The game of clones and the Australia tax : divergent views about copyright business models and the willingness of Australian consumers to infringe

It is often said that Australia is a world leader in rates of copyright infringement for entertainment goods. In 2012, the hit television show, Game of Thrones, was the most downloaded television show over bitorrent, and estimates suggest that Australians accounted for a plurality of nearly 10% of the 3-4 million downloads each week. The season finale of 2013 was downloaded over a million times within 24 hours of its release, and again Australians were the largest block of illicit downloaders over BitTorrent, despite our relatively small population. This trend has led the former US Ambassador to Australia to implore Australians to stop 'stealing' digital content, and rightsholders to push for increasing sanctions on copyright infringers. The Australian Government is looking to respond by requiring Internet Service Providers to issue warnings and potentially punish consumers who are alleged by industry groups to have infringed copyright. This is the logical next step in deterring infringement, given that the operators of infringing networks (like The Pirate Bay, for example) are out of regulatory reach. This steady ratcheting up of the strength of copyright, however, comes at a significant cost to user privacy and autonomy, and while the decentralisation of enforcement reduces costs, it also reduces the due process safeguards provided by the judicial process. This article presents qualitative evidence that substantiates a common intuition: one of the major reasons that Australians seek out illicit downloads of content like Game of Thrones in such numbers is that it is more difficult to access legitimately in Australia. The geographically segmented way in which copyright is exploited at an international level has given rise to a ‘tyranny of digital distance’, where Australians have less access to copyright goods than consumers in other countries. Compared to consumers in the US and the EU, Australians pay more for digital goods, have less choice in distribution channels, are exposed to substantial delays in access, and are sometimes denied access completely. In this article we focus our analysis on premium film and television offerings, like Game of Thrones, and through semi-structured interviews, explore how choices in distribution impact on the willingness of Australian consumers to seek out infringing copies of copyright material. Game of Thrones provides an excellent case study through which to frame this analysis: it is both one of the least legally accessible television offerings and one of the most downloaded through filesharing networks of recent times. Our analysis shows that at the same time as rightsholder groups, particularly in the film and television industries, are lobbying for stronger laws to counter illicit distribution, the business practices of their member organisations are counter-productively increasing incentives for consumers to infringe. The lack of accessibility and high prices of copyright goods in Australia leads to substantial economic waste. The unmet consumer demand means that Australian consumers are harmed by lower access to information and entertainment goods than consumers in other jurisdictions. The higher rates of infringement that fulfils some of this unmet demand increases enforcement costs for copyright owners and imposes burdens either on our judicial system or on private entities – like ISPs – who may be tasked with enforcing the rights of third parties. Most worryingly, the lack of convenient and cheap legitimate digital distribution channels risks undermining public support for copyright law. Our research shows that consumers blame rightsholders for failing to meet market demand, and this encourages a social norm that infringing copyright, while illegal, is not morally wrongful. The implications are as simple as they are profound: Australia should not take steps to increase the strength of copyright law at this time. The interests of the public and those of rightsholders align better when there is effective competition in distribution channels and consumers can legitimately get access to content. While foreign rightsholders are seeking enhanced protection for their interests, increasing enforcement is likely to increase their ability to engage in lucrative geographical price-discrimination, particularly for premium content. This is only likely to increase the degree to which Australian consumers feel that their interests are not being met and, consequently, to further undermine the legitimacy of copyright law. If consumers are to respect copyright law, increasing sanctions for infringement without enhancing access and competition in legitimate distribution channels could be dangerously counter-productive. We suggest that rightsholders’ best strategy for addressing infringement in Australia at this time is to ensure that Australians can access copyright goods in a timely, affordable, convenient, and fair lawful manner.

