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INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Conferences

Posted by: Rajiv Vaidyanathan

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Conference overview

The Asia-Pacific ACR 2027 Conference will convene in Mumbai, India — a dynamic crossroads of cultures, commerce, and ideas. The theme, ‘Consumer Research for Societal Impact’, underscores ACR’s commitment to advancing scholarship that deepens understanding of consumer behavior and delivers meaningful benefits to individuals, organizations, and society. The conference will bring together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how consumer insights can address today’s pressing challenges – from sustainability and health to digital transformation, wise innovation, and financial well-being.

Conference objectives

• Advance Consumer Research for Good – Highlight work that contributes to consumer and societal well-being, responsible marketing, and positive impact.
• Build Regional and Global Connections – Strengthen academic and professional collaboration within Asia-Pacific and with the global consumer research community.
• Bridge Academia, Practice, and Policy – Facilitate dialogue between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to apply consumer insights for societal benefit.
• Showcase Asia-Pacific Perspectives – Encourage research that reflects the region’s markets, challenges, and opportunities.

There are three ways to participate.

1. For all authors of scholarly work: Submit a Competitive Paper (CP). All accepted papers will be scheduled for presentations.
2. For doctoral students and their collaborators: Instead of a traditional doctoral symposium, we are offering an innovative initiative called Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI) to better support the transition of early-stage research into publishable work.
3. For scholars interested in subsistence marketplaces: We are offering an immersive pre-conference focused on bottom-up insights into subsistence consumers in the local community.

Details on submission to each of these initiatives are presented below.

1. Submit a Competitive Paper (CP) 

Competitive paper submissions are the centerpiece of the Asia-Pacific ACR program. We invite cutting-edge theoretical, empirical, and conceptual research that advances understanding of consumer behavior and ideally connects to the conference theme: Consumer research for societal impact. We invite competitive paper submissions on all aspects of consumer behavior. Submissions from all methodological traditions: experimental, quantitative, qualitative, or mixed are welcome. Authors should clearly highlight both the theoretical contribution and any societal implications of their work.

Submission requirements: All submissions must be uploaded at the conference management site at: .

Evaluation: All competitive papers are evaluated by reviewers, with final decisions made by the conference co-chairs. Reviewing will be blind and will evaluate submissions based on a) importance, b) quality c) readability d) completeness e) predicted interest from ACR members and e) fit of the papers with the conference theme.

Based on reviews, accepted competitive papers may be invited for a 20-minute (CP 20) or 10-minute (CP 10) presentation.

Presentation: Depending on the number and quality of the competitive papers, we may assign them to either a 20-minute presentation session or a 10-minute “lightning presentation” session. Competitive papers will be organized into thematic tracks for live moderated sessions during the conference. The designated author is expected to present the paper in English, answer questions following the talk, and be available to discuss their research with members of the ACR community. Authors will find their session date and time in the conference program.

Submission requirements

1. Paper title. This is the title that will be published in the conference program.
2. Author(s). Provide the official name, email, and affiliation for each author. Please indicate the author order and which author(s) will serve as the corresponding author, presenter, or both. At least one author must agree to present the paper in person if the paper is accepted. Authors will be anonymized for the reviewers.
3. Short abstract (50-word max). This abstract will be published in the conference program and should concentrate on the big picture contribution(s) of the paper.
4. Extended abstract (1000-word max; excluding references, figures, or tables; single-spaced). Please provide an extended abstract to be evaluated by the reviewers. The extended abstract should provide a summary of the research, including the conceptual framework, relevant prior literature, description of the method, data, results, and conclusions. The file must be anonymized so that authors are not identified anywhere, and it must be submitted as a formatted PDF.
5. References do not count toward the word limit. References should follow the .
6. Figures and/or tables. Tables and figures are encouraged and should be properly labeled.

Other important formatting and submission information

• If applicable, a submission should include a detailed description of the methodology, data, and results of each study (providing basic descriptive and inferential statistics) to aid in proper reviewer evaluation. Note that if the reviewers cannot understand what was done and what the studies found or concluded, then a paper will likely be rejected. We encourage authors to summarize their results in a table and use figures when appropriate.
• Submissions should follow the current of the Journal of Consumer Research, except that the entire text should be single-spaced. Subheadings should be bolded or italicized and capitalized (no hard return necessary).
• Please adhere to high standards of spelling and grammar and consider having the abstract reviewed by a copy editor or a peer prior to submission.
• Submissions that do not adhere to the word and page limits will be rejected on that basis.

Submission on the portal: Specific step-by-step submission guidelines are available on the submission portal.

