ACRA/ 2024

Introduction

American Collegiate Retailing Association – Triennial Conference, Kalamazoo, MI, 27-30 Mar 2024; Deadline 31 Oct

INTEREST CATEGORY: RETAIL AND PRICING
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Conferences

Author: Archana Kumar

ACRA/ 2024: /ACRA 2024 Triennial Conference

March 27-30th, 2024
Conference website
Submission link

The 2024 ACRA/ Triennial Conference (American Collegiate Retailing Association – ) brings together academics in retailing, marketing, and supply chain to coalesce the ideas of experts in these areas. This call includes guidelines for submissions of research papers (full and extended abstract) and workshops/special sessions.

The 2024 ACRA/ Triennial Conference will be hosted by Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI and will be held in conjunction with the 2024 Food Marketing Conference. ACRA/ conference attendees can purchase discounted admission to (March 26-27). Information about the venue and accommodations are available on the FMC website. For discounted admission, please contact Dr. Russell Zwanka, at russell.zwanka@wmich.edu .

The deadline for all submissions is October 31, 2023.This is a firm deadline that will not be extended. Review decisions will be announced by end of December, 2023. All submissions must be via the ACRA/ 2024 Submission Site at:

All submissions will be peer-reviewed,and we welcome submissions for 1) Extended Abstracts, 2) Competitive (Full) Papers, and 3) Workshops/Special Sessions. Conference proceedings that include only abstracts will be available for participants after the conference is complete. All authors with submissions who wish to be included in the proceedings must include a separate abstract (up to 150 total words) for inclusion as part of their submission. This process is the same for those submitting extended abstracts as well. Only the 150-word abstracts will be included in the final conference proceedings. All submissions will be included as part of the conference proceedings unless the authors decline inclusion.

Conference Submission Guidelines

Extended Abstract Submission Guidelines

  • Extended abstracts are 2-5 pages of research summaries (exclusive of title page and references). There is a strict 2-page minimum and a 5-page maximum (double-spaced) with font 11, 1-inch margin of all sides on a portrait page.
  • Please include the paper title, contact information of all authors, and a short 150-word single-spaced abstract on the cover page. Please submit your abstract in pdf format via Easy Chair.
  • The style guide for this submission is 7th edition APA.
  • At least one author must register and attend the conference.
  • A selected panel will review the submissions. For inquiries regarding extended abstracts, please contact the conference chairs.

Competitive (Full Paper) Submission Guidelines

  • Competitive papers are full papers (Title Page + Main Body).
  • On the “Title Page” document, provide all author details including contact information. Also please include the paper title, up to 5 keywords, and a short 150-word single-spaced abstract.
  • The “Main Body” document must not exceed 25-pages (double-spaced) with font 11, 1-inch margin of all sides on a portrait page. This is all- inclusive, including exhibits, references, tables/figures, appendices. All tables and figures should be embedded within the text of the manuscript.
  • Please submit your full papers in pdf format via Easy Chair. Competitive papers will be double- blind reviewed. Authors should not reveal their identities in the manuscript body.
  • The style guide for this submission is 7Th edition APA.
  • Please ensure that the paper or a similar version of the paper must not be a) be previously published, b) have been accepted for publication elsewhere, c) be under consideration for publication elsewhere, or d) be submitted for review elsewhere during the conference review process.
  • At least one author must register and attend the conference.
  • Authors with questions regarding the competitive full paper may contact the conference chair(s).

Workshop Proposal Submission Guidelines

  • Proposals for workshops and special session topics of interest to ACRA members are welcome. Session topics addressing methods to improve teaching, research, writing, or presentation skills are welcome along with sessions addressing emerging industry topics
  • Proposals are limited to 1-page (single-spaced portrait page with font 11 and 1-inch margin on all sides) which includes:
    1. name, contact details, email, and affiliation of facilitators/presenters
    2. workshop/session title
    3. type of session (e.g., industry panel, research panel, teaching panel, workshop, etc.)
    4. general content of the session and names of presenters/panelists
    5. statement of benefit of session to ACRA members
    6. all workshops/focused sessions should be designed for delivery within a 60-minute period.

Note: Participants leading the workshop/special sessions must register and attend the conference. For inquiries related to the workshop, please contact Dr. Jeffrey Campbell at jcampbell@hrsm.sc.edu

List of Topics

Topics covered in the conference may include, but are not limited to, the following items. Please feel freeto reach out to conference chairs should you have any questions. All Extended Abstract Submissions, regardless of topic, should be submitted to Track 10 for Extended Abstracts.

