Abstract
There is no doubt that all educators, regardless of educational stage or discipline, have engaged in much reflection throughout 2020. The sense of loss when classes moved online and campuses were shuttered immediately is something that will likely remain in faculty and student minds forever. Importantly, the reflection on the academic disruption that began in March of 2020 enabled educators to discover what they had learned about critical issues such as student engagement and online teaching so as to be better prepared for the ongoing educational disruption throughout 2020. As I write this editor’s corner, the 2020 educational process has come to a close and I suspect the new normal is more of a malleable normal since it is no longer new but, at that same time, it is likely not stable. Maybe this is where we can overlay Weick (1999) and engage in disciplined reflexivity. That is, we, as educators, must be mindful of our reflexive turns but not overwhelmed by them and, essentially, see education in a new way and let that new way be a source of positive pragmatic change.
Procedurally, reflection entails looking forward to what might be attained, while casting backward to see what we have accomplished (Yancey, 1998). As we turn the calendar from 2020 to 2021, it is a good time to cast back on this past year of the Journal of Marketing Education to see all that we accomplished (even in a time of worldwide turmoil) and to look forward at the groundwork that is in place for what we hope to attain in 2021. A bit of foreshadowing here—the Journal had a very successful and productive 2020.
Casting Back: Marketing Education in the Year 2020
Casting back brought to mind some “perspective” articles that appeared over the past couple of decades of the Journal of Marketing Education. In particular, Smart et al. (1999, p. 206) welcomed us into the 21st century of marketing educational scholarship with, “How quickly times change.” I suspect that none of us could ever have imagined the accuracy of that truism prior to 2020; we may have made the comment numerous times, but teaching and learning in 2020 showed us the reality of the speed at which change can occur. Staying up-to-date was one of the challenges identified in the Smart et al. (1999) article, as we were at the forefront, at that time, of technological change with considerable unknowns. As educators who experienced teaching and learning in 2020, a quote from a respondent in the research by Smart et al. (1999, p. 212) is timeless: “Technology must remain a tool, the teacher must remain a caring, concerned human being.”
As I read endless articles and social media commentary in 2020, there was no doubt that educators were wrestling with mastering technological tools (i.e., becoming high tech) all while keeping the human touch through the Zoom lens (i.e., high touch). By the end of 2020, the question remains as to whether we, as marketing educators, have mastered the high tech—high touch teaching and learning environment cast upon us in 2020. To this end, the Journal very quickly developed a call-for-papers for a special issue on #pandemicpedagogy or, officially, Tales of the Unexpected: Teaching Turmoil and Triumphs in Times of Crises.
This #pandemicpedagogy special issue, coedited by Vince Mitchell, Cindy Rippé, and April Kemp with a submission deadline of June 2021, is an attempt to focus on lessons learned from the change makers in marketing education. The overall objective of this special issue is to bring together marketing educational scholarship that addresses: (1) how our teaching and learning transformed quickly, (2) the short-term success of the quick pivot, and (3) the longer term impact of the teaching and learning transformation. Thus, casting back was happening in real-time so that we could look forward as change agents for education beyond 2020. Undoubtedly, this issue will have much in terms of educational efforts to master high tech and high touch.
With Smart et al. (1999) portending the future in terms of technology, the Journal of Marketing Education has, for more than two decades, been a leading marketing academic journal addressing the relationship between marketing education and technology. Not only have there been regular issue articles on the topic but also several special issues. As a note, when selecting the best paper for 2019, one of the editorial review board members commented, “It seems most [marketing education] research is now digital and social media.”
Entitled Integrating Technology and Distance Learning in Marketing Education, Karns et al. (2001) coedited a special issue of the Journal, noting the importance of exploring the use and implications of technology and distance learning in marketing education. In 2011, Granitz and Pitt coedited a special issue entitled Teaching about Marketing and Teaching Marketing with Innovative Technology. They began their editor’s corner with the heading “Technology Shapes Marketing Teaching” and went on to say that “it is the tools that mold academic disciplines and their practices” (p. 127). Within a few years, the response to the call for papers on Digital and Social Media Marketing in Business Education was so strong in terms of both quality and quantity that the Journal had to run two issues. One issue provided a look at the topics that were being taught with regards to digital and social media knowledge transferal in marketing classrooms (V. Crittenden & Crittenden, 2015a), and the other issue explored particular platforms and the perceived success of those as educational touch points (V. Crittenden & Crittenden, 2015b). Continuing with the high tech and high touch need, Kietzmann and Pitt (2016) coedited a special issue on Using Simulations in the Marketing Classroom. While some of the articles published in this issue were technologically oriented, others showcased the high touch possibilities by simulating educational issues without the use of a technology platform.
