The evolution of advertising research through four decades

A computational analysis of themes, topics and methods

Bibliographic Data

ID21498102
AuthorsMarla Royne Stafford (0000-0001-5978-9331, Lee Business School, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, corresponding author), Itai Himelboim (0000-0001-7981-5613, University of Georgia), Dror Walter (0000-0001-9870-998X, Georgia State University), Yotam Ophir (0000-0001-5049-7906, Department of Communication, University at Buffalo, State University of New York)
Year2023
Volume42
Issue1
Pages18-41
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Advertising (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-0487 • E-ISSN: 1759-3948
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02650487.2022.2128005
OpenAlexW4307934636
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited72

Over the past forty years, what we, as a discipline, define as advertising research has been negotiated through our primary scholastic contribution to the field: peer reviewed journal articles. The question ‘what is advertising research?’ may produce different answers by different scholars during various points of the history of our field. The goal of this study is to identify key developments in advertising research – themes, topics, and methods – over the last four decades (1980–2020), as published by the leading general advertising journals: International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and (Journal of) Current Issues and Research in Advertising. We use a combination of dictionary methods, qualitative analysis, unsupervised machine learning, and network analysis, to examine the abstracts of all journal articles published during that time (N = 6,084) and identify thematic dynamics in theoretical and methodological foci over time. We explain the evolution of the discipline by identifying trends and changes, areas with both growing and declining research emphasis, and subsequently draw conclusions for the future of the field

Advertising · Advertising research · Qualitative analysis · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Computational and Text Analysis Methods · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing

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