2022 AMA Summer Academic Conference: Call for Papers

Light in the Darkness: Marketing’s Role in Driving Positive Change

August 12-14
Chicago, IL + Virtual Accomodations

The unique challenges of the last two years, including the global pandemic, heightened awareness of racial and social inequity, and urgency around the climate crisis, have permanently altered the marketing landscape, consumer behaviors, and firm strategies. Beyond reacting to the ongoing changes and challenges, this evolving environment presents a unique opportunity for marketers to actively influence our post-pandemic world. The 2022 AMA Summer Academic Conference will emphasize research that illustrates how marketing can play a leading role in driving positive change and building a sustainable future.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to February 7, 2022.

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Conference Co-Chairs  |  Tracks  |  Impact Festival  |  Submission Information  |  Ethics

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Conference Co-Chairs

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Conference Tracks

International and Cross-Cultural Marketing

Track Chairs:
Maria Rodas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lova Randrianasolo, Butler University

The International and Cross-cultural Marketing track invites papers that address issues and activities relevant to marketing across national, cultural, and regional boundaries. It welcomes research that examines international and cross-cultural marketing concepts and phenomena at single or multiple levels of analyses. Topics addressing the role of international marketing in actively and positively influencing our post-pandemic world, relating to racial/social inequities and the global climate crisis are especially welcome. Please email the track chairs at mrodas@illinois.edu or lrandria@butler.edu with any questions.

Ethics, Sustainability and Public Policy

Track Chairs:
Steven Shepherd, Oklahoma State University
Lez Trujillo Torres, University of Illinois Chicago

The Ethics, Sustainability, and Public Policy track welcomes marketing research related to the public interest, including work exploring legal, regulatory, ethical, and environmental issues. Consistent with the conference theme, we particularly encourage research on the positive role that marketing can play in these domains, and the ways in which “business as usual” is interrogated and contested in consumption, markets and society. Examples include but are not limited to: effective policy communication, promoting and addressing barriers to public adoption of prosocial behaviors, public (dis)trust in institutions and actors, and the unintended consequences of public policies. Any methodological approach is welcome. Please email the track chairs with any questions at steven.shepherd@okstate.edu, ltruji3@uic.edu.

B2B and Supply Chain Management

Track Chairs:
Alok Kumar, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mahima Hada, Baruch College

The Channels and Supply Chain Management track seeks original submissions that add to our knowledge of interfirm relationships, business-to-business markets, and other phenomena that reside at the intersection of firm boundaries. Manuscripts and special sessions which deal with collaboration and competition between firms are welcome, as are submissions which highlight the roles of the broader environment in which interfirm dyads and business networks operate. In keeping with the current conference theme of marketing’s role in highlighting positive change, submissions that depict the impact of structural and behavioral channel strategies in driving interfirm cooperation, fostering equity and fairness in supply chains, repairing conflictual business relationships, and buffering firms against market uncertainties are welcome. A related conference theme is the ability of marketing to influence the post-pandemic world. Consistently, we encourage submissions that examine channel initiatives that can help uncover vulnerabilities in distribution systems proactively and support innovations that can enhance the firm’s resilience to sudden shocks. Both empirical and theoretical submissions are encouraged.

A wide variety of topics are appropriate, including but not limited to: B2B dyads and collectivities, B2B sales, B2B customer experience, and customer analytics, multinational and cross-border channel relationships, new product alliances and innovations in B2B markets, crises and rejuvenation in B2B markets, electronic commerce, online markets, and multi-channel strategies, emerging technologies and marketing channels.

Please email the track chairs with any questions at akumar5@unl.edu or mahima.hada@baruch.cuny.edu.

Branding and Brand Management

Track Chairs:
Ryan Rahinel, University of Cincinnati
Lea Dunn, University of Washington
Delancy Bennet, Howard University

This track welcomes papers that deepen our understanding of branding and brand management in boundary-pushing ways. Given the theme of this year’s conference, special consideration will be given to papers that focus on brands’ roles in fostering a positive and sustainable future, be it in the domain of consumers and society, the physical environment, marketplace structures, or organizations. Research from any methodological approach is welcome. Please email the track chairs, Ryan Rahinel (ryan.rahinel@uc.edu), Lea Dunn (leadunn@uw.edu), or Delancy Bennett (delancy.bennett@howard.edu), with any questions.

Judgement and Decision-Making and Consumer Culture Theory

Track Chairs:
Chiraag Mittal, University of Virginia
Ela Veresiu, York University

This unique track combines the substantive research areas of judgement and decision-making with consumer culture theory. We welcome empirical and conceptual projects from the individual to the societal vantage points on how consumers, producers, and/or whole markets can drive positive, sustainable change.

