The use and misuse of student samples: An empirical investigation of European marketing research

Abstract

In spite of the five decade old debate on the merits of student samples, to date, no systematic review of the practice is undertaken. The need for such a review is warranted considering the impasse in the debate and inconsistencies among scholars in their approach to student sample usage. This paper thus presents a systematic review of student sample usage in European Marketing Research (EJM, IJRM and IMR during 2005-2014, inclusive) to highlight existing reporting practices, identify sub-domains of marketing where the usage is more prevalent and to report best practices. Results demonstrate that 99 (19.96 per cent) papers making generalization claims used student samples exclusively, had inconsistent reporting practices (e.g. demographic profile, limitations) and demonstrated trivial concern (e.g. bias estimation treatment, identification of moderators) for the implications of student sample usage on their study findings. In addition, 11 clusters representing subdomains of marketing research and where the practice is prevalent are identified. These clusters provide novel direction to the debate on student sample usage by framing it away from the broader discipline of marketing and bringing it closer to the interests of scholars, i.e. linking it to sub-domains of marketing research. Finally, best practices related to student samples usage are reported to help academicians enhance the validity of their findings.

To whom and when to give: Effects of intimacy and obligation on expressive motives, gift choice, and information search in gift giving

“…Second, this study used a student sample to prevent some types of biases. However, student sample cannot represent the whole population (Ashraf & Merunka, ). Therefore, this study requires further replications in order to enhance the generalizability of the key findings.…”

“…Respondents were recruited from both business and nonbusiness classes (including undergraduate and graduate) at a university in Korea. Student sample has been reported to have bias and lack generalizability (Ashraf & Merunka, ). However, this study decides to use such sample because students younger than other generations are the most fluent users of both online and offline medium.…”

“…Student sample has been reported to have bias and lack generalizability (Ashraf & Merunka, 2017). However, this study decides to use such sample because students younger than other generations are the most fluent users of both online and offline medium.…”

Effects of physical, non-immersive virtual, and immersive virtual store environments on consumers' perceptions and purchase behavior

“…In this research, a convenience sample of 192 business school students (aged between 18 and 22 years) took part in the study experiment. This kind of homogeneous sample increases the internal validity of the research as the observed differences result only from the manipulation tested in the e periment and not from individuals differences (Ashraf and Merunka, 2017).…”

A meta‐analysis of change in applicants' perceptions of fairness

“…At the methodological level, several issues emerged from our analyses that also highlight areas where future research is needed. First, the results are based mainly on studies of people in a relatively early adult life stage with limited professional and life experience, which differ in terms of a stable self‐definition, stable attitudes, and egocentricity (Ashraf & Merunka, 2017). Consequently, it is unclear whether the findings of our study generalize to more experienced applicants.…”