Conceptualisation Of Model For Studying Consumer Purchase Behaviour Of Passenger Cars

Automobile Industry in India is influenced by the presence of national and multi-national manufacturers. The presence of many manufacturers and brands in the state provides many choices to the customer. The current market for car manufacturers has been transformed from a monopoly of one or two manufacturers in the seventies to oligopoly of many manufacturers in the current marketing scenario. The main objective of the research paper is to explore and conceptualize various parameters and develop a model, which influence the purchase patterns of passenger cars in the State of Kerala. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to come up with a model, which shall facilitate further study on the consumer purchase behaviour patterns of passenger car owners in the State of Kerala, India. The author intends to undertake further quantitative analysis to verify and validate the model so developed. The main methods used for this paper are secondary research on available material, depth interview of car dealers, car financing agencies and car owners in the city of Cochin, in Kerala State in India. The depth interviews were conducted with the use of prepared questionnaire for car dealers, car customers and car financing agencies. The findings resulted in the identification of the parameters that influence the consumer purchase behaviour of passenger cars and the formulation of the model, which will be the basis for the further research of the author. The paper will be of tremendous value to the existing and new car manufacturers both indigenous and foreign, to formalize and strategies their policies towards an effective marketing strategy, so as to market their models in the State, which is known for its high literacy, consumerism and higher educational penetration

Finding common ground in team-based qualitative research using the convergent interviewing method

Research councils, agencies, and researchers recognize the benefits of team-based health research. However, researchers involved in large-scale team-based research projects face multiple challenges as they seek to identify epistemological and ontological common ground. Typically, these challenges occur between quantitative and qualitative researchers but can occur between qualitative researchers, particularly when the project involves multiple disciplinary perspectives. The authors use the convergent interviewing technique in their multidisciplinary research project to overcome these challenges. This technique assists them in developing common epistemological and ontological ground while enabling swift and detailed data collection and analysis. Although convergent interviewing is a relatively new method described primarily in marketing research, it compares and contrasts well with grounded theory and other techniques. The authors argue that this process provides a rigorous method to structure and refine research projects and requires researchers to identify and be accountable for developing a common epistemological and ontological position.

Mobile communications : a study of factors influencing consumer use of m-services

New mobile digital communication technologies present opportunities for advertisers to capitalize on the evolving relationships of consumers with their mobile devices and their desire to access enhanced information services while mobile (m-services). Consumers already use mobile devices (cell phones, personal mobile digital assistants) for traditional phone calls and message handling (e.g., Kalakota and Robinson, 2002; Sullivan Mort and Drennan, 2002). The combination of rapidly developing mobile digital technology and high uptake rates of mobile devices presents enormous potential for delivery of m-services through these devices (Bitner, Brown, and Meuter, 2000). M-services encompass a wide variety of types including the ability to trade stock, to book theater and movie tickets while accessing seating plans online, to send and receive text and pictures, and receive personalized direct advertising such as alerts for shopping bargains. Marketing communications, and specifically advertising, may be delivered as an m-service and termed m-services advertising, forming part of the broader category of m-services. However, advertising research has not yet addressed the area of m-services and needs to do so to be able to take advantage of the advanced interactivity (Yadav and Varadarajan, 2005) of mobile communication devices. Such advertising research is likely to help develop open attitudes and responses to new business models as has been advocated for other new technology such as advanced television (Tauder, 2005). In this article, we model the factors influencing the use of m-services, in the context of consumers' existing relationships with mobile devices. First, we address the value propositions underpinning consumer involvement with mobile devices. Next, we canvass the types of involvement relevant to this consumption domain and argue that involvement, together with personal attributes innovativeness and self-efficacy, will influence use of m-services. Finally, implications for advertising delivered as an m-service are discussed, the potential for m-services advertising as part of m-commerce are canvassed, and directions for future research identified.

Maintenance person or architect? The role of academic advertising research in building better understanding

This paper suggests that, while advertising has changed, advertising research has not. Indeed, questions asked of advertising research more than 20 years ago have still not been answered. The enormity of change in advertising compounded by the lack of response from researchers suggests the traditional academic advertising research model requires more than routine maintenance. It seeks an architect with vision to redesign an academic research model that is probably broken or badly outdated. Five areas of the academic research approach are identified as needing rethinking: (1) the advertising problem, (2) sample frame and subjects, (3) assumptions regarding consumer behaviour, (4) research methodologies and (5) findings. Suggestions are made for improvement. But perhaps the biggest challenge is academic leadership. This paper proposes the establishment of a blue-ribbon panel to report back on recommended changes or improvements.