Consumer Behavior

Track Chairs:
Lidan Xu, University of North Texas
Ryan E. Cruz, Thomas Jefferson University
Demetra Andrews, Indiana University

This track welcomes innovative and groundbreaking research to expand consumer behavior knowledge in marketing relevant contexts. The pandemic, in tandem with increasing focus on racial and social inequity and climate change, has greatly altered consumer lives forcing adaptation across the landscape of consumption behavior including product choice, brand relationships, and consumer values.

Special consideration will be given to research that explores discontinuation, adaptation, or resumption of consumer behavior in response to marketers’ adaptation to such disruptive market forces and their attempts to manage global change. This track welcomes inventive empirical and conceptual papers and special sessions proposals. Research on other traditional consumer behavior topics is also welcome and we encourage submissions from all theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Please email the track chairs with any questions at Lidan.Xu@unt.edu, Ryan.Cruz@Jefferson.edu, or demetra@iu.edu.

Digital and Social Media Marketing

Track Chairs:
Lauren Grewal, Dartmouth College
McDowell Porter, California State University, Fresno

The Digital and Social Media Marketing Track aims to understand the impact of social media and digital platforms and technologies on the behaviors of consumers, firms, brands, public policy, and society at large. As well, this track aims to understand their implications for marketing actions, especially in the COVID-19 Pandemic era and beyond. This track invites papers on a wide range of topics related to digital and social media marketing that includes: Customer engagement on different digital platforms, Impacts of new technologies and digital channels on consumer behavior and marketing strategies,Relationship between social media and brandin, Social media use and implications for international marketing, Impact of new technologies on Covid-19 policies, behaviors, and information spread, The role of online reviews on decision making, Using social media for social impact, Mobile marketing and geo-targeting, Big data and marketing analytics in the digital world,Consumer sentiment analysis and social media marketing, Consumer privacy concerns online, Impact of social media, digital technologies, and new tech on consumer well-being, beliefs surrounding fake news and its implications for policies, consumer behavior, and marketing, implications of crowdsourcing for marketing and policy, user-generated vs. firm-generated content,customer care on digital and social media (vs. traditional) platforms, the role of AI, chatbots, and VR for the future of marketing.

Please email the track chairs with any questions at lauren.s.grewal@tuck.dartmouth.edu or mporter@csufresno.edu.

Retail and Service Management

Track Chairs:
Nancy Sirianni, University of Texas
Alexis Allen, University of Kentucky
Daniele Mathras, Northeastern University

In the Retail and Service Management track, presenters will examine the ways in which retail and service organizations “drive positive change and build a sustainable future,” as inspired by the conference theme. We welcome submissions of presentations and special sessions focused on a variety of retail and service management topics that examine emerging issues surrounding the role that retail and service organizations play in transforming and uplifting individual consumers, communities, nations, and society as a whole.

Submissions should advance retail and service management theory and practice and identify new marketing processes that may be implemented by retailers and service organizations to improve service design, enhance customer service experiences, and boost customer engagement. While we welcome submissions on a variety of topics, we hope to feature some of the following topics in this track: pandemic-related issues for retail and service organizations, racial and social justice initiatives, climate change and sustainability, transformative service research, digital transformation of retailing and service, experiential retail and service design, changing retail landscape, health and well-being, and peer-to-peer services.

We look forward to your submissions in this space. Please email the track chairs with any questions: nancy.sirianni@mccombs.utexas.edu and aal457@uky.edu and d.mathras@northeastern.edu.

Sales and Sales Management

Track Chairs:
Yashar Atefi, University of Denver
Jim Salas, Pepperdine University

The Sales and Sales Management welcomes research on any aspect of sales and sales management including strategy, incentive and compensation design, sales leadership, sales operations, personal selling, sales force motivation and effectiveness, buyer-seller relationships, etc. All sales topics and methodologies are welcome. Additionally, research that follow the conference theme of driving positive change and sustainability in the face of global and social issues such as the pandemic, social justice, and environmental challenges are particularly encouraged.

For more information, contact the track chairs at Yashar.Atefi@du.edu or Jim.Salas@pepperdine.edu.

