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Sophistication in Research in Marketing. Donald R. Lehmann Leigh McAlister Richard Staelin “Ideas that Matter” Pre-Conference Summer AMA 2010. The Research System And Feedback Loops. Solid Lines = Direct Effects Dash Lines = Feedback Effects. Lynch Old Days: More Aspiration
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Sophistication in Research in Marketing Donald R. Lehmann Leigh McAlister Richard Staelin “Ideas that Matter” Pre-Conference Summer AMA 2010
The Research System And Feedback Loops Solid Lines = Direct Effects Dash Lines = Feedback Effects
Lynch Old Days: More Aspiration For Conceptual Papers Today: Don’t Even Consider It Before Tenure
Lynch Need more papers for promotion Count instead of read
Lynch Process impacts PhD Training Nature of papers PhD students write
Lynch Journals publishing more papers More authors More papers/author
LMS Drawing scholars from other fields New methods New theories Less interest in marketing
LMS Outside scholars drive technical sophistication arms race Not needed/helpful understanding marketing
LMS Accelerates Elison- identified: “Execution drives out Idea quality” Yadav (2010) shift from conceptual articles Reibstein/Day/Wind (2009) shift away from relevance
Survey of Published Authors • JM, JMR, JCR, MktSci; Past 5 years • 510 sent out • 56% response rate • No follow up notification • Target Journal • 20% JM • 40% JCR • 20% JMR • 20% Marketing Science
What makes a good review? Useful Reviews Not Useful Reviews Use a different model Use a more complex method Alter the thrust of the paper ≈ Execution Quality • Enhance managerial relevance • Provide theoretical justification • Rule out alternative explanations • ≈ Idea Quality
Asked to increase managerial relevance…. • 45% said it resulted in new insight • 41% said it improved the focus of the paper
Asked to use more complex method…. • 80% said it had no impact on paper’s conclusions • 38% said it made the paper harder to read • People said they got this request 50% of the time
Old Fart-itis? No. Responses didn’t differ by cohort, except In the field 5 years or less Less frequent requests for more complex model Fewer conflicting requests from reviewers
What to do? • Editors • Tell reviewers to rebalance method and idea • Back up policy with editorial decisions • Reviewers • Interesting • Not wrong
What to do? • More complex method is appropriate if: • Assumptions are met • Method is focus of research • Method changes the result • Benefit > extra communication cost • Method is described simply