Editorial

Abstract

I have arrived at the end of my editing duties for the Journal of Consumer Research with disheveled emotions—from relief and celebration to an ambivalent lament. In this final editorial I would like to thank those who supported me, advise authors based on my experience, and express some hopes for future consumer research.1 No one completes the journey of editing JCR without the help of numerous other bright and dedicated people. I thank the journal's policy board for its trust in appointing me to this position. I am especially grateful for its endorsement of the changes I sought to make—from the new cover design, Web site, and fully electronic operations to inaugurating the two sections titled Reflections and Reviews and Re-Inquiries. I thank also the 12 associate editors who served most directly with me in making over 1,000 editorial decisions on submitted manuscripts. Each worked devotedly to assist authors in recognizing the most crucial issues within the reviews, to adjudicate between conflicting opinions, and to recommend revision strategies that would maximize knowledge contribution. I am also greatly indebted to the editorial review board and the hundreds of ad hoc reviewers who, next to the authors themselves, most truly create and preserve JCR's excellence. While the reviewers were recurrently rigorous, they were also constructive on multiple dimensions and protective of the authors' dignity. On a day-to-day basis, no person played a more sizable role through our Wisconsin editorial office than Mary-Ann Twist, our managing editor. She was solely responsible for implementing and maintaining our extensive Web site, and for evolving the journal's numerous operations into a twenty-first century mode of continuous and instantaneous worldwide interactions. She facilitated many other enhancements to the efficiency and value of journal operations for all our constituents. She has been a stellar managing editor for JCR, and now a cherished friend to me. On a more local level, at the University of Virginia I owe thanks to my colleagues at the McIntire School of Commerce, and most notably its dean, Carl Zeithaml, for their wholehearted support over the two and one-half years that I edited the journal from Charlottesville. And last, but most, I am profoundly appreciative of the patience given and sacrifices made by my wife, Cindy, and our sons, Owen and Neal. They permitted me to shift volumes of time and energy from the family to the journal, so I could carry out the editing obligations to the best of my abilities. Past editors of JCR have written farewell editorials providing outstanding guidance to authors on how to improve the chances of publishing their works (see, e.g., Lutz 1990). The imperatives mentioned usually include working on topics of widespread and timeless significance; circulating presubmission drafts for comments from demanding and frank colleagues; and making certain that the version to be submitted is as reader friendly as it can possibly be, both in its writing and exhibits, and conforms to the journal's style sheet (on our Web site). Unfortunately, too many authors ignore these commonsense suggestions, and the reactions they receive on their work are constant testaments to the worth of such advice. Perhaps, as Voltaire wryly noted, common sense is not so common. My editing experience leads me to offer a few more recommendations, some of which may be just as consequential. First, it is remarkable how much authors struggle to pinpoint in comprehensible fashion what exactly is their distinctive knowledge contribution. To achieve this aim, authors must review relevant literature in a focused and concise manner that identifies the gaps, inconsistencies, conundrums, and so forth, of prior knowledge that their paper will specifically address and, at least partly, solve. If the research is empirical, they must also rationalize the design of their studies in terms of the choices for procedures and operationalizations that are the most appropriate for delivering their original contribution. Data analyses, interpretations, and discussion must then stay concentrated on the primary research objectives, that is, the distinctive contribution.2 Many papers submitted to JCR simply did not have at their very outset a surety and intelligibility of intended contribution (relative to prior literature) that was then tightly threaded throughout the remainder of the paper, with all else left aside. These fundamental issues apply in adapted ways to both quantitative and qualitative works, and to empirical as well as conceptual papers. In sum, the more that reviewers strain to grasp the author's intended knowledge advance and see a concerted effort to stay focused on it, the less likely they will support further revision effort or publishability. Second, when authors are invited to submit a revised manuscript, they should obviously read the reviews, associate editor's report, and editor's letter in a meticulous manner. Scrutinizing the meanings and implications for revising is unavoidable. Yet in doing so, authors may sometimes forget that it is also crucial to read each commentary with more overarching questions in mind, such as, “What are the macro themes of this review?” Alternatively, imagine a role reversal, as when authors ask themselves, “If I were this commentator, what are the general concerns I am striving to say to this author?” Asking such questions may be particularly beneficial when different commentators seem to have opposing critiques or suggestions, because a thematic-level analysis can sometimes reveal more agreement than is initially apparent, leading to new solutions that could be acceptable across the commentators. In general, when authors avoid fixating solely on the minutiae of reviewers' and editors' remarks, they are better able to appreciate the crux of what must be improved. Third, when revising a manuscript, it is always valuable for authors to do more than what the commentators expect. This strategy can apply to literature review, data collection, data analyses, exhibits, supplementary materials to accompany the revision, and so forth. By adopting this attitude and behavior, authors show genuine respect for the review process. They also demonstrate an eagerness to make the paper as effective as it can be, according