A Decade of Visual Marketing in a Digital Environment: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Aims: This study aims to investigate the extent of research development on visual marketing in the digital environment (digital visual marketing) over the past 10 years (2012-2022) published in Scopus-indexed academic journals. This is accomplished by identifying frequently occurring concepts, research trends, research areas, and philosophical foundations (paradigms) used during this time period.
 Study Design: Systematic Literature Review (SLR) – narrative approach.
 Place and Duration of Study: Between January 2023 and March 2023.
 Methodology: This study employed the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method by compiling, evaluating, and synthesizing all relevant research related to the topic of digital visual marketing, in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the research that has been conducted on the topic. There are three main stages involved in this process, namely: 1) Planning the review; 2) Conducting the review; and 3) Reporting the review. This study is a general reflection that focuses more on the collection of relevant information that provides context and substance for a particular argument, with informal data extraction, therefore, the SLR conducted falls under the narrative review type.
 Results: Based on the inclusion results, reading of abstracts and content of scholarly publications, it can be observed that research with a positivist paradigm dominates scholarly publications on the topic of digital visual marketing in Scopus-indexed journals from 2012 to 2022, accounting for 50% of publications. The remaining paradigms are constructivism (18%), interpretivism (25%), and pragmatism (17%).
 Conclusion: With marketing management dominating the field, it can be said that research on digital visual marketing topics is still largely conducted in a “monodisciplinary” manner. Although still dominated by positivism, the use of netnography methods in research, borrowing from critical theory (culture studies) as a form of interpretive paradigm, has recently become an increasingly viable approach.