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Our purpose is to reconnect memetics to information, a persistent and unclear association. Information can contribute across a span of memetic research. Its obscurity restricts conversations about “information flow,” the connections between “form” and “content,” as well as many other topics. As information is involved in cultural activity, its clarification could focus memetic theories and applications.

Our design captures theoretical nuance in memetics by considering a long standing conceptual issue in memetics: information. A systematic review of memetics is provided by making use of the term information across literature. We additionally provide a citation analysis and close readings of what “information” means within the corpus.

Our initial corpus is narrowed to 128 pivotal memetic publications. From these publications, we provide a citation analysis of memetic studies. Theoretical directions of memetics in the informational context are outlined and developed. We outline two main discussion spaces, survey theoretical interests and describe where and when information is important to memetic discussion. We also find that there are continuities in goals which connect Dawkins’s meme with internet meme studies.

To our knowledge, this is the broadest, most inclusive review of memetics conducted, making use of a unique approach to studying information-oriented discourse across a corpus. In doing so, we provide information researchers areas in which they might contribute theoretical clarity in diverse memetic approaches. Additionally, we borrow the notion of “conceptual troublemakers” to contribute a corpus collection strategy which might be valuable for future literature reviews with conceptual difficulties arising from interdisciplinary study.

Information scientists may find value in studying cultural information evolution and information diffusion through memetics. Information studies in memetics have often found datafication in memetics research difficult. Meanwhile, current memetic scholarship elsewhere is abundant in data due to their focus on Internet artifacts. This paper offers a way to close the datafication gap for information researchers by associating information data with “differences” between memetic documents.

This work offers a joint theory and methodology invested in information-oriented memetics. This methodology of differences is developed from a content analysis of difference on a collection of images with visual similarities.

The authors find that this kind of analysis provides a heuristic method for quantitatively bounding where one meme ends and another begins. The authors also find that this approach helps describe the dynamics of memetic media in such a way that the authors can datafy information or cultural evolution more clearly.

Here the authors offer an approach for studying cultural information evolution through the study of memes. In doing so, the authors forward a methodology of difference which leverages content analysis in order to outline how it functions practically. The authors propose a quantitative methodology to assess differences between versions of document contents in order to examine what a particular meme is. The authors also move toward showing the information structure which defines a meme.

The initial purpose of this paper is to review the explanatory power that memetics promised for socio‐cultural evolutionary theory, for organisational adaptation, and emergent patterns of traits. Second, to argue that philosophical accusations and premature demands have retarded a science of memetics; regardless, isolated demonstrations of empirical research feasibility suggest a pragmatic resolution. Third, to speculate about practical applications, future advances, and prompt consideration about resuming methodological research initiatives that draw extensively from biology into organisational and managements science.

Owing to present methodological immaturity of cultural science then a high conceptual level of meta‐methodology is required. This scope necessarily overlooks specific technical details. Life‐science principles are well known in comparison to the embryonic memetic and cultural sciences. The meme‐gene analogy builds a bridge across which we can draw candidate hypotheses and established methods. However, memetics has inherited the expectations of genetics but without its developmental history. Memetics therefore would benefit from recapitulating the ontogenesis of the more senior science by drawing upon foundational methods.

Linnæan Systematics was elemental to evolutionary theory and genetics; a cultural analogue is proposed. Retreating to description would support emerging objective organisational taxonomies that are laying the methodological foundations for a potential synthesis between organisational replicator and evolutionary theories.

At the moment, the number of organisational examples are few, which further suggests the fundamental nature of this area of research. They serve to illustrate that a large array of hypotheses and methods can be adapted from the biological domain, opening up a bloom of research implications for the organisational domain.

Discourse about memetics is commonplace, but empirical research has been undermined. Originality stems from reapplying established biological methods to the new organisational domain. The value is in conferring the rigour of natural science to socio‐cultural study.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the difficulties encountered by researchers who are looking to operationalise theoretical memetics and provide a methodological avenue for studies that can test meme theory.

The application of evolutionary theory to organisations is reviewed by critically reflecting on the validity of its truth claims. To focus the discussion a number of applications of meme theory are reviewed to raise specific issues which ought to be the subject of empirical investigation. Subsequently, the empirical studies conducted to date are assessed in terms of the progress made and conclusions for further work are drawn.

The paper finds that the key questions posed by memetic theory have yet to be addressed empirically and that a recurring weakness is the practice of assuming the existence of a replicating unit of culture which has, however, yet to be demonstrated as a valid concept. Therefore, an “extra‐memetic” methodology is deemed to be necessary for the development of memetics as a scientific endeavour. Narrative analysis is abducted as an appropriate avenue for the operationalisation of extra‐memetic empirical research.