to the values and standards of the journal that have been entrusted in the editorial team. Finally, less experienced scholars are reluctant to contact editors for advice on submitting and revising. Perhaps they think editors are too busy for such interactions, or they fear saying something wrong. However, most individuals who seek the role of editor do so because they sincerely want to foster knowledge development and, particularly, to mentor young authors. Setting an appointment time for a well-planned phone call with the editor—usually preceded by an e-mail to indicate the topics for discussion—can often lead to additional insights that elucidate what exactly is required and what the major criteria will be for judging a manuscript once submitted, especially if it is a revision. Recent chapters by Belk (2002) and Simonson et al. (2001) have identified important trends, strengths, weaknesses, and directions for consumer research. As a complement to them, and in seeking collegial assistance in preparing this editorial, I polled a small and varied sample of established and rising leaders in consumer research (n = 30). I asked them what they thought the goals of consumer research should be during the next 25 years and what research skills will be necessary to achieve those goals.3 Several motifs emerged that overlap with issues raised in Belk (2002) or Simonson et al. (2001), while others are new and divergent. In the subsections that follow, I interweave the polling responses, the aforementioned chapters, and other sources of insights with my own convictions drawn from editing JCR. Most of us, I suspect, would agree with Borgmann's pithy observation, “To live is to consume” (2000, p. 418). And most would also concur that capitalism, marketing, and consumer behavior in recent decades have spread farther and burrowed deeper throughout the world. Some praise this development, while others decry it. But few would say it is reversible, short of calamitous events. As a result, this is an era in human evolution in which a complex and generally nonconscious ideology of consumption has become the epicenter of life, adapted in dynamic ways by cultures and individuals. Ideology per se is a core component of day-to-day living. It is a socialization process in which culturally conventional principles, categories, and behaviors are reproduced within each individual (Thompson and Haytko 1997, n. 1). Consumption ideology espouses in its barest terms that consumption is good and that more consumption is better. “Vigorous and growing consumption,” it presumes, “is the chief indicator of a prosperous and self-confident community” (Borgmann 2000, p. 418). Today, this ideology is the foundation for a panoply of institutions, discourses, capacities, actions, and other influences that permeate all levels of life—nations, societies, organizations, households, and persons. The study of consumption ideology can be traced back at least to Simmel ([1900] 1978); it was energized by such scholars as Horkheimer and Adorno ([1944] 1996) and expanded further in recent years by a cadre of historians, sociologists, and anthropologists, among others (e.g., Baudrillard 1981; Campbell 1987; Douglas and Isherwood 1979; Ewen 1988; Ritzer 1995). In our own immediate field, research on consumption ideology has begun to take hold as well (e.g., Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989; Burroughs and Rindfleisch 2002; Hirschman 1990; Holt 2002; Kozinets 2002; Mick and Fournier 1998; Murray and Ozanne 1991; Richins and Dawson 1992; Thompson and Haytko 1997; Wallendorf and Arnould 1991). Some of these works directly address the makeup of consumption ideology, while others assume it and then explore its ramifications. I believe that it is paramount that we become even more serious and more focused in studying the nature, role, processes, and consequences of consumption ideology and existence in the market world. There are many and varied topics of relevance. Some we have minimally examined in any detail, while others have received attention, but not recognizably as a function of consumption ideology. A partial list would include self-esteem and self-actualization (dis)contentment in life desires, dreams, fetishes, hopes, and other deep-rooted motivations longevity, obesity, stress, diseases, and other health conditions self-control, addictions, and compulsions crimes by and against consumers financial investing, saving, retirement, debt, and bankruptcy trade-offs among work, leisure, cultural, and idle time interpersonal relations, including social bonds and social etiquette, family life, child rearing, care for the elderly, and the end of life poverty and social (in)justice technology pornography ecology Third World economics It was not by design, and I do not think it is coincidence, that when I initiated the Reflections and Reviews essays by offering full reign to several forward-thinking scholars for expressing their perspectives on the uppermost topics for future consumer research, they often underscored several of those listed above (see, e.g., Bargh 2002; Baumeister 2002; Bazerman 2001; Borgmann 2000; Cross 2002; Csikszentmilhalyi 2000; Denzin 2001; Dickson 2000; Moorman 2002; Wallendorf 2001). I also do not think it is happenstance that these essays are specifically among the most read of all the material in the journal in recent years (based on click-stream data at the University of Chicago Press Web site where the electronic version of JCR resides: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JCR/home.html). And, I might add, if one goes back and reads the past 25 years of presidential addresses to the Association for Consumer Research, it is plainly evident that about every third year, one of our foremost thinkers goes to the podium and exhorts the audience toward more research on topics of the kind listed above. Lest anyone think I am effectively de-prioritizing useful and long-standing research foci, it should be noted that the topics available for study under the rubric of consumption ideology and existence in the market world include many that have been partly examined before (e.g., social comparison, identity, and self-esteem; materialism; and compulsive buying). Consider also a popular topic like consumer knowledge. Consumption ideology directly underlies and