Consumer misbehaviour during professional service encounters

To date, consumer behaviour research is still over-focused on the functional rather than the dysfunctional. Both empirical and anecdotal evidence suggest that service organisations are burdened with the concept of consumer sovereignty, while consumers freely flout the ‘rules’ of social exchange and behave in deviant and dysfunctional ways. Further, the current scope of consumer misbehaviour research suggests that the phenomenon has principally been studied in the context of economically-focused exchange. This limits our current understanding of consumer misbehaviour to service encounters that are more transactional than relational in nature. Consequently, this thesis takes a Social Exchange approach to consumer misbehaviour and reports a three-stage multi-method study that examined the nature and antecedents of consumer misbehaviour in professional services. It addresses the following broad research question: What is the nature of consumer misbehaviour during professional service encounters? Study One initially explored the nature of consumer misbehaviour in professional service encounters using critical incident technique (CIT) within 38 semi-structured in-depth interviews. The study was designed to develop a better understanding of what constitutes consumer misbehaviour from a service provider’s perspective. Once the nature of consumer misbehaviour had been qualified, Study Two focused on developing and refining calibrated items that formed Guttman-like scales for two consumer misbehaviour constructs: one for the most theoretically-central type of consumer misbehaviour identified in Study One (i.e. refusal to participate) and one for the most well-theorised and salient type of consumer misbehaviour (i.e. verbal abuse) identified in Study One to afford a comparison. This study used Rasch modelling to investigate whether it was possible to calibrate the escalating severity of a series of decontextualised behavioural descriptors in a valid and reliable manner. Creating scales of calibrated items that capture the variation in severity of different types of consumer misbehaviour identified in Study One allowed for a more valid and reliable investigation of the antecedents of such behaviour. Lastly, Study Three utilised an experimental design to investigate three key antecedents of consumer misbehaviour: (1) the perceived quality of the service encounter [drawn from Fullerton and Punj’s (1993) model of aberrant consumer behaviour], (2) the violation of consumers’ perceptions of justice and equity [drawn from Rousseau’s (1989) Psychological Contract Theory], and (3) consumers’ affective responses to exchange [drawn from Weiss and Cropanzano’s (1996) Affective Events Theory]. Investigating three key antecedents of consumer misbehaviour confirmed the newly-developed understanding of the nature of consumer misbehaviour during professional service encounters. Combined, the results of the three studies suggest that consumer misbehaviour is characteristically different within professional services. The most salient and theoretically-central behaviours can be measured using increasingly severe decontextualised behavioural descriptors. Further, increasingly severe forms of consumer misbehaviour are likely to occur as a response to consumer anger at low levels of interpersonal service quality. These findings have a range of key implications for both marketing theory and practice.

New variational Bayesian approaches for statistical data mining : with applications to profiling and differentiating habitual consumption behaviour of customers in the wireless telecommunication industry

This thesis investigates profiling and differentiating customers through the use of statistical data mining techniques. The business application of our work centres on examining individuals’ seldomly studied yet critical consumption behaviour over an extensive time period within the context of the wireless telecommunication industry; consumption behaviour (as oppose to purchasing behaviour) is behaviour that has been performed so frequently that it become habitual and involves minimal intentions or decision making. Key variables investigated are the activity initialised timestamp and cell tower location as well as the activity type and usage quantity (e.g., voice call with duration in seconds); and the research focuses are on customers’ spatial and temporal usage behaviour. The main methodological emphasis is on the development of clustering models based on Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) which are fitted with the use of the recently developed variational Bayesian (VB) method. VB is an efficient deterministic alternative to the popular but computationally demandingMarkov chainMonte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The standard VBGMMalgorithm is extended by allowing component splitting such that it is robust to initial parameter choices and can automatically and efficiently determine the number of components. The new algorithm we propose allows more effective modelling of individuals’ highly heterogeneous and spiky spatial usage behaviour, or more generally human mobility patterns; the term spiky describes data patterns with large areas of low probability mixed with small areas of high probability. Customers are then characterised and segmented based on the fitted GMM which corresponds to how each of them uses the products/services spatially in their daily lives; this is essentially their likely lifestyle and occupational traits. Other significant research contributions include fitting GMMs using VB to circular data i.e., the temporal usage behaviour, and developing clustering algorithms suitable for high dimensional data based on the use of VB-GMM.