Publishing of accepted CP abstracts (both CP 20 and CP 10): Authors of accepted proposals agree to revise their submission based on reviewers’ comments and upload their final 1000-word Extended Abstract (MS Word file) by September 15, 2026. The most recent version submitted by the September 15 due date will be published “as is” in the ACR Proceedings.

The submitting author will be required to sign and affirm ACR’s Honor Code, pledging the following:

• Submissions accurately represent original research and results.
• Data, analyses, and interpretations are truthful and transparent.
• Appropriate institutional approvals (e.g., IRB) were obtained where relevant.
• Accepted work will be presented by one of the listed authors in person.

Please submit your competitive paper online at ������
June 15, 2026.

2. Submit to be a part of Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI)

The Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI) is a new effort designed to help promising early-stage projects translate into publishable research. Traditional doctoral symposia have focused on providing doctoral students and early-career faculty with general research training and career advice. However, a major determinant of research success is the ability of research teams to incubate promising ideas into publishable projects. Projects often stall between the conception of an idea and journal submission. To fill this gap, it is important not only to address research knowledge but also to help projects stand a strong chance of advancing through the publication process.

The Collaborative Research Initiative is designed to advance research ideas into publications by providing a structured, hands-on forum to move partially developed research toward publication. Senior faculty mentors will engage with these teams and help develop a research roadmap during the session. The workshop will be chaired by Matt Isaac (Seattle University), Priyali Rajagopal (University of North Texas), and Sanjeev Tripathi (Indian Institute of Management Indore). Additional senior mentors will include leading scholars in the field. Efforts will be made to ensure balanced regional and global representation to reflect methodological and cultural diversity.

We plan to offer two tracks: the Idea Conceptualization track for doctoral students and the Idea Cultivation track open to both students and faculty.

Track 1: Idea Conceptualization

Doctoral students will submit 2-3 original, early-stage research ideas (no more than 250 words each). Preliminary data collection is encouraged but not required. They will come to the CRI with a single slide prepared for each idea they plan to present. Participants in this track will work with one or more research mentors and/or other students to identify a process for evaluating their ideas (e.g., potential theoretical/managerial impact, contribution, likelihood of success, ease of testing/data collection). They will gain skills in evaluating and prioritizing research ideas, articulating the research question/problem, clarifying the research context, and potentially developing testable hypotheses.

Submission Requirements

1. Submission title. This is the title that ties the ideas together. Ideas structured around a common theme will be preferred over disconnected ideas.
2. Student details. Provide official name, email, and affiliation.
3. Brief abstracts (250 words each max). In a single document, each idea should be accompanied by a brief 250-word summary that includes the conceptual framework and how the idea advances work in the field. The file must be anonymized so that authors are not identified anywhere, and it must be submitted as a formatted PDF. The total length of all the brief abstracts cannot exceed 1000 words.

This track is capped at 50 students to ensure a more focused and interactive experience. There will be a nominal $25 fee per person, in addition to the conference registration fee.

Track 2: Idea Cultivation

Teams of at least two co-authors will submit an intermediate-stage research project that includes initial empirical support for their predictions, but face challenges moving the project forward. They will come to the CRI ready to deliver a 15-minute presentation summarizing the research. Teams will then work with one or more research mentor(s) to position and frame the research, identify additional studies, and focus on how to advance the research toward publication. This track will emphasize guided feedback, conceptual sharpening, and actionable research planning.

We expect to select up to 30 faculty–student teams. The workshop seeks to:

• Elevate the quality and publishability of early-stage (50% complete) projects through intensive, feedback-driven engagement.
• Foster collaboration between Ph.D. students and junior faculty, helping them refine empirical and theoretical contributions.
• Build mentoring capacity among regional scholars by engaging global experts to mentor in consumer research.
• We expect to select up to 30 projects, with emphasis on those that can benefit most from expert guidance.
• Faculty–student pairs will ensure continuity of mentoring and implementation after the session.
• The workshop will be highly interactive, combining plenary discussions, small-group clinics, and co-creation sessions.
• Mentors may optionally continue collaboration—as committee members, reviewers, or co-authors—to sustain momentum.

To be considered for this track, we need a joint proposal by one Ph.D. student and a faculty member, with projects that:

• Are at least 50% developed
• Have an initial conceptual framework
• Have multiple studies designed or underway, with data for one or more studies collected
• Projects submitted to the Idea Cultivation Track of the CRI cannot also be submitted as competitive papersto the conference, and vice versa

Submission requirements

1. Paper title. This is the title that will be published in the conference program.
2. Author(s). Provide official name, email, and affiliation for each author (must include at least one student and one faculty member). Please indicate the student and the author. This information can be included in the extended abstract since it is not anonymized.
3. Short abstract (50-word max). This abstract should concentrate on the big picture contribution(s) of the paper.
4. Extended abstract (1000-word max; excluding references, figures, or tables; single-spaced). Please provide an extended abstract to be evaluated by the track chairs.
   The extended abstract should include the following information, and the file must be submitted as a formatted PDF.