ferments the marketplace expertise and related social intelligence that, according to one of our pioneering consumer psychologists, has never before been so developed and so necessary as it is now (Wright 2002). Individuals must be ever skillful in the myriad and mercurial contexts of marketing and consumer behavior in daily life. Wright (2002) raises a host of incisive questions on theoretical, substantive, and normative fronts, including, How do consumers think about and manage their own mental states as related to marketplace phenomena and activities—across cultures, generations, and life spans? How best can education about the marketplace serve the needs of the maturing and matured consumer? Consider, too, consumer choice, perhaps the most extensively studied topic in the history of our field. When buying is strongly mandated, as it is so often in the market world (based, e.g., on technology breakdowns and obsolescence, gift-giving contexts, and educational and career situations), how is the choice process influenced and what are the attendant affective and cognitive states, including feelings of frustration, powerlessness, or resentment? When the choice options are many, when the attributes are several, similar, and sometimes irrelevant, and when the time to search, evaluate, and select is compressed—all ordinary conditions in present lives—what are the effects on consumers' arousal systems, on emotions such as anger and impatience, and on their confidence in themselves and their purchases, and what are the spillover influences to subsequent and seemingly unrelated contexts in which persistence, tolerance, conviviality, civility, nonjudgment, or open-mindedness are called for? We have recently seen stimulating new research on emotional consumer decisions (Luce, Bettman, and Payne 2001), but these questions above have a different spin. In a sense, they are less psychological and more spiritual, as related to the character and quality of community and individual life. Our has these questions Consumption ideology and existence in the market world an and for our to a of research for which we to et al. 2001; Wright and may never have No is as and at this in history as we are for and on these complex It is also possibly one of the for from across the in our to work directly in ways that to now have been for consumer research to be more relevant and or what to a of have been made over the and they in Simonson et al. (2001) and among several in my We to are in that it is our own for and by both and The for and is a to my prior comments on consumption ideology and existence in the market but that to most other topics and research directions as The policy board of JCR has recently begun to one of these concerns by how it can help to make the and more of our best and most work among that which in the Our and could do better in this than that, we to much on that are both and for policy and There are many other to assist in and that are my such as better with and that can support this to foster and appointing journal editors who will call for and it further recommendations, see also Denzin 2001; Hirschman 1991; Murray and Ozanne 1991; and its JCR's has been to and consumer research. We to that this is a but very one that few other have There have been new on this over the past but we more from to over in consumer This must include more than the from and and must also other from the social and with we have (e.g., and at our own (e.g., new at in such as those just and sections or issues of we can the into more work that will major new and As a we to on mental phenomena (e.g., and This across every of consumer research. it will always be important to mental even if it from what the consumer because and feelings are often more than what goes on (e.g., interpretations, and And, mental phenomena with behavior has research for and which our has In any if we to call our consumer behavior, then we to our to and the particularly in over It has been that we to our own on consumer behavior than and apply those available in the social (e.g., and is of on this as well et al. 2001). for and toward and research will our chances of original and insights that maximize and a will on in the who and review for advise on and in for and I have more of research in its sense, as to qualitative and quantitative research, empirical or conceptual Mick in to and essays by Thompson and in the I about the to more data and that, while to knowledge in may also be very to often never The most and for a given data or are worth to But that not that should be the for judging all research or that are because they are We must also our many insights on consumer behavior into a and knowledge as so many other through of the of our on each through and much than we may be to Several skills are for the goals above. Perhaps foremost is the for to think and about consumer and to both quantitative and qualitative data the such as for data and the of can and insights that are to and It is also that our next of consumer be better in papers for and so many journal to be because of it is that more offer in the and of papers. This would include not such as and the of and sections but also the of and the role of and The influences of such on young scholars and the could be Finally, few of seem to have received in our for quality of in our of one of the most ways in which a its scholars and as a is through the review process The Journal of Consumer Research through a of and other related on its Web Our can further improve the role and value of a through in education and discussion at and by editors to to their reviewers on how to the quality of their further suggestions, see These would be an on of the next of consumer that will both knowledge contribution and in the for many years to We are to out who we are and what we do will ever to anyone There is a among many leaders in our that we have an to make the of consumption ideology and existence in the market world our because of its and effects across the hundreds of societies, and of individual those who are by this is a to to address the questions of consumer behavior in our from several I have to offer some guidance for this If we do so in the most and manner the future and of our will be a that we will be to have

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