Most recently, Digital Disruption in Marketing was the focus of a special issue. While the special issue coeditors knew we were educating our marketing students in an era of digital disruption, they could not have foreseen that we were educating our marketing students in an era of a healthcare pandemic with digital disruption enabling us, as educators, to engage with students who had been dispersed worldwide. Again with submissions strong in terms of both quality and quantity, two issues evolved from this special issue. In the first issue (V. Crittenden & Peterson, 2019a), the coeditors summarized the focus by saying that the articles collectively formed a mosaic that should stimulate thinking regarding the educational implications of incorporating digital technologies into the marketing curricula and the practical consequences in terms of needed resources to do so. The second-of-two issues focused on programmatic efforts to incorporate digital disruption in the marketing classroom via digital tools and techniques (V. Crittenden & Peterson, 2019b).
Across the two decades, 2000-2020, the Journal of Marketing Education has published slightly over 400 articles devoted to marketing educational scholarship. Of those, almost 20% had a technology in marketing education focus. Thus, it seems that marketing education scholars were taking heed of the call for technology in marketing education, which should have served them well in 2020.
While educators were pivoting quickly due to the pandemic, social justice remained as a systemic societal issue. At the Marketing Educators Association conference in early 2017, a special issue on Diversity in Marketing Education was announced, and the issue was published as the first issue of 2020. According to the special issue coeditors, the overall objective of the special issue was to bring together scholarship that addressed how diversity is embraced, taught, and exemplified in our classrooms and among our students, faculty, and administrators (V. Crittenden et al., 2020). The publication of the special issue coincided at the point in time of rampant social unrest across the United States.
Two articles in this special issue received recognition in the press. The article by Krishen et al. (2020), “The story only few can tell: Exploring the disproportionately gendered professoriate in business schools,” was referenced by Janjuha-Jivraj (2020) in a Forbes article. ScienceDaily (2019) picked up on the article, “Tolerance for cheating from the classroom to the boardroom: A study of underlying personal and cultural drivers,” by Brodowsky et al. (2020) that focused on the need for cultural sensitivity in the classroom. Diversity and inclusion articles have appeared in the journal over the years, but this was the first special issue devoted to this important and timely topic.
While COVID-19 pushed marketing professors in terms of technology and issues of social injustice were leading to considerable unrest, traditional teaching and learning topics remained prevalent. We were fortunate to be able to address the pedagogical topic of sales education with a special issue in 2020. The Sales Education and Training 2.0 special issue wrapped up the year with a focus on the state of sales education, sales pedagogy and competitions, and perceptions and intentions to pursue a sales career (Peltier & Deeter-Schmelz, 2020).
Special issues provided the bookends for 2020, and Volume 42, Issue 2 of the journal explored the litany of challenges (e.g., delivery systems, curricula, aging teaching methods) facing 21st-century higher education. The reflection and knowledge shared by the various authors were both informative and inspirational. Yet again, an article in the Journal of Marketing Education picked up quite a bit of press. The article, “Why business schools need radical innovations: Drivers and development trajectories” (Schlegelmilch, 2020b), was adapted by the Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association for both print (Schlegelmilch, 2020a) and podcast (The Ambition Podcast, 2020).
As I cast back and look over all of the great work in 2020, I can only imagine what it will be like to select the best paper for 2020. Looking ahead, the articles appearing in this current issue are already setting the bar high for 2021. The annual Marketing Educators Association conference is traditionally the time in which we celebrate the journal’s various stakeholders—those colleagues who give, unrelentingly, of their thoughtful contributions. Unfortunately, the 2020 conference did not occur as planned due to COVID-19, so we were unable to enjoy the traditional fanfare. As a journal, casting back and looking forward, we are only successful because of the contributions of our authors, reviewers, associate and special issue editors, and, of course, readers.
Standing on the Shoulders of Others
In a recent editorial, Carr and Meyer (2017) quoted a Zulu Proverb: Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu (A person is a person through other persons). We stand on the shoulders of many marketing educators (as well as SAGE publishing staff) to maintain our presence as the leading marketing educational scholarship journal. It takes quite a team to provide readers with high quality, interesting, and citable educational scholarship.
Authors
The spotlight was to have shown on a team of three dedicated scholars at the 2020 Marketing Educators Association conference. Recognition for the 2019 Outstanding Journal of Marketing Education Article of the Year went to Professors Ryan Langan (University of San Francisco), Scott Cowley (Western Michigan University), and Carlin Nguyen (California State University) for their paper, “The state of digital marketing in academia: An examination of marketing curriculum’s response to digital disruption” (Langan et al., 2019). Additionally, there were five honorable mentions for the best paper award: “Consumer information for data-driven decision making: Teaching responsible use of data” (Walker & Moran, 2019), “The fair process effect in the classroom: Reducing the influence of grades on student evaluation of teachers” (Tripp et al., 2019), “Time for a marketing curriculum overhaul: Developing a digital-first approach” (Rohm et al., 2019), “The skills marketing majors believe they acquire: Evidence from a national survey” (Hartley et al., 2019), and “Embracing digitalization: Student learning and new technologies” (W. Crittenden et al., 2019).