The rise of co-creative consumers : user experience sharing behaviour in online communities

This thesis examines consumer initiated value co-creation behaviour in the context of convergent mobile online services using a Service-Dominant logic (SD logic) theoretical framework. It focuses on non-reciprocal marketing phenomena such as open innovation and user generated content whereby new viable business models are derived and consumer roles and community become essential to the success of business. Attention to customers. roles and personalised experiences in value co-creation has been recognised in the literature (e.g., Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000; Prahalad, 2004; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Similarly, in a subsequent iteration of their 2004 version of the foundations of SD logic, Vargo and Lusch (2006) replaced the concept of value co-production with value co-creation and suggested that a value co-creation mindset is essential to underpin the firm-customer value creation relationship. Much of this focus, however, has been limited to firm initiated value co-creation (e.g., B2B or B2C), while consumer initiated value creation, particularly consumer-to-consumer (C2C) has received little attention in the SD logic literature. While it is recognised that not every consumer wishes to make the effort to engage extensively in co-creation processes (MacDonald & Uncles, 2009), some consumers may not be satisfied with a standard product, instead they engage in the effort required for personalisation that potentially leads to greater value for themselves, and which may benefit not only the firm, but other consumers as well. Literature suggests that there are consumers who do, and as a result initiate such behaviour and expend effort to engage in co-creation activity (e.g., Gruen, Osmonbekov and Czaplewski, 2006; 2007 MacDonald & Uncles, 2009). In terms of consumers. engagement in value proposition (co-production) and value actualisation (co-creation), SD logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008) provides a new lens that enables marketing scholars to transcend existing marketing theory and facilitates marketing practitioners to initiate service centric and value co-creation oriented marketing practices. Although the active role of the consumer is acknowledged in the SD logic oriented literature, we know little about how and why consumers participate in a value co-creation process (Payne, Storbacka, & Frow, 2008). Literature suggests that researchers should focus on areas such as C2C interaction (Gummesson 2007; Nicholls 2010) and consumer experience sharing and co-creation (Belk 2009; Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004). In particular, this thesis seeks to better understand consumer initiated value co-creation, which is aligned with the notion that consumers can be resource integrators (Baron & Harris, 2008) and more. The reason for this focus is that consumers today are more empowered in both online and offline contexts (Füller, Mühlbacher, Matzler, & Jawecki, 2009; Sweeney, 2007). Active consumers take initiatives to engage and co-create solutions with other active actors in the market for their betterment of life (Ballantyne & Varey, 2006; Grönroos & Ravald, 2009). In terms of the organisation of the thesis, this thesis first takes a „zoom-out. (Vargo & Lusch, 2011) approach and develops the Experience Co-Creation (ECo) framework that is aligned with balanced centricity (Gummesson, 2008) and Actor-to-Actor worldview (Vargo & Lusch, 2011). This ECo framework is based on an extended „SD logic friendly lexicon. (Lusch & Vargo, 2006): value initiation and value initiator, value-in-experience, betterment centricity and betterment outcomes, and experience co-creation contexts derived from five gaps identified from the SD logic literature review. The framework is also designed to accommodate broader marketing phenomena (i.e., both reciprocal and non-reciprocal marketing phenomena). After zooming out and establishing the ECo framework, the thesis takes a zoom-in approach and places attention