• Research question and theoretical motivation
• Preliminary empirical work
• Potential contributions

The stage of development and key challenges where mentorship would help must be described after the References section, in no more than 500 words. The count of words is in addition to the 1000-word limit. Depending on the quality of the proposals, fit with the mentor’s research expertise, and also the likelihood of long-term success of the research program, we will select up to 30 proposals.

To be considered for the CRI in either of the two tracks, please submit online at  ������ June 15, 2026.

In your submission, please specify which of the two tracks – Idea Conceptualization or Idea Cultivation – you are applying to. There will be a nominal $25 fee per person, in addition to the conference registration fee.

3. Attend immersive pre-conference workshop

This preconference workshop is being organized in consultation with Prof. Madhu Viswanathan, who will also facilitate the event (virtually if the schedule does not allow travel) with Arun Sreekumar.[1]  The event is based on experiences derived from organizing several bottom-up immersion subsistence marketplaces conferences in different countries. The workshop is limited to 50 participants and will be fully immersive and interactive. We envision a one-of-a-kind preconference experience that builds on the theme of the Asia-Pacific ACR conference and the mission of the host institution, SPJIMR, Mumbai, on socially impactful consumer research.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• Gain bottom-up insights about subsistence consumers in the local community
• Derive possible directions for socially impactful consumer research
• Enhance understanding of challenges and benefits of socially impactful consumer research

We are planning an immersive, interactive workshop in which participants will work in groups to identify a shared interest in consumer research. They will then plan and conduct several rounds of in-depth interviews with subsistence consumers and entrepreneurs in local communities. The challenges in conducting socially impactful consumer research will be discussed in a presentation. Groups will then present their insights and possible directions for consumer research through posters.

Tentative process

12:00–12:30 PM	Introduction, virtual immersion and individual reflection
12:30–1:00 PM	Group formation and preparation for In-depth interviews
1:00–3.30 PM	Three rounds of 30–45-minute interviews with consumers and entrepreneurs. Breaks between interviews for digesting insights and adjusting questions.
3:30–4:00 PM	Break and poster preparation
4:00–5:00 PM	Conducting socially impactful research. This presentation will draw on decades of experience in subsistence marketplaces and with marketplace literacy to cover the following: ·       How can societal impact enrich my research? ·       How can I initiate and sustain the virtuous loop between research and societal impact? ·       How can I pursue transformative research and societal impact while managing practical constraints? ·       How can I be passionate yet practical? ·       How can similar synergies be created with education?
5:00–5:30 PM	Poster session

What this workshop is NOT

This workshop will not be a forum for conducting research, which, of course, requires a variety of procedures and formalities. Therefore, the focus is on interactions intended to stimulate discussion and provide deeper insights, but they do not form the basis for any formal research.

Foundation

The stream of subsistence marketplaces has pioneered a unique, bottom-up approach to research, education, and practice at the intersection of poverty and marketplaces.  The term “subsistence, emphasizes the qualitative nature of life circumstances wherein the ability to meet basic needs is chronically under threat (Viswanathan and Rosa, 2007).” This stream has led to bottom-up learning experiences through seven biennial conferences, four international immersion conferences, four virtual conferences, several preconference workshops at TCR and other forums, and tens of international immersion experiences for students over the last two decades. The preconference workshop at ACR Asia-Pacific in Mumbai will build off these learning experiences to provide bottom-up immersion that stimulates thinking and new directions for impactful consumer research.

You can register for the pre-conference workshop when conference registration opens, and no submission in advance is required. The preconference will cost an additional $25 and must be paid at the time of conference registration.

[1] Madhu Viswanathan is Professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University and Professor Emeritus at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research programs are on measurement and subsistence marketplaces, where he has authored several books, including Measurement Error and Research Design (Sage, 2005), Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces (Springer, 2008), Subsistence Marketplaces (2013), and Bottom-Up Enterprise (2016). He pioneered the area of subsistence marketplaces, a bottom-up approach to poverty and marketplaces. He teaches courses on research methods, subsistence, and sustainability, reaching thousands of students in-person and online. He founded and directs the Marketplace Literacy Project (), pioneering marketplace literacy education that has reached nearly 150,000 women across four continents.

Arun Sreekumar is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at IIM Ahmedabad. His research focuses on how marketing interventions can be leveraged to improve societal welfare.