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The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the author’s decade-long tenure as the Editor of the European Journal of Marketing (EJM). The paper presents his thoughts on the past 10 years of marketing scholarship, his views on future directions and some advice for those looking to publish their research in academic journals.

The paper takes a reflective, discursive approach, and also reviews a wide range of topics relevant to marketing researchers.

The author finds that EJM has grown substantially on many levels in the past decade. He also finds that there are some concerns around marketing research, and social scientific scholarship in general, that marketing scholars may wish to consider and take into account in their ongoing work.

The paper is partly a personal view, and does not rely on any empirical research. However, the views espoused are justified by theoretical review and conceptual argument.

The implications of this paper are relevant to marketing scholars, journal reviewers, readers of research, as well as those who manage scholarship (e.g. university administrators). The author suggests a number of directions that the research, publication and reward process could move in to improve practice.

The paper brings together a large number of different views and concepts relevant to further development of marketing research, and provides original summaries and extensions.

The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss, among alternative European currents, a “foundationalist perspective for management research” (FPM) which redefines the identity, rigor and relevance of management research.

The management literature has documented a wide range of criticisms about standard management research which are most often summarized as “the relevance gap” or the “translation problem”. The paper presents the historical development, in the French context, of an epistemological debate about management as an academic field which led to FPM as an alternative to standard approaches and as a solution to such criticisms. In this approach, the identity of management science, its principles of relevance and its definition of rigor, cannot be defined separately.

FPM offers a consistent approach of management research as a science that studies “models of collective action”. Rigor is redefined as the appropriate combination of different types of interactions between the researcher and its object. From the point of view of management research, rigor supports relevance and relevance is a condition of rigor.

The paper focuses on the French context of management research. Yet, the new epistemology of management research that it presents may contribute to the international conversation on the future of the field. In more specialized areas of research, the paper discusses two implications of this new epistemology: a theory of managerial techniques as a critical view of classic organization theory; and a model of collective innovative design as a critical view of standard R&D and project management.

The paper presents a new approach of management research which is built on a new epistemology of collective action. It offers an original way to build management science as a basic science; to avoid the weaknesses of mainstream statistical research; to depart from the “applied social science” model.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the challenges, advantages and limits of ethnographical approaches to the study of parliament. Challenges in the study of political institutions emerge because they can be fast-changing, difficult to gain access to, have starkly contrasting public and private faces and, in the case of national parliaments, are intimately connected to rest of the nation.

Ethnography usually tends to be difficult to plan in advance, but especially so when parliament is the focus.

Research in parliament requires clear questions but an emergent approach for answering them – working out your assumptions, deciding on the most appropriate methods depending on what wish to find out, and continually reviewing progress. Its great strengths are flexibility, ability to encompass wider historical and cultural practices into the study, getting under the surface and achieving philosophical rigour. Rigour is partly achieved through reflexivity.

One implication of this is that not only will each study of parliament be different, because each is embedded in different histories, cultures, and politics, but the study of the same parliament will contain variations if a team is involved.

Ethnographical research is a social and political process of relating; interpreting texts, events and conversations; and representing the “other” as seen by observers.

In marketing, as in other areas of management studies, there is a feeling abroad that lines of communication need to be improved between those who work largely in the academic sphere and the practitioner community. Introduces the papers presented in this special issue, which explore the nature of the “academic‐practitioner divide”, investigates the reasons for it and the barriers to communication that exist, and put forward ideas for improving the effectiveness of academic‐practitioner collaboration. However, members of the academic community should carefully avoid a headlong and uncritical rush for managerial relevance, since their claim to a unique position in the knowledge production process relies on maintaining objectivity and a certain distance from the day‐to‐day pressures of marketing management.

This monograph summarises the key influences of leadership behaviour on the transformation process associated with creation of an effective and high performing team. It clarifies the key factors that are relevant to a team at each stage of the transformation process and the leadership roles that each team member can play. The role of an organisation's senior management is considered both in terms of the impact it has on the transformation process within specific teams and in terms of creating the necessary organisational environment to make effective teams the norm. Some reasons why senior management behaviour is often perceived as inconsistent and unhelpful are explored. Specific recommendations are made to help senior managers to adapt their behaviour, and in so doing become more context‐sensitive to the needs of the environment as it changes. Some tools and techniques are presented that have been found in practice to help senior managers adapt their behaviour to that most appropriate at a given time, and to create the organisational infrastructure needed to make effective teams the organisational norm rather than the exception. A case study is presented illustrating the networked nature of leadership and the culture change associated with making effective teams “the way we do things around here.”