back on the value co-creation process. Owing to the scope of the current research, this thesis focuses specifically on non-reciprocal value co-creation phenomena initiated by consumers in online communities. Two emergent concepts: User Experience Sharing (UES) and Co-Creative Consumers are proposed grounded in the ECo framework. Together, these two theorised concepts shed light on the following two propositions: (1) User Experience Sharing derives value-in-experience as consumers make initiative efforts to participate in value co-creation, and (2) Co-Creative Consumers are value initiators who perform UES. Three research questions were identified underpinning the scope of this research: RQ1: What factors influence consumers to exhibit User Experience Sharing behaviour? RQ2: Why do Co-Creative Consumers participate in User Experience Sharing as part of value co-creation behaviour? RQ3: What are the characteristics of Co-Creative Consumers? To answer these research questions, two theoretical models were developed: the User Experience Sharing Behaviour Model (UESBM) grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour framework, and the Co-Creative Consumer Motivation Model (CCMM) grounded in the Motivation, Opportunity, Ability framework. The models use SD logic consistent constructs and draw upon multiple streams of literature including consumer education, consumer psychology and consumer behaviour, and organisational psychology and organisational behaviour. These constructs include User Experience Sharing with Other Consumers (UESC), User Experience Sharing with Firms (UESF), Enjoyment in Helping Others (EIHO), Consumer Empowerment (EMP), Consumer Competence (COMP), and Intention to Engage in User Experience Sharing (INT), Attitudes toward User Experience Sharing (ATT) and Subjective Norm (SN) in the UESBM, and User Experience Sharing (UES), Consumer Citizenship (CIT), Relating Needs of Self (RELS) and Relating Needs of Others (RELO), Newness (NEW), Mavenism (MAV), Use Innovativeness (UI), Personal Initiative (PIN) and Communality (COMU) in the CCMM. Many of these constructs are relatively new to marketing and require further empirical evidence for support. Two studies were conducted to underpin the corresponding research questions. Study One was conducted to calibrate and re-specify the proposed models. Study Two was a replica study to confirm the proposed models. In Study One, data were collected from a PC DIY online community. In Study Two, a majority of data were collected from Apple product online communities. The data were examined using structural equation modelling and cluster analysis. Considering the nature of the forums, the Study One data is considered to reflect some characteristics of Prosumers and the Study Two data is considered to reflect some characteristics of Innovators. The results drawn from two independent samples (N = 326 and N = 294) provide empirical support for the overall structure theorised in the research models. The results in both models show that Enjoyment in Helping Others and Consumer Competence in the UESBM, and Consumer Citizenship and Relating Needs in CCMM have significant impacts on UES. The consistent results appeared in both Study One and Study Two. The results also support the conceptualisation of Co-Creative Consumers and indicate Co-Creative Consumers are individuals who are able to relate the needs of themselves and others and feel a responsibility to share their valuable personal experiences. In general, the results shed light on "How and why consumers voluntarily participate in the value co-creation process?. The findings provide evidence to conceptualise User Experience Sharing behaviour as well as the Co-Creative Consumer using the lens of SD logic. This research is a pioneering study that incorporates and empirically tests SD logic consistent constructs to examine a particular area of the logic – that is consumer initiated value co-creation behaviour. This thesis also informs practitioners about how to facilitate and understand factors that engage with either firm or consumer initiated online communities.