Track 1: Career Development, Retail Education and Pedagogy

Research exploring retail employment, career development, and education. New methods, technology, and pedagogical techniques to enhance education in the classroom and online. Human resources, changes in career paths, and the impact of new technology in retail are also welcome.

Track 2: Consumer/Shopper Psychology and Behavior

Research exploring consumer and shopper psychology and behavior. Exploration of the influence of values, pricing, in-store and online advertising on consumers and shoppers. Brandscape, Servicescape, atmospherics, demographics, psychographics, and other key drivers of consumer and shopper behavior are also welcome.

Track 3: Ethics, DEI, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability

Research exploring the role of ethics, DEI, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability and its influence on pricing, retailers, suppliers, supply chain, as well as consumers and shoppers. Diversity and inclusion in hiring at all levels of the organization and supply chain, the impact on the retail environment, representation in online retail and retailer and supplier advertising are also welcome.

Track 4: Local, Global Marketing & Retailing, and Entrepreneurship

Research exploring hyper-local, local, regional, national and global retail and entrepreneurship. The influence of pricing, technology, and advertising in business formation. Farmers markets, locally grown food, grocery retailing are explored. The influence of new technologies that can drive entrepreneurship particularly at the hyper- local and local retail level are also welcome.

Track 5: Retail Grocery, Agribusiness, and Food-related Research

Topics to include local foods, food supply chain, food marketing, retail grocery and farmers markets. Direct-to-consumer food research is also encouraged. Agriculture and agribusiness topics are also appropriate for this track as are topics directly related to food marketing.

Track 6: Omni Channel Retailing, Online Retail, and Social Media including Influencer Behavior

Research exploring the integration of in-store, online, mobile, and use of social retail formats either with or without influencer behavior. The impact of social media, online reviews, review sites (e.g., Yelp), influencers, and the various social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) on retail and pricing. Changing retail paradigms from pure-play internet retailers incorporating in- store, retail micro-sites, online entrepreneurship, and new retail formats are also welcome

Track 7: Impact of the Pandemic on Retailing and Marketing Activities

Research exploring the impact of the pandemic on retailers, suppliers, supply chain, consumers, and shoppers. Inventory levels, out-of-stock, pricing, business performance, closures, changes in retail space and malls are explored. The impact on local economies, entrepreneurship, recovery, employment, and social support activities are also welcome.

Track 8: Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Big Data, and IoT

Research that explores new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality and the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on retailing and marketing. Review of new research on Big Data is also encouraged.

Track 9: Potpourri

Research exploring retail, supplier, product development, supply chain, consumers, and shoppers which has not been provided above. Combinations of topics from above which might not neatly fit one of the defined categories. Interesting new topics which have the ability to impact the current and future state of retail as well as reflections on the past are also welcome.

Track 10: Extended Abstracts

Three to five (3-5) page research abstracts, other than full papers (please see the note above for format).

Track 11: Workshop Proposals

Workshop proposals on any of the above or closely related topics are welcome.

BEST PAPER AWARDS

ACRA will present the following awards (for full papers) at the conference:

  • Overall best research paper and a runner-up
  • Best graduate student paper and a runner-up (Note: The first author of this paper must be a graduate student and must register to attend the conference)

The authors of the overall best research paper, the best graduate student paper, and the two runner-up papers will receive monetary prizes and will be recognized at the conference.

Invitation to Review for Conference:

We kindly request all members to consider volunteering to be a reviewer for the conference.

If you are able to serve in this capacity, please provide your information using this link:

Please Note: Conference/Track chairs will have access to the information and may send you an invite to serve as a reviewer.

Journal Special Issues:

Overall best papers may be invited for submission to a Special Issue for the IJR&DM is the partner journal of ACRA. For questions, please reach out to Dr. Jeffrey Campbell at: jcampbell@hrsm.sc.edu

For Questions t the Conference:

Please direct questions regarding the conference to the Conference Co-Chairs, Dr. Russell Zwanka at: russell.zwanka@wmich.edu; Dr. Marcel Zondag at: marcel.zondag@wmich.edu; or Dr. Carol Jones at: cejones28@ua.edu

You may also contact the President of ACRA, Dr. Archana Kumar, at: kumara@montclair.edu or Dr. Jeff Campbell, Vice-President of ACRA, at: jcampbell@hrsm.sc.edu