Following on the heels of such outstanding research in 2019, we published scholarship by 60 different colleagues in 2020. Submissions to the journal arrived from around 335 marketing colleagues from 35 countries across the globe. The journal’s acceptance rate for 2020 was around 16%. Thus, although SAGE increased our page count in 2020, the journal has been able to maintain its high standards of scholarly rigor. Kiriakos and Tienari (2018) described academic writing as “an embodied, sensuous, emotional, social, and identity-related activity,” and this has been exhibited in all submissions to the journal regardless of final decisions on papers.
Reviewers
As the foundation of the scientific inquiry process, peer review lies at the core of academic scholarship (Snell & Spencer, 2005). The importance of reviewers in the double-blind review process has been noted by many scholars. For example,
Peer review is the gatekeeper for a refereed journal (Bailey et al., 2012, p. 263)
Reviewers do not receive enough acknowledgement of their important pro bono work (Elonheimo, 2018, p. 1)
It [good reviewing] is often a thankless task which takes time and effort to do well, for nebulous rewards (Goldbeck-Wood, 1998, p. 86)
Whether to make good manuscripts better (Kelley, 1999), keep egg off the authors’ faces (Goldbeck-Wood, 1998), protect journals from publishing mediocre work (Crane, 1967), or help editors make difficult decisions (Goldbeck-Wood, 1998), the peer review process is at the heart of what we do in terms of educational scholarship. In their research, Schweigert and Geyer-Schulz (2020) found that nearly 95% of reviewers are motivated to review as a way to give back to the community and 75% review to help other researchers improve their work.
The Journal of Marketing Education has much to be thankful for with respect to its editorial review board and the board members’ altruistic motives. The board grew to 105 members in 2020. This growth was necessary to accommodate the close to doubling of submissions to the journal from 2019 to 2020. In recognition for his outstanding service to the Journal of Marketing Education review process, Adam Mills (Loyola University New Orleans) was awarded the Reviewer of the Year Award for 2019.
Editor Team
Bell and Bridgman (2019, p. 147) used the metaphor of curatorship when describing the editorial process since it “involves collectively attending to and taking care of articles-as-objects that are read, shared and cited by others.” Noting that scholars do not actually go to graduate school to seek a career as an editor, Boellstorff (2012, p. 568) described the intellectual work that goes into being in an editor’s position as that of “a deeply ethnographic form of engagement” that requires setting aside one’s own priorities to enable or facilitate the work of someone else. Reflecting on her role as an associate editor, Kulik (2008) examined her position in terms of instrumental and psychological rewards. She was not aware of any job offers because she was an associate editor, and she was unaware of any pay raises associated with the role. However, she could recall vividly the psychological rewards and the times she had a “Eureka!” with an author (Kulik, 2008, p. 224).
The Journal of Marketing Education is privileged to have a strong team of associate editors and eager colleagues to develop special issues on timely topics in marketing education. Associate editors in 2020 were: Wayne Neu (California State University San Marcos), Jimmy Peltier (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater), Michelle Steward (Wake Forest University), and Mark Young (Winona State University). Joining as associate editors in 2021 are as follows: Shannon Cummins (University of Nebraska-Omaha), Linda Ferrell (Auburn University), and Adam Mills (Loyola University New Orleans). Ensuring the scholarship needed to promote certain topical areas in marketing, we had the following scholars editing special issues for the journal in 2020: Cassandra Davis (Wayne State University), Dawn Deeter-Schmelz (Kansas State University), Jimmy Peltier (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater), and Rebeca Perren (California State University San Marcos). In looking ahead, special issue editors will continue to keep the journal aligned with poignant topics within the ever-changing landscape of marketing education.
Looking Ahead: Marketing Education in the Year 2021
Current Issue
This current issue begins with “Marketing student perceptions of academic program quality and relationships to surface, deep, and strategic learning approaches” by Faranda, Clarke, and Clarke. Drawing from empirical research appearing in other disciplines, the authors explore how marketing students perceive quality of an academic program. They find that there is a relationship between the learning approach adopted by students and their perceptions of quality. If marketing professors are to help improve student learning, the authors offer the importance of understanding how students learn.
