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Call For Papers for an Industrial Marketing Management Special Issue:

Methodological Pluralism for Theory Development in Industrial Marketing

Submission Deadline: December 31, 2014

Guest Editors:

• Luis Araujo, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
• Anna Dubois, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
• Michael Gibbert, University of Lugano, Switzerland
• Martin Hoegl, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany

The industrial marketing field has mainly been developed on the basis of large numbers of single, qualitative case studies, which permitted the thorough description and analysis of inter-firm networks as well as intra-company decision making processes. Quantitative studies have been less frequent, although the entire field started with a large-scale analysis of over 900 cases. Some multiple case studies, which use a replication logic similar to experimental studies and where groups of theoretically sampled cases are systematically compared have been carried out, although to a much more limited extent. Experimental studies have been virtually absent from the methodological toolbox of the industrial marketing researcher. This is in stark contrast to B2C research, where laboratory studies are often used for studying cognitive, psychological and social processes underlying consumer behavior. As the B2B field is bracing itself for methodological pluralism, we need to ask ourselves some far-reaching questions about the desirable characteristics that such methodological innovations may have to enable a fruitful interaction between theory and method. This special issue of Industrial Marketing Management invites innovations in research methods that advance the complex interaction between theory and method in B2B research in several ways (interpretivist as well as positivist approaches, qualitative and quantitative are welcome):

1. 1. Methodological innovations, which advance the field of complex interaction and network phenomena by allowing us to either examine new research questions to which existing methods were not sensitive enough, or expose existing theories more reliably to exploration, refinement, and testing.
2. 2. The methodological innovation should allow us to facilitate interaction with new stakeholders, customers , and contributors of B2B research, by making it more compatible and understandable from the perspective of these stakeholders, be they academics in other disciplines, managers, or the broader public (including the popular press). How do our theoretically consequential new methods on B2B interaction and relationships speak to these audiences, if at all?
3. 3. We leave many subjects of potential interest unstudied (e.g. corporate hospitality, but also bribing, corruption, alleged cases of power abuses in e.g. retailer-supplier relationships) at least partly due to serious methodological issues (including, in some cases, the risk of personal injury to researchers). And yet, other subjects (e.g. accounting) are making progress in this area. How does the methodological innovation allow us to make inroads into these areas?
4. 4. Since many networks, especially supply chains, are global, should we also include research methods that incorporate cultural factors in their approach? What are appropriate, culturally-sensitive methodological tools? How can they be implemented and replicated across cultures?

We define “methodological innovation” broadly, and invite papers that demonstrate sensitivity to the question How can we develop methodological approaches to advance industrial marketing research? Authors are required to work within tight timeframe during the double blind review process. All submissions should be made to the team of guest editors Luis Araujo (l.araujo@lancaster.ac.uk), Anna Dubois (anna.dubois@chalmers.se), Michael Gibbert (michael.gibbert@usi.ch), Martin Hoegl (hoegl@lmu.de), and Peter LaPlaca, Editor-in-Chief (Plaplaca@JournalIMM.com). Please submit all materials as a single MSWord file. The editorial team comprises a broad spectrum of methodological expertise, spanning qualitative in-depth approaches, qualitative comparative approaches, quantitative field studies, as well as experimental studies. Please do not hesitate to contact any of the special issue editors if you require further information, and the IMM Website for detailed submission information

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