of scholars have used SWC to investigate phenomena of interest beyond that investigated in our original data collection. In addition, we offer suggestions fo...

Discordant retail brand ideology in the House of Barbie

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to expand the scant literature related to retail branding ideology and the application of mythotypes to flagship stores within the Chinese setting. The study explores the transplantation of a retail brand ideology in the form of complex home‐country cultural content to a host culture whose local retail narratives differ significantly from those of the brand enterprise.Design/methodology/approach – This is an ethnographic study that spans the two years of the focal stores existence. With the help of native‐speaking graduate assistants, store visits, interviews with Chinese locals and internet mentions and secondary information were collected. Data include fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs, news articles, blog comments and website information.Findings – The paper details the mythotypic mistuning of marketscape and mindscape that contributed to the failure of this flagship store and build theory concerning the implementation of retail brand ideology and retail...

Beyond ‘Innocents Abroad’: Reflecting on Sustainability Issues During International Study Trips

With ecosystems and populations in many regions threatened by rapid development, sustainability is a critical component for businesses in mature markets and emerging economies alike. The International Association of Jesuit Business Schools notes that global sustainability involves a broad set of interconnected issues ranging from environmental preservation to social justice to desirable production and consumption patterns. Jesuit business schools are uniquely positioned to address sustainability issues with their focus on teaching managerial content in tandem with corporate social responsibility. Further, the Ignatian Pedagogy Paradigm of experience, reflection, and action would suggest that business students may benefit from reflective observation in support of learning about sustainability. In this paper, we examine the international study trip as an opportunity for students to learn about sustainability, with results suggesting that student understanding about the broad sustainability domain may be enhanced through the study abroad experience. We discuss how two classes of primarily American MBA students traveling to emerging markets (one class to Santiago, Chile and one class to Johannesburg, South Africa) were able to connect local business practices with economic and social as well as environmental sustainability issues, enhancing both student engagement and learning outcomes. Further, these students’ sustainability experiences while in an unfamiliar environment provided the opportunity to apply the potentially transformative experience, reflection, and action components of the Ignatian Pedagogy Paradigm. Compared to similar graduate business students enrolled in regular classes, we argue that these students discerned deeper connections with the economic, social, and environmental issues of sustainability.