The purpose of this paper is to synthesise current literature on the conceptualisation of rigour within qualitative studies and to identify factors which contribute to the enhancement of rigour for the practical implementation of qualitative research.

This paper presents an interpretivist stance in line with a qualitative approach to research. A systematic review method was adopted to provide a structured and rigorous selection of relevant literature. Data was analysed using a thematic synthesis method, as outlined by Thomas and Harden (2008).

The results of the thematic synthesis identified seven descriptive themes in the literature: conceptualising rigour, conceptualising truth and value in knowledge generation, participant trust and communication of truth, rigour in research design and implementation, subjectivity, reflexivity and researcher identity, reader confidence and transparency and strategies for enhancing rigour. These descriptive themes were further developed into three analytical themes: ethical co-construction, methodological alignment and multi-perspective interpretation.

This paper presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the concept of rigour in qualitative research. The themes identified are applicable across fields and provide an original application of thematic synthesis.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to provide a brief account of the PhD by published work focusing especially on quality assurance issues such as eligibility of candidates, the nature of the submission itself, supervision and assessment procedures. Second, it seeks to offer a discussion of the criteria to be met by candidates in writing a critical appraisal as a central feature of the submission.

The approach taken is that of an analytical, conceptual and discursive essay.

There is still a lack of commonality in higher education about the nature of the PhD by published work. One way of gaining greater commonality would be to strengthen the use of the critical appraisal as an academic text which also should be required to meet the admittedly problematical standards of publishability.

The paper's main limitation is that many of its ideas and much of its information are derived from sources within the UK's higher education sector. Nevertheless the issues raised should have relevance to practice in other systems.

A case is made for the usefulness of the PhD by published work as an important route for achieving doctorateness especially when the critical appraisal is given greater priority and supervisory support.

Papers discussing the use and value of the PhD by published work are still relatively rare in academic journals. The emphasis on the critical appraisal in this paper is an original contribution to the debate.

Specifically focusing on one antecedent (information seeker's characteristics) for electronic word‐of‐mouth adoption and credibility assessments, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to shed light on consumer motivations for making and taking online recommendations, and how technically savvy consumers assess credibility online.

To investigate the role and influence of word‐of‐mouth (WOM) amongst technically savvy online consumers, purposeful sampling was used to limit participants to those who have made online purchases and who spend more than three hours a day on the internet. Using an adaptation of the grounded theory method, this study was triangulated via one face‐to‐face interview with each participant, member‐checking, analysis of online communications deemed “not credible” by the participants, and through relevant literature from marketing and information systems (IS).

Analysis shows that participants exhibit more of a “bricks‐to‐clicks” than a “clicks‐to‐bricks” purchasing cycle. In addition to relying on customer reviews online, participants accept online WOM to enhance their self‐worth, avoid risk, or enact negativity bias. Additionally, assessment of online WOM credibility is based on four factors: the polarity and quantity of posts, the logic and articulation of posts, the ability to find corroborating sources, and the previous experience of participants with particular sellers.

Previous research in WOM has not specifically explored how technically savvy consumers assess the credibility of online information and how these consumers may help to identify future trends for online customer exchanges. This qualitative study fills this gap. Conceptual framework and managerial implications are discussed.

Professionalism indicates a devotion to and demonstration of exceptional performance and achievement in any activity. The built environment comprises the physical items required for economic activity, long-term national development and social well-being. Studies show a need to improve many aspects of the built environment and the sector which creates it. Researchers should contribute to this improvement effort. It is suggested that researchers should demonstrate professionalism, but there is no agreement on how professionalism in research is determined. It is necessary to consider what constitutes professionalism in built environment research and how it can be developed.

An exploratory study is presented. It considers major works on the nature of the built environment and its sector, and factors influencing research on them; and draws on works on research ethics, integrity and good practice to propose a framework for professionalism in built environment research.

More work is needed to improve the built environment and its sector. Professionalism in built environment research will make the contribution of such research to this effort effective. This professionalism should be conceptualised, developed and continuously enhanced.

This first attempt to formulate a framework for professionalism in built environment research is based on a review of the major relevant literature. Subsequent works can test this framework empirically.

The professional built environment researcher will be committed to contributing to society.

This is the first work on professionalism in research on the built environment. The framework provides the basis for further studies on the subject.