Business School papers in Journal of Marketing success

Three papers produced by researchers from the Marketing Division have been hailed as most cited and most read papers in the <i>Journal of Marketing</i> in 2021.

Improvised Marketing Interventions in Social Media 

Co-authored by Associate Professor Sourindra Banerjee, ‘Improvised Marketing Interventions in Social Media’ has been shortlisted as a ‘most read’ and ‘most cited’ article by the prestigious journal. 

The paper argues that proactive Improvised Marketing Interventions (IMIs) can drive brand virality and generate greater stock market returns. The researchers define IMIs as a form of reactive engagement, usually on social media, where brands post in reaction to global trends, current events, and zeitgeist, rather than following a strict, formal communications plan. IMIs usually involve humour or wit- such as Oreo, who reacted to the power outage at the Super Bowl in 2013 with a humorous tweet.  

The research team argue that marketing and brand teams should be given greater freedom and reigns to control the brand’s message in order to react to trends and popular culture with IMIs. The researchers also argue that the use of IMIs can lead to significantly higher brand engagement- albeit when used by the right employees, ensuring high quality content and avoiding offensive or humiliating posts which could cause reputational damage to the brand.  

Read the paper online: Improvised Marketing Interventions in Social Media, Abhishek Borah (INSEAD), Sourindra Banerjee (University of Leeds), Yu-Ting Lin (Imperial College Business School), Apurv Jain (Harvard Business School) and Andreas B. Eisingerich (Imperial College Business School), Journal of Marketing  

Brand Experience: What Is It? How Is It Measured? Does It Affect Loyalty? 

This paper, titled ‘Brand Experience: What is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?’, is co-authored by the Business School’s Professor Josko Brakus, and features as a most read paper by the Journal of Marketing. The paper defines brand experience by setting out several experience dimensions, as well as constructing a brand experience scale that includes four dimensions: sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioural. The research team demonstrate the reliability of the scale throughout the paper, and argue that brand experience affects consumer satisfaction and loyalty directly and indirectly through brand personality associations. 

The research published in the paper has been used as a foundation for creative agency Rufus Leonard to create the first Brand Experience Index, which identifies core facets that encompass brand identity:

  • Think: A brand’s ability to communicate its purpose
  • Sense: Where a brand engages customers through the senses using immersive experiences
  • Feel: The emotional impact a brand creates
  • Do: Where a brand impacts customer  behaviours and solves problems for consumers
  • Connect: Inspiring belonging 

Read the paper online: Brand Experience: What is it? How is it Measured? Does it Affect Loyalty?, J. Josko Brakus, Bernd H. Schmitt, & Lia Zarantonello, Journal of Marketing  

Unpacking the Relationship Between Sales Control and Salesperson Performance, A Regulatory Fit Perspective 

‘Unpacking the Relationship Between Sales Control and Salesperson Performance, A Regulatory Fit Perspective,’ featured on the Journal of Marketing’s most cited list on 18 May. The paper, co-authored by two University of Leeds researchers, Professor Constantine S. Katsikeas and Professor Stavroula Spyropoulou, explore two types of salesperson learning: exploratory learning, which is promotion focussed, and exploitative learning, which is prevention focussed. The paper explains the results of two studies undertaken by the researchers, which found the two types of learnings are mediated through sales control, and vice-versa: salesperson learning mediates the relationship between sales control and salesperson performance. The research has important implications for integrating sales control, salesperson learning, and salesperson performance. 

Read the paper online: Unpacking the Relationship Between Sales Control and Salesperson Performance, A Regulatory Fit Perspective, Constantine S. Katsikeas, Seigyoung Auh, Stavroula Spyropoulou, Bulent Menguc, Journal of Marketing   

Explore the most read and most cited articles on the Journal of Marketing online.

Find out more about the Global and Strategic Marketing Research Centre at the Business School.