William E. Kilbourne

Sustainable Consumption and the Quality of Life: A Macromarketing Challenge to the Dominant Social Paradigm

This article argues that micromarketing cannot examine the relationship between sustainable consumption and the quality of life critically because the essence of the relationship lies in the dominant social paradigm. Only macromarketing can address this relationship effectively. It is within the intellectual purview of macromarketing to expand the domain of inquiry to include technological, political, and economic benefits and costs of consumption, thus challenging the paradigm itself

Review and Critical Assessment of Research on Marketing and the Environment

This paper provides a review and categorization of the environmentally related research published in the major English language marketing journals over the period from 1971 to 1997. It traces the development from the early research which focused predominantly on the characterization of the green consumer, conceptualization of environmental consciousness, environmentally related behaviours such as recycling, and attitudes towards environmental problems such as pollution. This was followed by a period in which energy conservation, legislation, and public policy issues were added to the agenda which remained predominantly managerialist in perspective. While the same issues were studied within the 1990s, the research agenda was expanded again to include broader issues such as environmental values and institutions. Most recently, the macro issues of sustainable marketing and its relationship to the dominant social paradigm have been introduced into the literature. The paper concludes by arguing that the exam...

The role of the dominant social paradigm in environmental attitudes A multinational examination

Abstract The purpose of this paper was twofold. The first purpose was to expand the domain of inquiry in the study of business and the natural environment. Traditional approaches have focused primarily on attitudes toward the environment, behavioral intentions, and behavior. Most of the research to date has been data-driven, however, and lacks a theoretical framework. We attempt to rectify this by proposing and testing an expanded model. Here the domain is expanded to include political, economic, and technological variables, referred to as the socioeconomic domain of the dominant social paradigm (DSP). While much has been written about the general nature of the DSP, its specific form has not been defined adequately in the environmentally related literature. The second purpose was to begin testing the proposed model empirically. The model suggests that as ones belief in the DSP increases, their expressed concern for the environment decreases. Further, as their concern for the environment increases, their perception of necessary changes and willingness to change to achieve environmental balance will also increase. Finally, we examined differences between countries and concluded that there were differences consistent with the proposed model. Overall, the results of the study confirm the proposed model. The policy implications of this result are also discussed.

A Multinational Examination of the Role of the Dominant Social Paradigm in Environmental Attitudes of University Students

This study examined the difference between environmental attitudes of university students in England, Denmark, and the United States. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between attitudes toward technology, politics, and economics, the primary elements of the dominant social paradigm (DSP), and environmental attitudes. Specifically, as beliefs in the elements of the DSP increase, the perception of the existence of environmental problems decreases. As a result of this decrease, perceived changes necessary to alleviate environmental problems also decreases. The results also indicate that there is a direct relationship between the DSP and perceived change. The policy implications of this result suggest that what is needed is not only increased concern for the environment, but also, education about the DSP and its effect on the environment. Individuals may then break the cycles of technological advance, increased consumption, and reform politics, all of which appear to be complicit in environmental decline.

Female Stereotyping in Advertising: An Experiment on Male-Female Perceptions of Leadership:

This experimental study portrayed women in several advertisements in two major conditions. In one, women were portrayed in stereotypical settings with products. Women and men student subjects evaluated a “neutral” female photograph following the experiment, on such traits as aggressiveness, leadership, analytical ability, rationality, and liking for doing complex tasks. After viewing nonstereotypical advertisements, men students rated the neutral woman as higher on these dimensions, but the experiment had little effect on women subjects. The study advises advertisers to avoid portraying women in stereotypical roles.

A socio-economic perspective on gender bias in technology

Abstract This paper examines the development of patriarchal technology within Western industrialized cultures. The approach in the analysis is based in critical theory and socialist/feminist critique. Conditioned on the Habermasian “ideal speech situation, ” it will be argued that neo-classical economics cannot meet the challenge of societal critique. The necessary conditions for an emancipatory reconciliation of technology and egalitarian, nongender-based values lies in our ability and willingness to go beyond the atomistic, economistic analysis based in Enlightenment values. This, it is argued, is beyond traditional economics since it relies on the reductionist assumption of an innate human nature which is individualistic and competitive and disregards the malleability of social institutions. Within this framework, specific aspects of technology-based gender bias are examined. These include such factors as technological design, work organization, and reproductive technologies.

Cross national study of perceived service quality in long-term care facilities

Abstract This cross-national study of 306 nursing home residents in the United States and the United Kingdom examines the similarities and differences in their evaluation of service quality. Service quality was defined as the differences between expectations about the service and actual perceptions of the service delivered in terms of five dimensions: tangibles, assurance, empathy, reliability and responsiveness. The SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality. The two groups differed in their expectations for quality and their perceptions of service quality: US residents ratings were lower in all respects.

The ecologically sustainable retailer

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to consider the practical implications of an ecologically oriented perspective, referred to as the new environmental paradigm (NEP), on the retailing sector. We begin by succinctly contrasting the technological, economic, and political differences between the prevailing worldview, referred to as the dominant social paradigm (DSP), and an ecologically based worldview. The organizational implications which emerge from the NEP suggest the following: (1) loosely coupled interorganizational networks based on resource flows, (2) locally responsive, globally coordinated organizing structures, and (3) process intensification through a systems approach to organization. We use these insights to evaluate the organizational structure, management systems, and processes of an ecologically sustainable retailer.

A Mertonian Framework for the Analysis of the Debate over Advertising's Role in Society

Abstract For many years the field of advertising has been subjected to critique from within and without. The harshest critiques come from outside the discipline however and are, consequently, problematic to advertisers who do not simply choose to ignore them. The inability to resolve these differences is evidenced by the continued criticism taken up most recently by Pollay and answered by Holbrook. The article which follows provides an analytical framework from which to view the diverse agruments in the debate. While the “Mertonian” perspective proffered here is but one of many possible ways of analyzing social phemonena, it is particularly useful in framing arguments such as those developed in the “mirror/modeling” debate exemplified by the Pollay/Holbrook exchange. From this perspective it might be concluded that resolution will not be found until a common analytical ground is established.

Perceptual biases in affirmative disclosures in print ads: Practical and public policy implications

Abstract This study examines the effect of positive and negative affirmative disclosures on the evaluation of the lawyer in a print ad for legal services. The results indicate a positivity bias for ability-related judgments when positively stated disclosures are presented, and a negativity bias for ethics related judgments when negatively stated disclosures are presented. These results are discussed for both the practical implications on affirmative disclosures and the public policy implications of mandated disclosures in advertising of legal services.