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The conventional distinction between quantitative and qualitative research is constructed around a familiar dichotomy. Within it, the former is construed as more “factual” and “objective” and it is contrasted with the more interpretative approaches of qualitative research. The latter, in this account, is enlisted to enhance understanding of the consumer even if it is considered inherently less reliable and less “valid” in nature. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this familiar distinction and propose a more fundamental one in its place.

Qualitative research is conventionally understood within a framework delineated by modern psychology. The task of qualitative research within this model is to understand the motivations of consumers and to provide explanations that are deeper and less “on the surface” than those elicited by quantitative methods. Such a perspective on qualitative research ignores the fact, however, that the distinctions which exist between the two methodologies are much more profound. We need to look at the underlying philosophical foundations of the two approaches and recognise that they can be distinguished at a more critical level. This paper will argue that they can be understood with much greater clarity in terms of how subjects and predicates are related to each other.

This reframing of the theoretical assumptions of qualitative research would lead, one might expect, to a radical reinterpretation of qualitative research. This paper goes on to demonstrate, however, that, paradoxically, this is not the case. What will be demonstrated is that some of the more important methodologies developed in qualitative research correspond precisely with the new theoretical model that is being put forward. As such, they tend to confirm the fundamental assumptions of the subject/predicate model proposed.

The value of this paper is to encourage greater theoretical perspective on the nature of qualitative research and its methodologies.

This purpose of this paper is to show that theories of marketing, as evident in a range of key textbooks, represent a set of reified articles of faith, which are unreflective of the reality of the practitioner's world.

This paper draws on some interpretative research findings into the nature of marketing practice. A series of phenomenological interviews were carried out with senior marketing managers. Their views were compared with existing representations of marketing as it appears in a range of textbooks.

Marketing textbooks were found to be highly alike drawing as they do on an implicit systems based paradigm. The findings from the interviews show that marketing is a locally defined, highly contextualised activity that is dissimilar in many ways to the generalised prescriptions of mainstream textbooks.

Scholarship in the form of textbooks should attempt to move away from the dictates of the dominant articles of faith as espoused by the established church of marketing. Differing interpretations of marketing should not be viewed as being heretical. They should be seen as being the result of diverse organisational contexts and outcomes which stem from the socially constructed nature of reality.

The contribution of this paper is to show that marketing in practice is not constituted by textbook theory, but by context and the individual perceptions of people as they carry out their actions and routines in organisations.

This study aims to examine the mediated effect of ethical leadership between trust based on commitment and compliance-based practices and green behavior intention in tourism sector organizations.

The existing research in sustainability lacks the effects of leadership types on green management practices. This study uses a quantitative method through survey to determine this effect. Data collection is undertaken on the questionnaire formulated from existing studies. The collected data is analyzed with SmartPLS through measurement and structural model assessment for hypothesis confirmation.

The findings of the study reveal that ethical leadership does strengthen the relationship between trust and green behavior intention when trust is formed on commitment-based practices in comparison to compliance-based practices.

The study contributes to the attribution theory and its application in sustainability studies by showing that both commitment-based and compliance-based practices help shape the individual trust in an organization which resonates with the assumption that an organization’s seriousness to respond to sustainability issues forms the employee’s trust in the organization. On the practical side, this study provides guidelines for the organizations in tourism industry to demarcate the environmental management activities between compliance and commitment-based practices for better outcomes.

A gap is found in sustainability literature where leadership-type effects are rarely explored in green behavior intention formation. To determine the impact of ethical leadership on the relationship between green management practices and green intention behavior, attribution theory is used as a basis combining social responsibility and tourism organizations. The relationship between green management practices and ethical leadership is a novelty by evaluating the compliance-based and commitment-based practices individually to determine their effect on green behavior intention.

Promoting sustainable behavior is an elusive task as it is not an innate and natural response of individuals. While a conducive environment that promotes sustainability arguably plays a prominent role in influencing individuals’ belief structure and norms, not much has been done to examine the interplay between environmental, personal and behavioral domains in sustainable consumption. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of the social cognitive theory (SCT) and value–beliefs–norms (VBN), this study aims to contribute to the literature by proposing an integrated framework that examines sustainable consumption.

This study uses a partial least squares structural equation modeling model based on 313 young consumer responses from an eco-friendly institution in Malaysia.

The findings from this study advance sustainable literature by establishing the multidimensionality concept of the personal domain of SCT. Interestingly, an enabling environment that promotes sustainability was found to be more influential in determining young consumers’ beliefs and norms, as opposed to their competencies. This is demonstrated by the sequential mediation of attribution of responsibility and personal norms on the relationship between campus advertisements and pro-environmental behaviors.

Previous research has investigated SCT and VBN as two separate streams of research in examining green behaviors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that integrates SCT and VBN by examining the multidimensionality aspect of the personal construct to provide a more holistic perspective of examining sustainable behaviors.

The gift-giving literature has documented several cases in which givers and recipients do not see eye-to-eye in gift-giving decisions. To help integrate this considerable segment of the gifting literature, this paper aims to develop a social norms-based framework for understanding and predicting giver-recipient asymmetries in gift selection.

