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POSTING TYPE: Calls: Journals

Posted by: Brooke Reavey

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Marketing Theory Special Issue Proposal

Theoretical Perspectives on Inclusion and Exclusion within Markets, Marketing, and Consumption

Susan Dobscha, Bentley University, USA
Anjala Krishen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Brooke Reavey, Dominican University, USA
Tânia Veludo-de-Oliveira, FGV EAESP, Brazil
Lena Cavusoglu, Pacific University, USA
Michael Saren, University of Birmingham, UK

INTRODUCTION

Inclusion is having a moment. Workplaces are discussing ways to increase their diversity and inclusivity as a way to ensure that their employees feel welcomed. Brands like Fenty Beauty launched their business with nearly 40 skin tones to overcome previous blind spots in the beauty industry. Other brands are also engaged in brand activism. For instance, Dove’s “Ad Makeover Campaign” aimed to redefine beauty standards by featuring diverse individuals and challenging traditional perceptions of beauty in the media. Similarly, Gillette’s “The Best Men Can Be” campaign takes a stance on transgender inclusion by portraying a father teaching his transgender son how to shave, while Always’s “Like a Girl” campaign challenges stereotypes and empowers girls to redefine what it means to do things “Like a Girl.”

Consumers seek alternatives to traditional products and services that better reflect their identities (Cavusoglu and Atik, 2021). To date, marketing academia has focused on topics such as inclusive marketing (Cheng, Zhou, and Yao 2023), inclusive design (Patrick and Hollenbeck 2021), multicultural marketing (Kipnis et al 2021), and representation in markets (Benjamin, Bottone, and Lee 2021) to try to encapsulate this topic of inquiry. In addition, exclusion in marketing is also an important target for interrogation. A special issue in 2019 alerted us to the role of exclusion in the marketplace (Saren, Parsons, and Goulding 2019). Exclusion encompasses omission and commission (Bennett et al 2016), social exclusion (Rawat, Dewani, and Kulashri 2021), digital exclusion (Apperley and Grey 2020), and design exclusion (Amelio, Giardino-Karlinger and Valleti 2020). It is also important to explore the relationship between inclusion and exclusion. Indeed, one cannot exist without the other. Scholarship focusing on this relationship in marketing is sparse but important (Miller and Stovall 2019; Saatcioglu and Ozanne 2013). This relationship–or interdependence–needs additional interrogation.

This special issue seeks scholarship focusing on inclusion, exclusion, or their relationship that emphases critical perspectives and theoretical development. All types of conceptual, empirical, method or policy-related work are welcome. However, given the journal’s focus on theory critique and theory building submissions should ensure that they significantly extend or contradict the current thinking on inclusion and exclusion in marketing.

WHO SHOULD SUBMIT

We encourage multidisciplinary research on these topics at the intersection of marketing with sociology, anthropology, psychology, gender studies, queer studies, and others. We also welcome papers from authors from different disciplines who are working together.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTION AND TIMELINE

All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review. Accepted papers are expected to be online by late 2025. Authors are encouraged to refer to the Marketing Theory website for instructions on submitting a paper and for more information about the journal. Manuscripts should be submitted through the ScholarOne Manuscripts portal .

Expressions of interest and questions about expectations, requirements, etc. should be directed to the following special issue editors (Susan Dobscha: sdobscha@bentley.edu and Brooke Reavey: breavey@dom.edu).

Deadlines:

April 1, 2024 – Please be advised that submitting an extended abstract (1,000 words) to Susan Dobscha (sdobscha@bentley.edu) and Brooke Reavey (breavey@dom.edu) is a crucial step in the process. This submission should encompass discussions on theoretical contributions, empirical analysis, and the novelty of the proposed topic. The editorial team will provide feedback on your proposal and will guide you on whether to proceed with the manuscript conception.

It is important to note that receiving positive feedback from the special issue editors does not automatically guarantee acceptance to the special issue. This initial phase is designed to assess if your proposal aligns with the scope of the special issue. The full paper will still undergo a thorough peer-review process.

Moreover, not submitting an extended abstract does not preclude you from directly submitting your full paper through the system in May 2024. The extended abstract submission is primarily intended to ascertain if your study falls within the defined scope of this special issue.

April 15, 2024 – The editorial team will send feedback to the extended abstract author(s).

