The interaction between marketing actions with a social dimension and marketing actions with an economic orientation is at the heart of this study. The authors introduce institutional theory as the theoretical lens used to inform this research. Results from an experiment in a retail context show that there is a minimum acceptable level of marketing actions with a social dimension, below which the effectiveness of a firm's economic-oriented actions is hindered significantly.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AchabelDale D., KriewaldMary Ann Odegaard, and McIntyreShelly H. (1983), “The Effects of Time and Situational Factors on Food Store Patronage,” in Patronage Behavior and Retail Management, DardenWilliam and LuschRobert, eds. New York: North-Holland, 377–87.
2.
AndreasenAlan R. (1994), “Social Marketing: Its Definition and Domain,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 13 (Spring), 108–14.
3.
ArnoldStephen J., HandelmanJay M., and TigertDouglas J. (1996), “Organizational Legitimacy and Retail Store Patronage,” Journal of Business Research, 35 (March), 229–40.
4.
ArnoldStephen J., OumTae H., and TigertDouglas J. (1983), “Determinant Attributes in Retail Patronage: Seasonal, Temporal, Regional, and International Comparisons,” Journal of Marketing Research, 20 (May), 149–57.
5.
BaronRueben M. and KennyDavid A. (1986), “The Moderator–Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychology Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (6), 1173–82.
6.
BaumJoel A.C. and OliverChristine (1991), “Institutional Linkages and Organizational Mortality,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 36 (June), 187–218.
7.
BendapudiNeeli, SinghSurendra N., and BendapudiVenkat (1996), “Enhancing Helping Behavior: An Integrative Framework for Promotion Planning,” Journal of Marketing, 60 (July), 33–49.
8.
BhattacharyaC.B., RaoHayagreeva, and GlynnMary Ann (1995), “Understanding the Bond of Identification: An Investigation of its Correlates Among Art Museum Members,” Journal of Marketing, 59 (October), 46–57.
9.
BlodgettJeffrey G., GranboisDonald H., and WaltersRockney G. (1993), “The Effects of Perceived Justice on Complainants’ Negative Word-of-Mouth Behavior and Repatronage Intentions,” Journal of Retailing, 69 (Winter), 399–428.
10.
BloomPaul N. and NovelliWilliam D. (1981), “Problems and Challenges in Social Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 45 (Spring), 79–88.
11.
BonePaula Fitzgerald (1995), “Word-of-Mouth Effects on Short and Long Term Judgments,” Journal of Business Research, 32 (March), 213–23.
12.
BrownTom J. and DacinPeter A. (1997), “The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses,” Journal of Marketing, 61 (January), 68–84.
13.
ChildJohn (1997), “Strategic Choice in the Analysis of Action, Structure, Organizations, and Environment: Retrospect and Prospect,” Organization Studies, 18 (1), 43–76.
14.
DacinM. Tina (1997), “Isomorphism in Context: The Power and Prescription of Institutional Norms,” Academy of Management Journal, 40 (February), 46–81.
15.
DiMaggioPaul J. (1988), “Interest and Agency in Institutional Theory,” in Institutional Patterns and Organizations: Culture and Environment, ZuckerLynne G., ed. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 3–21.
16.
DiMaggioPaul J. and PowellWalter W. (1983), “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutionalized Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields,” American Sociological Review, 48 (April), 147–60.
17.
DiMaggioPaul J. and PowellWalter W. (1991), “Introduction,” in The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, PowellW.W. and DiMaggioP.J., eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1–38.
18.
DowlingJohn and PfefferJeffery (1975), “Organizational Legitimacy: Social Values and Organizational Behavior,” Pacific Sociological Review, 18 (January), 122–36.
19.
DrumwrightMinette E. (1994), “Socially Responsible Organizational Buying: Environmental Concern as a Noneconomic Buying Criteria,” Journal of Marketing, 58 (July), 1–19.
20.
DrumwrightMinette E. (1996), “Company Advertising with a Social Dimension: The Role of Noneconomic Criteria,” Journal of Marketing, 60 (October), 71–87.
21.
ElsbachKimberly D. (1994), “Managing Organizational Legitimacy in the California Cattle Industry: The Construction and Effectiveness of Verbal Accounts,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 39 (March), 57–88.
22.
ElsbachKimberly D. and SuttonRobert I. (1992), “Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy Through Illegitimate Actions: A Marriage of Institutional and Impression Management Theories,” Academy of Management Journal, 35 (August), 699–738.
23.
Fortune (1997), “The Fortune 500,” (April 28).
24.
FriedmanMonroe (1995), “American Consumer Boycotts in Response to Rising Food Prices: Housewives’ Protests at the Grassroots Level,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18 (1), 55–72.
25.
GarrettDennis E. (1987), “The Effectiveness of Marketing Policy Boycotts: Environmental Opposition to Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 51 (April), 46–57.
26.
HallsworthAlan G. (1992), The New Geography of Consumer Spending: A Political Economy Approach.London: Belhaven Press.
27.
HurleyRobert F. and HultG. Thomas M. (1998), “Innovation, Market Orientation, and Organizational Learning: An Integration and Empirical Examination,” Journal of Marketing, 62 (July), 42–54.