Five experimental studies test the hypotheses. Participants in these studies evaluate gifts used in previous research, choose between gifts as either gift-givers or gift-recipients, and/or indicate their level of discomfort with choosing different kinds of gifts. The gifts vary in ways that allow the authors to test the social norms-based framework.

Gift-giving asymmetries tend to occur when one of the gifts under consideration is less descriptively, but not less injunctively, normative than the other. This theme holds for both asymmetries recorded in the gift-giving literature and novel ones. Indeed, the authors document new asymmetries in cases where the framework would expect asymmetries to occur and, providing critical support for the framework, the absence of asymmetries in cases where the framework would not expect asymmetries to emerge. Moreover, the authors explain these asymmetries, and lack thereof, using a mechanism that is novel to the literature on gift-giving mismatches: feelings of discomfort.

This research has multiple theoretical implications for the literatures studying gift-giving and social norms. A limitation of this work is that it left some (secondary) predictions of its model untested. Future research could test some of these predictions.

Billions of dollars are spent on gifts each year, making gift-giving a research topic of great practical importance. In addition, the research offers suggestions to consumers giving gifts, consumers receiving gifts, as well as marketers.

The research is original in that it creates a novel framework that predicts both the presence and absence of gift-giving asymmetries, introduces a psychological mechanism to the literature on giver-recipient gift choice asymmetries, and unifies many of the mismatches previously documented in this literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way one farmers’ market organization used an e-newsletter to establish and maintain their brand image as a socially responsible local food outlet. This research analyzed managerial communication efforts to promote farmers’ market products through email marketing. This analysis also revealed the positive and negative brand images that the e-newsletter communicates and how those align or fail to align with public opinion about of farmers’ markets.

The author spent 2.5 years participating in the farmers’ market organization that comprises the focus of this study, and this included conducting multiple studies using interview, survey and ethnographic methods. The data set for the present study includes two years’ worth of marketing messages from the e-newsletter campaign, which included 31 e-newsletters. Thematic analysis (Terry et al., 2017) was used to discover the dominant messages and values present. Analysis extended to textual messages, images, timing, design and overall newsletter content.

The results show that the digital communications at the Lawrence Farmers’ Market (LFM) promoted messages of getting to know your local farmer, eating fresh and healthy food and supporting local products. Additionally, the market frequently attempted to make the market accessible by communicating operating days and times. Finally, the newsletter message analysis also revealed that the LFM brand could be characterized as lacking consistency, having poor organization, and using poor design principles.

This research extends the knowledge of how farmers’ market organizations engage in brand image management. While there are scores of studies on consumer preferences, we have very few that analyze the ways farmers' market organizations spread key brand ideas to consumers. Additionally, this research offers other implications for nonprofits, looking to improve their brand image with limited resources.

This investigation aims to reframe the sizeable literature on barriers and drivers for energy efficiency measures (EEMs) and the phenomenon of the energy efficiency gap. The authors identify a gap between academic methods and industrial needs, as well as a neglect of the cultural dimension, despite its considerable impact. On the basis of this insight, the purpose of this paper is to integrate all of the various influences on industrial energy behavior previously identified in the literature in a refined energy cultures framework.

This paper includes a systematic literature review of research in the field of energy management, energy efficiency and cultural aspects within barriers and drivers of energy behavior. The authors select and refine an existing energy cultures framework for the industrial context. To meet industrial needs, the authors applied an ontology mapping of its core elements onto an international standard common for industrial energy management practice.

First, the authors present a refined framework for industrial energy cultures incorporating past barriers and drivers as factors. The framework enables an evaluation of attitude and behavioral aspects, underlying technologies, organizational culture and actions related to energy as a system of interdependencies. Second, the factors are ranked on the basis of the number of appearances and empirical metadata. Economic aspects such as “purchase, installment and hidden costs”, “general investment and risk behavior” and “regulatory conditions” are the highest ranked factors, but “existing knowledge about EEM”, “hierarchy approach: top down” and “environmental concerns” follow closely and represent cultural aspects, which are still underrated. Third, while illustrating a successful mapping onto a standardized process of continuous improvement, the authors also argue for heightened academia–practice efforts.

Reframing the energy efficiency gap as a problem of what aspirations play a role, what technology is chosen and how technologies are used should increase the level of implementation of EEMs in the real business world. Introducing the refined energy cultures framework serves as a starting point for future transdisciplinary collaboration between academia and practice.

Targeting the energy efficiency gap is an essential part of the sustainable development goals. The refined energy cultures framework allows for a better understanding of the industrial energy behaviors that are responsible for a significant share of a company’s success. The introduction of energy cultures serves as a starting point for future scholarly research within sustainability management accounting.

The investigation combines existing research streams, their concepts and their results about cultural aspects related to energy efficiency for both academics and practitioners. This review is the first to capture all of the various factors analyzed in academic literature using the energy cultures framework as a basis. The authors add to the theoretical development of that framework with its application to the industrial context. This is identified as a gap. Its refinement helps to holistically understand barriers and drivers of industrial EEMs to support its practical implementation.