Risk, trust, and consumer online purchasing behaviour : a Chilean perspective

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate Latin American online purchase behaviour with a specific focus on the influence of perceived risk and trust. While studies of this nature have been conducted quite extensively in developed countries, their application in developing countries, such as Latin America is limited. Our study addresses this gap in the literature with an empirical study conducted in Chile. Design/methodology/approach: The authors develop and test a proposed model of the influence of consumer’s perceptions of risk and trust on their attitudes and intentions to purchase on the Internet. An online survey method is used. The sample consists of 176 Chilean consumers who have made at least one purchase online. The data is analysed using structural equation modelling technique (SEM). Findings: The analysis revealed that of the perceived risk and trust factors examined, trust in third party assurances and a cultural environment of trust had the strongest positive influence on intentions to continuing purchasing online. Perceived risk had an inverse relationship with attitude and consumers’ attitude has a positive influence on intentions to purchase online. Trust in online vendors and a propensity to trust were both insignificant. Practical implications: Practically, these results identity which risk and trust beliefs towards purchasing online have the most effect thereby providing insights into how companies should seek to mitigate perceptions of risk to encourage new and return purchasers. Additionally, this research shows that consumers in a Latin American country, recognised as a collectivist, high risk avoidance culture, are willing to make purchases online despite the risks involved. Originality/value: The study and its results is one of few available that consider a Latin American context. The value of the findings provides insights into the specific risk and trust factors that influence Chilean consumers when considering purchasing online. The tested model adds value not only to the literature on Latin American consumer behaviour but also provides guidance for companies offering online retailing facilities in these less developed countries.

Consumer Internet purchasing behaviour in Chile

Despite the potential for e-commerce growth in Latin America, studies investigating factors that influence consumers’ Internet purchasing behavior are very limited. This research addresses this limitation with a consumer centric study in Chile using the Theory of Reasoned Action. The study examines Chilean consumers’ beliefs, perceptions of risk, and subjective norms about continued purchasing on the Internet. Findings show that consumers’ attitude towards purchasing on the Internet is an influential factor on intentions to continue Internet purchasing. Additionally, compatibility and result demonstrability are influential factors on attitudes towards this behavior. The study contributes to the important area of technology post adoption behavior.

How to stop binge drinking and speeding motorists : effects of relational-interdependent self-construal and self-referencing on attitudes toward social marketing

How can marketers stop speeding motorists and binge drinking? Two experiments show that the beliefs consumers have about the degree to which they define themselves in terms of their close relationships (i.e., relational-interdependent self-construal (RISC)) offer useful insights into the effectiveness of communications for two key social marketing issues—road safety (Study 1, New Zealand sample) and alcohol consumption (Study 2, English sample). Further, self-referencing is a mechanism for these effects. Specifically, people who define themselves in terms of their close relationships (high-RISCs) respond most favorably to advertisements featuring a dyadic relationship (two people), and this favorable response is mediated by self-referencing. In contrast, people who do not include close relationships in their sense of self (low-RISCs) respond most favorably to self-reference advertisements featuring solitary models.

Frequent (flier) frustration and the dark side of word‐of‐web: exploring online dysfunctional behavior in online feedback forums

Purpose Following the perspective of frustration theory customer frustration incidents lead to frustration behavior such as protest (negative word‐of‐mouth). On the internet customers can express their emotions verbally and non‐verbally in numerous web‐based review platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate online dysfunctional customer behavior, in particular negative “word‐of‐web” (WOW) in online feedback forums, among customers who participate in frequent‐flier programs in the airline industry. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a variation of the critical incident technique (CIT) referred to as the critical internet feedback technique (CIFT). Qualitative data of customer reviews of 13 different frequent‐flier programs posted on the internet were collected and analyzed with regard to frustration incidents, verbal and non‐verbal emotional effects and types of dysfunctional word‐of‐web customer behavior. The sample includes 141 negative customer reviews based on non‐recommendations and low program ratings. Findings Problems with loyalty programs evoke negative emotions that are expressed in a spectrum of verbal and non‐verbal negative electronic word‐of‐mouth. Online dysfunctional behavior can vary widely from low ratings and non‐recommendations to voicing switching intentions to even stronger forms such as manipulation of others and revenge intentions. Research limitations/implications Results have to be viewed carefully due to methodological challenges with regard to the measurement of emotions, in particular the accuracy of self‐report techniques and the quality of online data. Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry. Further research is needed with regard to the exact differentiation of frustration from related constructs. In addition, large‐scale quantitative studies are necessary to specify and test the relationships between frustration incidents and subsequent dysfunctional customer behavior expressed in negative word‐of‐web. Practical implications The study yields important implications for the monitoring of the perceived quality of loyalty programs. Management can obtain valuable information about program‐related and/or relationship‐related frustration incidents that lead to online dysfunctional customer behavior. A proactive response strategy should be developed to deal with severe cases, such as sabotage plans. Originality/value This study contributes to knowledge regarding the limited research of online dysfunctional customer behavior as well as frustration incidents of loyalty programs. Also, the article presents a theoretical “customer frustration‐defection” framework that describes different levels of online dysfunctional behavior in relation to the level of frustration sensation that customers have experienced. The framework extends the existing perspective of the “customer satisfaction‐loyalty” framework developed by Heskett et al.

Consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards firms' green marketing initiatives: How do they influence green consumption?

This thesis examines green marketing and green consumption behaviours addressing limited understandings about how consumers interpret their green consumption behaviour in their everyday lives; what motivates people to purchase green products, and what barriers exist to this behaviour. Findings reveal that enhancing green consumption through green marketing depends on consumers' enthusiasm to engage in green practices and green behavioural influences. The research supports the need for qualitative research to provide rich insights into relationships between consumer behaviour, green marketing and green consumption and builds a stronger knowledge foundation by introducing social practice theory into the marketing discipline.

Qualitative modelling of unknown interface behaviour

M. H. Lee, and S. M. Garrett, Qualitative modelling of unknown interface behaviour, International Journal of Human Computer Studies, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 493-515, 2000

Feminist epistemology meets the masculinity of marketing and consumer knowledge: a contemporary rendering of a decade-long debate

In this paper I outline possibilities for, and issues arising from, opposition towards the dominant ideologies and practices of marketing knowledge (Hirschman 1993) through an engagement with feminist epistemology (Longino 1991, Harding 1987). Feminist epistemology is a political branch of naturalised epistemology (Quine 1969) primarily concerned with critique of constructions of gender, gender norms and gendered interests within the production of knowledge (Anderson 1995) and with theorising, grounding and legitimating feminist knowledge making practices (Harding 1987). It is most often associated with the feminist critique of science, and with feminist science and technology studies (Haraway 1987, Wajman 1997). Feminist epistemology asks the question, ‘what is the nature of the feminist critical project as a way of knowing?’ (McLennan 1995:392). This paper outlines the basis of the feminist critique of knowledge generally, and as applied to marketing knowledge, offers description of the three main epistemological approaches to this question and suggestions for their application in practice. The paper progresses important work by consumer behaviour theorists (Bristor and Fischer 1993, Hirschman 1993) on the potentials of feminist ways of knowing for marketing and consumer behaviour by moving beyond the tripartite of feminist approaches outlined, and extending the discussion to take into account the development of situated knowledges theory (Haraway 1989, 1997), which has become so important in the decade since these papers were written. It joins ongoing conversations in consumer behaviour and marketing that share similar feminist concerns (Catterall et al 1997, 2000, 2005, Bettany and Woodruffe Burton 1999, 2005, and Hogg et al 1999, 2000) but in this contribution it takes a slightly tangential approach, seeing marketing knowledge in terms of its epistemic culture by using a model of masculinity in academic cultures from feminist theory (Wagner 1994) to help conceptualise it as such. The dominant masculine ideology of marketing knowledge both in execution (Penaloza 1994, Bristor and Fischer 1994, Fischer and Bristor 1993, Woodruffe 1996), and values (Hirschman 1993, Brown 2000, Desmond 1997) has been well documented over the past fifteen years. However, although the basis of this, how is it manifested and how a feminist informed marketing knowledge could be achieved, have been addressed somewhat in the literature (Bristor and Fischer 1993, Hogg, Bettany and Long 2000) an updated rendering is necessary which focuses specifically on epistemology and situates this discussion within a cultural framework. To do this I use the notions of cultural masculinity in academic disciplines developed by Wagner (1994) of ‘organisational egocentrism’, ‘fake collectivity’ and ‘de realisation’. With these, I raise important and specific issues around the notion of the masculinity of marketing knowledge, and then present an outline of feminist epistemologies to illustrate how different feminist approaches to knowledge would address these concerns.