April 30- September 30, 2024 – Manuscript submissions open in ScholarOne Manuscripts portal .

2025 – Marketing Theory Special Issue Publication

OVERVIEW OF SPECIAL ISSUE

What is Inclusion?

It appears as if everyone is discussing how to be more inclusive in the workplace, schools, NGOs, and notably–consumption, marketplaces, and markets. Human resource officers, advertisers, educators, and legislators are extolling the virtues of an inclusive work/organization/brand/curriculum/law environment. Nevertheless, as Sara Ahmed (2012) observes, numerous inclusion initiatives may not effectively tackle the inherent power structures and systematic inequalities. Inclusion refers to the “practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups (OED 2015).” For example, Corus and Ozanne (2012) propose a deliberative democratic theory as a conceptual and guiding framework for inclusive stakeholder engagement and discuss four distinct deliberative methods for increasing participation in corporate and government policymaking in subsistence markets. Alternatively, Atik et al. (2023) assert that expanding markets to encompass larger consumer segments does not necessarily equate to democratizing markets. An inadequate evaluation of democracy may result in premature conclusions concerning the democratization of markets.

Of course, there is an explosion of work on inclusion related to diversity and equity (hereafter, DEI), particularly in business schools (Harvard Business Publishing Education 2022). Recently, Arsel, Crockett, and Scott (2022) curated relevant articles from the Journal of Consumer Research that informed our understanding of DEI as it relates to consumers. They defined inclusion as “creating a culture that fosters belonging and incorporation of diverse groups and is usually operationalized as opposition to exclusion or marginalization.” In sum, these articles, initiatives, and special issues conclude: that this topic is extremely timely, far-reaching, important, and thus far, conceptually under-developed and empirically under-researched in marketing.

What is Exclusion?

Exclusion is defined as “the restriction of a particular person, group, or area,” or “the practice of not admitting other things (OED 2015).” Editors of a recent special issue on marketplace exclusion stated, “This concept has had very little attention to date within the field of marketing and consumer research (Saren, Parsons, and Goulding 2019, 476).”

Exclusion has been studied in marketing, albeit under different labels. These studies have tackled issues such as social exclusion (Wan, Xu, and Ding 2014; Sinha and Lu 2019), financial vulnerability (O’Connor, Newmeyer, and Wong 2017; Mende and Scott 2017); displacement of refugees (Fisk, Kabadayi, and Boenigk 2019); crises of multiculturalism (Pullig, Kipnis, and Demangeot 2017); intersectionality and gender-based injustices (Steinfield, Coleman, and Tuncay-Zayer 2017); impoverished consumers (Blocker and Hill 2021); and hard to reach populations (Steinfield and Holt 2021).

In 2022, a special issue from Marketing Theory addressed the structures of exclusion and privilege in marketing knowledge production (Kravets and Varman 2022). The prevailing Eurocentric perspective in marketing has systematically sidelined insights and voices from the Global South (Yalkin and Özbilgin 2022; Bádéjo and Gordon 2022; Jafari 2022; Hemais, Pessôa and Barros 2022), calling for a paradigm shift in how we conceptualize the perception of “Others” and the knowledge they contribute (Hutton and Cappellini 2022). This underscores the need for a more critical approach to understand how exclusion is viewed in and by the Global South within the marketing domain.

In addition, the inclusion/exclusion concept in marketing presents some empirical and ontological complexities depending on factors such as actors’ intentionality, subjectivity, apprehension and interpretation of the particular phenomenon being studied. For example, marketplace practices may be intentionally or unintentionally exclusive, and consumers may feel more or less included or excluded depending on social status or ability (Adkins and Ozanne 2005). Fashion marketing historically excludes consumers who are otherwise atypical in shape, education, and desires (Audrezet and Parguel 2023). Finally, market systems writ large may also foster feelings of exclusion. The travel industry has not adjusted its offerings to accommodate consumers who do not fit in the mold of ableist, average size, literate, and financially competent (Yau et al 2004). Thus, this special issue calls for further theoretical development of the core concepts and more critical analyses regarding the tradeoffs between inclusion and exclusion in the marketplace.