Continuing along the theme of helping students learn, the next two articles draw from advances in technology to help prepare graduates for a complex marketing environment in which the stakes are very high. In “The use of and value of badges: Leveraging Salesforce Trailhead badges for marketing technology education,” Humphrey, Laverie, and Muñoz explore the use of martech learning platforms to stimulate career preparedness and/or career advancement. Concerned about helping students understand what will be expected ethically, legally, and fiscally when managing customer data, Labrecque, Markos, and Darmody in “Addressing online behavioral advertising and privacy implications: A comparison of passive versus active learning approaches” offer marketing educators an easy-to-implement learning exercise. Additionally, the authors found that, while both active and passive learning exercises help students better understand issues of data privacy, an active learning pedagogy has a greater impact on mindful change.
Shanahan, Palmer, and Salas with “Achieving scaled and sustained use of client-based projects in business school marketing: A proposed suprastructure” and Lemken and Siguaw in “The use of interest-inventory measurements in marketing education: Improving MBA student team effectiveness” focus on the marketing education of MBA students. Shanahan, Palmer, and Salas concentrate on the scalability of client-based projects at the graduate level, offering guidance on achieving economies of scale with such projects. With MBA student projects often completed within a team, Lemken and Siguaw introduce a pedagogical tool that assists students in understanding the diverse skills required in different marketing roles and enables the students to use their own occupational preferences to engage in group work. Through use of this pedagogical tool, data presented by the authors provide evidence that the interest-inventory method of team formation is superior to randomly selected team formation in terms of team effectiveness.
Whether team effectiveness or individual effort, performance is an outcome variable in marketing education. Tactically, Humphrey, Laverie, and Shields explore the use of text message reminders to improve individual student performance in “Exploring the effects of encouraging student performance with text assignment reminders.” In “The academic response-to-failure scale: Predicting and increasing academic persistence post-failure,” Zemack-Rugar, Corus, and Brinberg offer a means for identifying vulnerable students so as to design interventions that can help improve persistence within this vulnerable group. Along similar lines, Ackerman and Yang examine student reactions to the presentation of positive and negative information through grades and how the ordering of such information can (de)motivate students. In “Does that A really make up for the C? Student reaction to above- and below-average grades,” the authors explore how the asymmetric reactions to grades can be expressed in student perceptions, ratings, and emotions.
It is clear from this set of articles kicking off 2021 that how students learn is a mainstay of teaching and learning in marketing education. Marketing educators have long been concerned with strategies and tactics for creating beneficial classroom environments and pedagogical tools for improving how professors engage with students so that both professors and students have a rewarding classroom experience. The information provided in these eight articles provide a comprehensive overview of various approaches for both undergraduate and graduate education. Finally, six of the eight articles in this issue are from the editorship of Don Bacon, and I want to thank him again for his contributions and service to the journal.
Special Issues
Looking ahead by casting back, the journal has three special issues in process. The special issue on #pandemicpedagogy is front and center for reflecting on the pivotal changes in academia in 2020. Prior to the rapid development of this special issue call-for-papers, however, we had two special issues in the planning process.
Submissions for the special issue on Consumer Insights: Marketing Research and Marketing Analytics, coedited by Joe Hair (University of South Alabama) and Adam Mills (Loyola University New Orleans), were strong. This special issue seeks to invigorate conversations related to teaching one of the most ubiquitous, albeit pedagogically underresearched, areas of the marketing curriculum—the science and practice of consumer insights. The issue is targeted for production at the end of 2021.
With sustainability at the forefront of political discussions, Hacking the System: Sustainability and Macromarketing in Marketing Education was conceived after the 44th annual conference of the Macromarketing Society that was held in Cleveland, Ohio in 2019. The coeditors of this special issue are Joya Kemper (University of Auckland), Emily Moscato (Saint Joseph’s University), and Ann-Marie Kennedy (University of Canterbury). The intent of this special issue is to bring together voices and research on how sustainability, climate change, and macromarketing are realized, taught, and infused into the marketing curriculum and positioned among students, faculty, and administrators. The journal last hosted a special issue on Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability in Marketing Education in 2013, and it is clearly time to focus again on this important topic that is taking prominence globally.
How Quickly Times Change
In closing out this commentary, I am going to take the liberty of lifting some wording from an Associate Editor’s recent decision letter: my personal instinct is not that COVID has necessarily changed or upended anything we do so much as it has, for better or worse, abruptly expedited the natural evolution of our business and effectively condensed 5-6 years of digital evolution into 5-6 months.
The Journal of Marketing Education has been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of positive pragmatic change in teaching and learning. When the world unexpectedly gives us months (or days/weeks) to bring years of evolution to our pedagogy, it is evident that marketing educators will be able to do that with both high tech and high touch. The positive energy to sustain our students with innovative teaching and learning will, hopefully, continue to manifest with educational scholarship to invigorate our colleagues as we stand on the shoulders of each other.