28.
JaworskiBernard and KohliAjay (1993), “Market Orientation: Antecedents and Consequences,” Journal of Marketing, 52 (July), 53–70.
29.
KeaveneySusan M. and HuntKenneth A. (1992), “Conceptualization and Operationalization of Retail Store Image: A Case of Rival Middle-Level Theories,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20 (Spring), 165–75.
30.
KingLeslie John, GurbaxaniVijay, KraemerKenneth L., McFarlenF. Warren, RamanK.S., and YapC.S. (1994), “Institutional Factors in Information Technology Innovation,” Information Systems Research, 5 (2), 139–69.
31.
KohliAjay and JaworskiBernard (1990), “Market Orientation: The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications,” Journal of Marketing, 54 (April), 1–18.
32.
KraftKenneth L. (1991), “The Relative Importance of Social Responsibility in Determining Organizational Effectiveness: Managers from Two Service Industries,” Journal of Business Ethics, 10 (July), 485–91.
33.
MenonAjay and MenonAnil (1997), “Enviropreneurial Marketing Strategy: The Emergence of Corporate Environmentalism as Marketing Strategy,” Journal of Marketing, 61 (January), 51–67.
34.
MeyerJohn W. (1992), “Conclusions: Institutionalization and the Rationality of Formal Organizational Structure,” in Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality, MeyerJohn W. and ScottW. Richard, eds. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 261–82.
35.
MeyerJohn W. and RowanBrian (1977), “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony,” American Journal of Sociology, 83 (2), 340–63.
36.
MeyerJohn W. and ScottW. Richard (1992a), “Introduction,” in Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality, MeyerJohn W. and ScottW. Richard, eds. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1–5.
37.
MeyerJohn W. and ScottW. Richard (1992b), “Centralization and the Legitimacy Problems of Local Government,” in Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality, MeyerJohn W. and ScottW. Richard, eds. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 199–215.
NarverJohn C. and SlaterStanley F. (1990), “The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability,” Journal of Marketing, 54 (October), 20–35.
40.
NicholasRuth (1994), “Ben & Jerry's Ready to Hit UK,” Marketing, (March 24), 1.
41.
OliverChristine (1991), “Strategic Responses to Institutional Processes,” Academy of Management Review, 16 (January), 145–79.
42.
PerdueBarbara C. and SummersJohn O. (1986), “Checking the Success of Manipulations in Marketing Experiments,” Journal of Marketing Research, 23 (November), 317–26.
RobertsPeter W. and GreenwoodRoyston (1997), “Integrating Transaction Cost and Institutional Theories: Toward a Constrained-Efficiency Framework for Understanding Organizational Design Adoption,” Academy of Management Review, 22 (April), 346–73.
45.
RobinDonald P. and ReidenbachR. Eric (1987), “Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Marketing Strategy: Closing the Gap Between Concepts and Application,” Journal of Marketing, 51 (January), 44–58.
46.
RossWilliam T.Jr. and CreyerElizabeth H. (1993), “Interpreting Interactions: Raw or Residual Means?” Journal of Consumer Research, 20 (June), 330–38.
47.
RubelChad (1995), “Marketers Can Run but They Can't Hide from Boycotts,” Marketing News, 29 (25), 8, 11.
48.
ScottW. Richard (1987), “The Adolescence of Institutional Theory,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 32 (December), 493–511.
49.
ScottW. Richard (1994), “Institutions and Organizations: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis,” in Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism, ScottW. Richard and MeyerJohn W., eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 55–80.
50.
ScottW. Richard and MeyerJohn W. (1994), “Developments in Institutional Theory,” in Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism, ScottW. Richard and MeyerJohn W., eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1–8.
SinghapakdiAnusorn, KraftKenneth L., VitellScott J., and RallapalliKumar C. (1995), “The Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility on Organizational Effectiveness: A Survey of Marketers,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23 (Winter), 49–56.
53.
SlaterStanley and NarverJohn C. (1995), “Market Orientation and the Learning Organization,” Journal of Marketing, 59 (July), 63–74.
54.
SteenkampJan-Benedict E.M. and WedelMichel (1991), “Segmenting Retail Markets on Store Image Using a Consumer Based Methodology,” Journal of Retailing, 67 (Fall), 300–320.
55.
StevensJames (1992), Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
56.
SuchmanMark C. (1995), “Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches,” Academy of Management Review, 20 (July), 571–610.
57.
UmeshU.N., PetersonRobert A., McCann-NelsonMichelle, and VaidyanathanRajiv (1996), “Type IV Error in Marketing Research: The Investigation of ANOVA Interactions,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24 (Winter), 17–26.
58.
VaradarajanP. Rajan (1992), “Marketing's Contribution to Strategy: The View from a Different Looking Glass,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20 (Fall), 323–43.
59.
VaradarajanP. Rajan and MenonAnil (1988), “Cause-Related Marketing: A Coalignment of Marketing Strategy and Corporate Philanthropy,” Journal of Marketing, 52 (July), 58–74.
60.
WorkmanJohn P. (1993), “Marketing's Limited Role in New Product Development in One Computer Systems Firm,” Journal of Marketing Research, 30 (November), 405–21.
