Searching for Our “Own Theory” in Advertising: An Update of Research Networks

Abstract

Extending previous research, this work examines the advertising literature published in 2002–05, identifies research streams among most-cited works, and presents a co-citation network. Beyond what the citation analysis suggests about advertising research today, comparing the findings to earlier results provides insight into the intellectual development of the field, including shifts in scholarly orientations. Although advertising scholarship is historically sound, dynamic, increasingly diverse, and largely self-sufficient, the field has yet to move to a level of maturity where it can work off its “own,” rather than “borrowed,” theory.