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INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Journals

Posted by: Diletta Acuti

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Call for Papers

Impactful Research: Advancing Practical and Societal Relevance

Submission deadline: Tuesday, 15 September 2026

This special issue aims to encourage academic research at the intersection of Psychology & Marketing that makes an impact. Impact means that the research helps to create positive change outside of academia (Ozanne et al., 2022; Scott & Martin, 2023). The key is to address real-world issues and/or provide clear benefits to individuals, organizations, and society.

Research in psychology and marketing can address many practical and societal challenges. From a practical impact perspective, research can provide guidance to decision-makers (Wang et al. 2024). For instance, research has shown when music in grocery stores impacts sales (Ahlbom et al. 2023), how digital displays in a retail store impact sales (Roggeveen et al. 2016), and how firms should deal with public social media complaints (Herhausen et al. 2023). From a societal impact perspective, research can help to create and maximize benefits for society overall (Grewal et al., 2017). Examples of this include research that has provided guidance on poverty (Blocker et al., 2023), social inequalities (Liu et al., 2024), inclusivity (Mende et al., 2024), stigma (Montecchi et al., 2024), and environmental depletion (Acuti et al., 2024).

While impactful research can be done by academics alone, there are rich opportunities to partner with policymakers, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and/or consumer groups to produce knowledge that can generate practical and societal impact.

In this special issue, we seek to publish cutting-edge scholarly research that offers insights to address real-world issues. Submissions should critically examine the concept of impact within and/or across the psychology and marketing disciplines, offering insights into how research can advance theory, influence practice, and address pressing societal challenges.

While the approaches taken to these submissions may vary, it is critical that the research builds from relevant theory and existing studies while offering a rigorous analysis. To emphasise the focus on impactful and ecologically relevant research, papers including field data are encouraged. Further guidelines on the four types of submissions are available on the P&M website.

It is important to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application. Thus, the key criterion for inclusion in this special issue is evidence that the research has impact.

Topics for this call for papers include but are not restricted to:

• Conceptual contributions that offer new frameworks that help practitioners or society
• Methodological perspectives that offer new or revised methodologies to help achieve and measure real-world impact
• Questions studied empirically from many perspectives, including, but not limited to, those of consumers, retailers, brands, policymakers, nonprofit organizations, communities, and non-human beneficiaries
• Impact articles that offer concrete evidence that supports the impact that the research have on different stakeholders

Guest Editors:

Dr. Diletta Acuti
University of Bath
United Kingdom

Dr. Mario Campana
University of Bath
United Kingdom

Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay
Bayes Business School
United Kingdom

Prof. Jens Nordfält
University of Bath
United Kingdom

Prof. Anne Roggeveen
Babson College
United States

Full information is available here: