Peter Nuttall

Mapping the Unarticulated Potential of Qualitative Research: Stepping out from the Shadow of Quantitative Studies

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the contributions of qualitative methods to the development of advertising as represented within the Journal of Advertising Research over the last 50 years. The authors present a systematic review of every Journal of Advertising Research paper, with each paper coded for the role and contribution of qualitative research methods to its findings. The authors then classify the papers into a 2×2 matrix. They find that qualitative research contributes to improve existing managerial practice, developing new techniques for improving consumer understanding, keeping up to date with developments in practice, and identifying new consumer segments. Looking forward, the authors identify potential research avenues and practices that may enhance the standing of qualitative advertising research.

Marketing orientation and arts organisations: the case for business sponsorship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a greater marketing orientation among arts organisations and its impact on funding through sponsorship.Design/methodology/approach – Utilising a qualitative methodology, the study employs case studies for the purpose of formulating tentative and emergent knowledge.Findings – The case study observations reveal the adoption of a marketing orientation across the sample and most significantly for the purposes of securing and consolidating sponsorship relationships. But contrary to popular academic theory this is managed without significant threat to artistic integrity or adaptation of theatrical productions.Research limitations/implications – Data were derived from a purposive but limited sample. The advantages of a qualitative method in producing rich data is well established, however a longitudinal study would facilitate the understanding of the temporal shifts in arts sponsorships and counter the limits of the cross‐sectional nature of t...

Exploring appropriation of global cultural rituals

Abstract Adolescents, as a consequence of identification with popular culture, have been described as having homogenous consumption patterns. More recently, however, it has been recognised that ‘glocalisation’ (global practices reworked to fit local contexts) affords an opportunity for differentiation. This paper considers a recent UK phenomenon, namely that of the US high-school prom, and seeks to explore the ways in which this ritual has been adopted or adapted as part of youth culture. The method employed here was mixed methods, and included in-depth interviews with those who attended a prom in the last three years, as well as a questionnaire distributed amongst high-school pupils who were anticipating a high-school prom. The findings illustrate that the high-school prom in the UK is becoming increasingly integrated into the fabric of youth culture, although, depending on the agentic abilities employed by the emerging adults in the sample, there is differing appropriation of this ritual event, particularly in relation to attitudes towards and motivations for attending the prom. A typology of prom attendees is posited. This paper contributes to our understanding of this practice in a local context.

Thank you for the music? The role and significance of music for adolescents

Purpose – This paper seeks to understand the significance and role that music plays in adolescent socialization with a view to developing better segmentation and targeting of this fickle and demanding group of consumers.Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative approach that attempts to get as close to the teenagers as possible – thus teenagers design and develop their own questions and interpret their own data.Findings – This research provides an insight into the use and consumption of music at the time of the study. The data collected focus on what is important to the teenagers (typically what music “means” and the experiences it creates) and does not center on method of purchase.Originality/value – Where previous studies have considered type (genre) of music consumed and have focused on what is important to the researcher, this study considers youth use and consumption of popular music using teenagers to interview their friends and to interpret their findings.

Resistance to ritual practice: exploring perceptions of others

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to the special issue theme by exploring the perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistant practices of adolescents by their peer group in the context of high school prom attendance.Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs a mixed methods approach involving 12 in‐depth interviews with those who had attended a high school prom in the last three years and open questions on a survey to adolescents.Findings – Four main perceptions of non‐attendance were identified: non‐choice, risk aversion, passive disengagement and intentional disengagement. Perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistance will have social implications for the non‐attendee/s but the extent to which non‐attendance is viewed negatively will also be moderated by existing social status of the non‐attendee/s.Originality/value – Possible causes for avoiding consumption have been previously considered, however, as yet unexplored are how those who do not consume are perceived by their peers and how this ...

Mobilizing hegemonic practices in trajectories of conspicuous resistance

Purpose Focusing on a community organisation, the purpose of this paper is to unravel the process through which infringing contested practices that threaten or compromise the community’s sense of distinction are transformed into acceptable symbolic markers. Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic study comprising participant observation, in-depth interviews and secondary data was conducted in the context of a non-profit community cinema. Findings Taking a longitudinal approach and drawing from practice theory, this paper outlines how member-driven, customer-driven and necessity-imposed infringing practices settle in new contexts. Further, this paper demonstrates that such practices are filtered in terms of their ideological “fit” with the organisation and are, as a result, rejected, recontextualised or replaced with do-it-yourself alternatives. In this process, authority shifts from the contested practice to community members and eventually to the space as a whole, ensuring the singularisation of the cinema-going experience. Practical implications This paper addresses how the integration of hegemonic practices to an off-the-mainstream experience can provide a differentiation tool, aiding resisting organisations to compensate for their lack of resources. Originality/value While the appropriation practices that communities use to ensure distinction are well documented, there is little understanding of the journey that negatively contested practices undergo in their purification to more community-friendly forms. This paper theorises this journey by outlining how the objects, meanings and doings that comprise hegemonic practices are transformed by and transforming of resisting organisations.

Formalizing consumer tribes: Towards a theorization of consumer-constructed organizations

Marketing theory on consumer tribes explores how these ephemeral collectives can grow into more formal, organizational systems that become subject to the various demands of the market. But how tribal doctrines endure in communities that are formalizing their market engagement remains under-theorized. To address this, we draw from literature on hybrid organizations and ethnographic data from an art-house cinema tribe that is formalizing its operations into what we conceptualize as a ‘consumer-constructed organization’ (CCO). We theorize CCOs as dynamic, hybrid organizational forms that balance the doctrines and characteristics of consumer tribes with their role as market actors. In addition to introducing CCOs as a theoretical and empirical point of reference in consumer research literature, we contribute by theorizing the ongoing tensions that unravel as tribal doctrines persevere or dissipate in the face of market demands and organizational formalization.

Social belonging and the social collective: Understanding how processes shape youth markets

Adopting a relative perspective on poverty, this article reflects on the social and psychological aspects of market access in a context of abundance. We consider the recent introduction of a consumption-related adolescent youth ritual and the implications this has for those who are financially disadvantaged and their ability to negotiate and navigate the market. Using dimensions of market practice as a lens, we reveal a system that resists reduction to individual actors and demonstrate how and in what ways the social collective facilitates social belonging as well as promoting higher level educational goals. This has important consequences for our understanding of meaningful social practice as well as realizing what is being shaped through market practices.