nep-mkt New Economics Papers
on Marketing
Issue of 2023‒05‒08
two papers chosen by
Marco Novarese
Università del Piemonte Orientale

  1. Influence or Advertise: The Role of Social Learning in Influencer Marketing By Ron Berman; Aniko Oery; Xudong Zheng
  2. Make ethical marketing happen: a performative approach to managers’ identity work in the food industry By Laetitia Condamin; Valérie-Inès de La Ville

  1. By: Ron Berman (University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School); Aniko Oery (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); Xudong Zheng (Johns Hopkins University, Department of Economics)
    Abstract: We compare influencer marketing to targeted advertising from information aggregation and product awareness perspectives. Influencer marketing leverages network effects by allowing consumers to socially learn from each other about their experienced content utility, but consumers may not know whether to attribute promotional post popularity to high content or high product quality. If the quality of a product is uncertain (e.g., it belongs to an unknown brand), then a mega influencer with consistent content quality fosters more information aggregation than a targeted ad and thereby yields higher profits. When we compare influencer marketing to untargeted ad campaigns or if the product has low quality uncertainty (e.g., belongs to an established brand), then many micro influencers with inconsistent content quality create more consumer awareness and yield higher profits. For products with low quality uncertainty, the firm wants to avoid information aggregation as it disperses posterior beliefs of consumers and leads to fewer purchases at the optimal price. Our model can also explain why influencer campaigns either "go viral" or "go bust, " and how for niche products, micro-influencers with consistent content quality can be a valuable marketing tool.
    Date: 2023–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2358&r=mkt
  2. By: Laetitia Condamin (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie); Valérie-Inès de La Ville (Axe 1 (2022-2027) : "Vulnérabilités et risques" (MSHS Poitiers) - MSHS - Maison des sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers - Université de Poitiers - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEREGE - Centre de Recherche en Gestion - IAE Poitiers - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Poitiers - Université de Poitiers - Université de Poitiers - ULR - La Rochelle Université - Excelia Group | La Rochelle Business School)
    Abstract: Although it claims a growing involvement in sustainable development, the marketing profession suffers from a negative image because it is accused of stimulating overconsumption and greenwashing. In order to analyze how marketing managers deal with these ethical tensions in their identity work, this article mobilizes theories of performativity. The aim is to understand how managers' discourses on the marketing profession shape their practices and their processes of subjectivation. Based on 15 in-depth interviews, this work identifies five registers of performativity through which marketing managers discursively construct their professional identities: i) reflexive realist, ii) reflexive destabilized, iii) reflexive detached, iv) voluntarist defensive and v) conquering utilitarian. This article shifts the literature on ethics in marketing from positive (what marketers do) and normative (what marketers should do) approaches to a performative approach (how marketers construct their profession). This research highlights that the relationship between discourse and practice is not antagonistic in nature, but must be understood as mutually constitutive, which opens up a reflection on how to bring about ethical marketing within organizations.
    Abstract: Bien qu'elle revendique une participation croissante au développement durable, la profession marketing souffre d'une image négative parce qu'elle est accusée de stimuler la surconsommation et le greenwashing. Afin d'analyser comment les managers marketing font face à ces tensions éthiques dans leur travail identitaire, cet article mobilise les théories de la performativité. Il s'agit de comprendre comment les discours des managers sur la profession marketing façonnent leurs pratiques et leurs processus de subjectivation. Fondé sur 15 entretiens en profondeur, ce travail identifie cinq registres de performativité par lesquels les managers-marketing construisent discursivement leurs identités professionnelles : i) réflexif réaliste, ii) réflexif déstabilisé, iii) réflexif détaché, iv) volontariste défensif et v) conquérant utilitariste. Cet article opère un déplacement de la littérature sur l'éthique en marketing des approches positives (ce que font les marketeurs) et normatives (ce que devraient faire les marketeurs) vers une approche performative (comment les marketeurs construisent leur profession). Cette recherche souligne que la relation entre discours et pratiques n'est pas de nature antagoniste, mais doit être comprise comme mutuellement constitutive, ce qui ouvre une réflexion sur les manières de faire advenir un marketing éthique au sein des organisations.
    Keywords: Identity work, Professionalization, Ethics, Performativity theories, Managers marketing, Travail identitaire, Profession, Ethique, Performativité
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04003393&r=mkt

This nep-mkt issue is ©2023 by Marco Novarese. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
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NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.