The paper highlights inconsistencies, embedded in much of the memetic literature, which have not previously been recognised and the colloquial nature of the discipline is challenged from a positive but critical perspective. Consequently, the paper develops a rationale for the adoption of a widely recognised social science methodology for memetics which has been absent to date. In proposing narrative orientated research, knowledge concerning memes' validity can be facilitated whilst avoiding the current circularity in memetic truth claims.

As a result of increasingly pervasive public social media use over the past decade, brands and marketers have begun to use internet memes as digital advertising vehicles, with some using specialized professionals to create memetic ad content. Despite this, little scholarly research on the phenomenon has appeared. This study aims to provide exploratory evidence for how older members of Generation Z (Gen-Z), a digitally native cohort, perceive and regard brands’ use of internet memes as advertisements.

A series of six focus groups conducted with older Gen-Z undergraduates at a large Western US university yields consonant and dissonant beliefs and perspectives about this emergent and conceivably powerful advertising and marketing practice.

Participants express that memetic advertising has potential for nonserious, lighthearted brands with a consistent social media presence but less potential for serious brands or brands that try to appropriate meme culture for financial gain. The importance of humor, cultural narratives and social connections as they relate to internet meme culture is inherent in these discussions.

This study joins a small body of work examining the effectiveness, viability and limitations of memetic advertising as an online advertising venture. Implications and prescriptive advice are offered.

The objective of this paper is to provide a non‐technical introduction to the science of memetics and to suggest how this new discipline may be applied to the design and development of effective marketing campaigns. The technique is based on a neo‐Darwinian evolutionary model of information transmission that may be used to explain and predict the “infectiousness” of certain ideas and behaviours. It is argued that traditional marketing theories based on rational choice theory may rely on an impossible homuncular psychology and it is suggested that a viable alternative would be to understand customer behaviour from a memetic perspective ‐ the result of contagion rather than conscious choice. From the memetic paradigm the role of marketing communications becomes one of designing and engineering infectious “mind viruses” that will influence customer perceptions and behaviour. Whilst memetics is still in its infancy, it is suggested that memetic engineering may provide a viable and effective complementary framework to standard techniques for developing successful marketing strategies.

The purpose of this study is to describe the culture of Google using memetic mapping.

Printed and online texts published about Google are coded, and 40 memes are discovered. Memes are placed into six levels of organizational culture, namely, basic assumptions, values, norms, artifacts, work procedures and human resources practices.

To understand the formation of Google’s culture in the course of history, genealogy method is applied. In this approach, parent of each meme (the culture from which the meme is adopted) is identified. In total, 85 cultures that had impacts on the emergence of Google’s culture are recognized and analyzed.

Practical implications are presented as memetic engineering technique, which is capable of diagnosing and treating defective memes to facilitate and enhance the internal dynamics of corporate members.

The application of this approach for tackling the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed through a real-world example.

Memetic mapping is a powerful tool for managers, consultants and organizational researchers to explore the cultural phenomenon and change it to achieve higher performance.

The goal of this article is to show that memetics is particularly useful to predict the adoption of major innovations.

Describes how TNO Telecom, an applied research institute in The Netherlands, adopted the theory of memetics to develop an instrument that predicts the adoption of major innovations. Explains and defines relevant aspects of this focus.

Initial results are encouraging and suggest that the approach may provide qualitatively better results than the existing methods when applied to major innovations.

Describes for the first time how the theory of memetics can be used to gain a real insight into the market adoption of major innovations as well as to focus and optimise product development.

This paper examines the concept of memetic engineering as a means of facilitating organisational diagnosis and development. It draws lessons for managers and organisational development specialists from current and topical examples of powerful organisational memes. Using a process of memetic mapping through the three elements of meme fidelity, host susceptibility, and level of resonance, managers may develop a heuristic for diagnosis of memes and their impact upon organisational culture and execution of the mission. Potentially, using this dual memetic engineering framework, managers may be able to calculate both the fitness and effect of the meme against existing and desired organisational culture and mission. It is argued that memetic engineering is a practical process for protecting the organisation from toxic memes and as a means of heightening awareness of potential threats in the cultural environment or the mindscape of the organisation.

Looks at memetics, a new science of memes (a unit of cultural material propagated by an imitation process). Examines its origins and attempts to show its significance for the business audience in relation to understanding customer behaviour. Concludes that memetics is still in its infancy and, because of this, it still has philosophical and methodological issues that need to be addressed before it can be considered to be a new paradigm for understanding customer behaviour.