Marketing Strategy

Track Chairs:
Pravin Nath, Clemson University
Nita Umashankar, San Diego State University

The Marketing Strategy track invites papers that examine how organizations, industries, and technologies reactively and proactively respond to consumer, societal, and environmental changes. Submissions should ideally generate strategic insights into how marketing (in terms of strategies, tactics, assets, human capital, etc.) enables firms to create value, interact with multiple stakeholders, and serve customers in a sustainable manner. Given the political, societal, and health-related turbulence of our times, marketing needs to be especially agile in helping companies navigate a range of associated challenges. In line with the conference theme on marketing’s role in driving positive change, we invite a broad set of papers that help shape and clarify how marketing strategy can lead to better outcomes for all relevant stakeholders. We welcome conceptual and empirical submissions with diverse approaches that offer new perspectives on any of these areas. Please email your questions to Nita Umashankar at numashankar@sdsu.edu or Pravin Nath at pnath@clemson.edu.

Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communications

Track Chairs:
Thomas Allard, Nanyang Technological University
Niket Jindal, Indiana University

The Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communications Track welcomes research on any aspect related to promotional elements of the marketing mix. This may include, but is not limited to, the design and effects of advertising investments, advertising allocations, communication strategies, price promotions, customer engagement, innovative approaches, metrics, and socially responsible communications. Research on driving positive change and building a sustainable future is especially encouraged. We also seek papers on novel technologies that enhance or detract from consumer behaviors and firm strategies. Any methodological approach is welcome.

Innovation and New Product Development

Track Chairs:
Gerard A. Athaide, Loyola University Maryland
S.P. Raj, Syracuse University
Guiyang Xiong, Syracuse University

Recently, innovative marketing practices and novel business models have received increased attention due to their social and economic impact. This broader focus on innovation (in addition to new product development) is heightened by digital transformation technologies (e.g., big data, artificial intelligence) that provide firms with new differentiation opportunities. These technologies make it possible to obtain more granular customer insights and to unearth new and overlooked market segments; they also facilitate marketing innovations such as novel promotion (e.g., geolocation based digital advertising) and distribution strategies (e.g., touchless transactions). Furthermore, emerging economies have become important markets for new products and services and marketing innovations. Accordingly, this track seeks papers that study all aspects of innovation in marketing including new product and service development and the impact of digital transformation technologies on innovation-based outcomes. Please email the track chairs with any questions at gathaide@loyola.edu or spraj@syr.edu or gxiong@syr.edu.

Marketing Analytics, AI and Machine Learning

Track Chairs:
Ramkumar Janakiraman, University of South Carolina
Risika Rishika, North Carolina State University
Bill Rand, North Carolina State University

The marketing analytics, AI and machine learning track encourages research surrounding the applications and development of marketing analytics, AI and machine learning techniques related to solving a broad range of marketing issues and problems. This may include issues related to ethics and privacy, impacts on diversity/equity concerns, converting unstructured data spanning beyond textual data (e.g., images, video and audio) to structured insights and chatbot tools/applications. Research focusing on machine learning as a central methodology towards solving current marketing and public policy problems related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility and public health is welcomed. Innovative approaches applying AI tools to engage customers more effectively in the digital age are also encouraged. Please email the track chairs with any questions at ram@moore.sc.edu, wmrand@ncsu.edu or r.rishika@ncsu.edu.

Consumer Well-Being and Social Justice

Track Chairs:
Stephanie Lawson Brooks, Winthrop University
Tony Stoval, Indiana University

SIG Programming

Hannah Finkelstein, American Marketing Association

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TCR-AMA Impact Festival: Best Practices and Scholarship for Impact

Co-Chairs:
Chris Blocker, David Crockett, Brennan Davis, Benet Deberry-Spence, and Julie Ozanne

Co-Hosted by:
The University of Illinois at Chicago and the 2022 Summer AMA Preconference
August 10-11, 2022

Transformative Consumer Research and the AMA are hosting the first Impact Festival to celebrate research that has had a societal impact and builds capacity to accelerate even greater impact. We are generating best practices and scholarships for doing impactful research. If you have ever wondered how you might amplify the impact of your research and help people and organizations use your findings for positive social change, this conference is for you.

This is an innovative format aimed at expanding the skills and capacities of our consumer and marketing research community. Our guiding vision is to create a gift economy for sharing best practices and scholarship on doing societally impactful research. See the TCR Impact Conference website for details.

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Submission Types

All submissions should be made electronically via the AMA’s online submission management system (Ex Ordo). If you have submitted to an AMA academic conference in the last year, you should be able to use the same username and password. The deadline for submission is February 3, 2022.

Competitive Papers 

Submission Template – Competitive Papers

Manuscripts addressing substantive or theoretical topics are sought for competitive paper sessions.

It is mandatory that at least one author of all accepted papers register for, and present the paper at, the conference. Submission of the same (or substantially overlapping) manuscript(s) to multiple themes is not permitted. As a reminder, papers are reviewed following a double-anonymous process; reviewers will not know who authored the papers, nor will authors know the names of their reviewers.

