The value of context-specific studies for marketing

Abstract

This paper clarifies why context-specific studies have scientific merit and provides recommendations to authors and journal stewards on how to develop them well. A context-specific study is a study in a unique setting yielding conclusions that can be considered to have limited generalizability to other settings. A firm’s industry—think of pharmaceuticals, video games, movies, platform markets, sharing economy—may represent an unambiguous example of a specific context. Unfortunately, the generalizability-specificity dilemma is often misunderstood. Generalizability is excessively heralded as the ideal, and studies in specific contexts are too often denigrated, while both intrinsically can be valuable to the advancement of knowledge. The present paper aims to (1) provide a more nuanced system of beliefs for marketing scholarship to adopt in favor of specificity; (2) offer a helping hand to authors and editors when developing and publishing context-specific studies; (3) review successful examples from the prior literature; and (4) offer clear implications for scholars.

From trash to cash: the effect of product construal and benefit appeals on consumer evaluations of rescued meals

“…Although research using Chinese samples aligns with our results in that abstract product descriptions of green products are more effective when emphasizing the environmental benefits (versus self-benefits; Yang et al , 2015), we recognize that different cultures may react differently not only to product construal but also to benefit appeals. Indeed, recent research about the scientific merit of context specific studies explains that certain constructs might not “travel well” and may be less applicable in other contexts (Stremersch et al , 2022).…”

Context in augmented reality marketing: Does the place of use matter?

“…Specifically, our research focuses on the location of a focal product (e.g., a sofa or kitchen table) when compared to the physical environment (e.g., being in a living room vs. being in a park or at the mall when using the AR app). Hence, the current research addresses Stremersch et al's (2023) recent call to consider the context in consumer and marketing research.…”

Franchising structure changes and shareholder value: Evidence from store buybacks and refranchising

“…As we outlined previously, franchising is an important form of distribution strategy, which contributes substantially to the economy both in terms of economic output and employment. Furthermore, by focusing on franchising as a specific context, we are able to provide more customized insights to managers in franchising firms, compared to what generalized studies would be able to offer (Stremersch et al, 2022). Specifically, our research answers several key questions faced by managers of franchising firms considering structural changes to their distribution channels, while keeping the size of their distribution chain size constant.…”

“…Further research can apply our framework through primary data collection techniques to provide additional confidence in the usefulness of our findings for managers across a larger spectrum of franchising firms. Finally, we restricted our context to franchising, which offers certain benefits in terms of pointed and directly useful findings for franchising managers (Stremersch et al, 2022). We submit that our theoretically derived framework and event study methodology should be applicable to other contexts as well and scholars can build on our study to evaluate these contexts in future research to enhance the external generalizability of our findings.…”