POTENTIAL TOPICS

The interdependence between exclusion and inclusion regarding:

1. Consumer Rights and Well-being
2. Cultural and Ethnic Marketing
3. Marginalization and Stigmatization
4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
5. Inclusivity and Exclusivity
6. Novel Methodologies for Studying Underrepresented Groups

References

Adkins, Natalie. R., and Ozanne Julie L. (2005), “The low literate consumer,” Journal of Consumer Research, 32(1): 93-105.

Ahmed, Sara (2012), On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Duke University Press.

Arnould, Eric, and Melea Press (2019), “Systemic small-player market exclusion in an east African context,” Consumption Markets and Culture, 22(5-6), 508-27.

Arsel, Zeynep, David Crockett, and Maura L Scott (2022), “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the Journal of Consumer Research: A curation and research agenda,” Journal of Consumer Research, 48(5): 920-33.

Atik, D., Cavusoglu, L., Ozdamar-Ertekin, Z. and A. Firat, F. (2022) “Fashion, Consumer Markets, and Democratization,” Journal of Consumer Behavior, 21(5), 1135-1148.

Audrezet, A. and Parguel, B. (2023), “Unpacking nontarget majority consumers’ responses to modest fashion: How market controversy perpetuates marketplace exclusion,” Journal of Marketing Management, 1-29.

Bádéjọ, F. A. and Gordon, R. (2022), “See finish! Scunnered!! A vernacular critique of hierarchies of knowledge in marketing,” Marketing Theory, 22(2), 229-249.

Blocker, Chris, and Ronald Paul Hill (2021), “Transdisciplinary Perspectives of Impoverished Consumers,” in Transformative Consumer Research Conference 2021, June 28 – 29, ed. David Mick and Rick Netemeyer.

Cavusoglu, L. and Atik, D. (2021), “Accumulating Capital through Social Media: Transformative Power of Underrepresented Fashion Consumers,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 38 (5), 514-524.

Corus, Canan, and Ozanne Julie L. (2012), “Stakeholder engagement: Building participatory and deliberative spaces in subsistence markets,” Journal of Business Research, 65(12), 1728-735.

Exclusion, noun. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, 2015.

Gurrieri, Lauren, Josephine Previte, and Jan Brace-Govan (2013), “Women’s bodies as sites of control: Inadvertent stigma and exclusion in social marketing,” Journal of Macromarketing, 33(2), 128-43.

Gurrieri, Lauren, and Hélène Cherrier (2013), “Queering beauty: fatshionistas in the fatosphere,” Qualitative Market Research, 16(3), 276-95.

Harvard Business Publishing Education. “How Business Schools Are Really Doing with Diversity”. Last Accessed July 30, 2022.

Hemais, M. W., Pessôa, L. A., and Barros, D. F. (2022), “The “Esperanto” of business… or how to be successful in life: A decolonial reading, using semiotics, of English language courses’ advertisements in Brazil,” Marketing Theory, 22(2), 251-274.

Hutton, M. and Cappellini, B. (2022), “Epistemic in/justice: Towards ‘Other’ ways of knowing.” Marketing Theory, 22(2), 155-174.

Inclusion, noun. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, 2015.

Jafari, A. (2022), “The role of institutions in non-Western contexts in reinforcing West-centric knowledge hierarchies: Towards more self-reflexivity in marketing and consumer research,” Marketing Theory, 22(2), 211-227.

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Kearney Shauna, Ian Brittain, and Eva Kipnis (2019), “Superdisabilities” vs “disabilities”? Theorizing the role of ableism in (mis)representational mythology of disability in the marketplace,” Consumption Markets and Culture, 22(5-6), 545-67.

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Stijn Van Osselaer. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

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Saren, Michael, Elizabeth Parsons, and Christina Goulding (2019), “Dimensions of marketplace exclusion: representations, resistances and responses,” Consumption Markets and Culture 22(5-6), 475-85.

Sinha, Jayati, and Fang-Chi Lu (2019), “Ignored or rejected: Retail exclusion effects on construal levels and consumer responses to compensation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 46(4), 791-807.

Steinfield, Laurel, Catherine Coleman, and Linda Tuncay Zayer (2017), “Mapping out a Transformative Consumer Research Agenda for Gender and Intersectionalities.” in Transformative Consumer Research Dialogical Conference 2017, June 18-20, ed. Brennan Davis, Julie Ozanne, Stijn Van Osselaer. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

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