Format and Style for Competitive Papers:

Prepare and submit electronic documents in PDF format.  Please include 1) Title, 2) Extended Abstract (175 word limit), 3) Key Contributions to academe and practitioners (300 words) 4) Manuscript (up to 3,600 words), 5) Table or Figure (optional) and 6) Selected references. Authors have the option of including one table summarizing results and/or one figure (these do not count against the word limit). References also do not count against the word limit.

[Please note that submissions with text longer than 4,100 words will not be reviewed].

 

To assure an anonymous review, authors must avoid revealing their identities in the body or reference section of the paper. Authors should do the following:

At the time of submission via Ex Ordo, the submitter will be asked to provide contact information for all authors including name, affiliation and email.

Confirmation that your paper was submitted successfully will be sent via email to the submitter.

Authors of accepted competitive papers have the option of publishing either an extended abstract or a full paper in the conference proceedings. Choosing to publish an Extended Abstract gives authors the option to submit the paper elsewhere for publication after the conference.

Posters

Submission Template – Poster Presentation

Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share research in the working stage, i.e., with at least part of the data having been collected and analyzed, but not necessarily ready for submission to a journal. They are presented as part of poster sessions. Poster sessions can be particularly useful for getting input at the intermediate stages of a research project. All poster abstract submissions must be directed to only one track.

By submitting a poster abstract, the author affirms that they will register for and appear at the conference to participate in the poster session.

Format and Submission Process for Posters:

Prepare and submit electronic documents in PDF format. Please include 1) Title, 2) Key Contributions to academe and practitioners (300 words), 3) Extended Abstract (1,000 word limit), 4) Table or Figure (optional) and 5) Selected references. Authors have the option of including one table summarizing results and/or one figure (these do not count against the word limit). References also do not count against the word limit.

 

To assure an anonymous review, authors must avoid revealing their identities in the body or reference section of the paper. Authors should do the following:

At the time of submission via Ex Ordo, the submitter will be asked to provide contact information for all authors including name, affiliation and email.

Confirmation that your abstract was submitted successfully will be sent via email to the submitter.

Accepted poster authors must agree to prepare a poster for display during the session and be available to discuss your research and answer questions at the invited poster session.

Special Sessions

Submission Template – Special Session

Anyone may organize and propose a special session, although those who are unfamiliar with AMA conference special sessions are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the conference co-chairs or track chairs for developmental feedback before submitting a proposal. Special sessions provide a good vehicle to acquaint marketing academics with new perspectives, theories, and provocative ideas, to bring diverse participants together around a common theme, or to integrate academically-minded practitioners into the conference. Sessions involving participants from multiple countries, focusing on theory development or cutting-edge research directions, and offering insights regarding academic-business partnerships for teaching or research are particularly encouraged.

Special sessions should feature three or four presentations on a related theme. Another possibility is an interactive panel discussion among 4-6 panelists and a moderator. Other creative special session formats are encouraged, particularly those that generate attendee interaction.

All special session proposal submissions must be directed to only one track. Proposals for special sessions should describe the topic and its importance to marketing, summarize the issues to be covered, and identify all individuals (with their qualifications) who will formally participate. Special session proposals should provide specificity regarding the purpose, format, participants, and roles in the session. AMA Academic Special Interest Groups (SIGs) may propose special sessions to the SIG Programming track.

Selection criteria include the general quality of the proposal, the level of interest the session is likely to generate at the conference, and the session’s relevance to the conference theme.

By submitting a special session proposal, the organizer and listed participants affirm that, if accepted, all will register for and appear at the Conference as described in the proposal. 

Format and Submission Process for Special Sessions:

Prepare and submit an extended abstract in Microsoft Word format.  Special session proposals must include the title of the session and an extended abstract of 3,600 words maximum. The proposal should describe the objective of the session, its structure and general orientation, likely audience, key issues, and topics to be covered, as well as a description of why the session is likely to make an important contribution to the discipline. Also, include a brief description of each paper in the session.

The text of the special session proposal must not exceed 3,600 words and should be submitted in the double-spaced format, prepared in 12-point font.

At the time of submission via the online system, the submitter will be asked to provide complete contact information for all presenters including name, affiliation and email as it should appear in the final program materials.

Due to the unique nature of special sessions, presenter names and information should be included in the proposal and will be noted as a part of the review process.

Confirmation that your proposal was submitted successfully will be sent via email to the submitter. Special session participants are all expected to register for the conference.

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Code of Ethics

Authors submitting papers to American Marketing Association academic conferences must adhere to the following code of ethics: