Editorial

Citation

Lindridge, A. (2014), "Editorial", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 17 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-07-2014-0060

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Volume 17, Issue 4

Welcome to Volume 17 Issue 4 of Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal! Whilst as Editor I would not normally make such an upfront declaration of a particular issue, this issue is particularly relevant for myself. Why? Because it represents the anniversary of my first year as Editor of this journal, whose four issues I have overseen. And what a year it has been! During this period, we have not only increased the number of people submitting papers to our journal but also the number of people willing to review for us as well. I send them all a big thank you. During this time, we have also seen an increase in the quality of papers submitted and equally an increase in the quality of our reviews. I am sure the coming years will be equally exciting as the journal pursues its ambitions to become a first choice destination for high-quality qualitative marketing research.

In this issue, we begin with six methodological papers that serve to remind, inform and challenge our understanding of qualitative research. Paper one “One Step Closer to the Field: Visual Methods in Marketing and Consumer Research” by Laila Rohani, May Aung and Khalil Rohani offers a review of leading marketing journals papers on studies into static pictures and videos from a methodological perspective. In doing so, the authors encourage us to consider to what extent the methods applied actually met the original researchers needs. Following this, paper 2 entitled “Mind the “academician-practitioner” gap: an experience-based model in the food and beverage sector” the authors – Alessio Cavicchi, Cristina Santini and Lucia Bailetti – explore how experiential research can reduce the gap between scholars and practioners. The emergence of Big Data as an important marketing research tool is questioned by Colin Strong in our next paper “The challenge of ‘Big Data’: What does it mean for the qualitative research industry?” Whilst recognising the opportunities that Big Data offers, he raises important questions surrounding its real value arguing that Big Data needs to understand the bigger picture regarding human behaviour. Our fourth paper by Mohamad Mostafa entitled “Functional neuroimaging applications in marketing: some methodological and statistical considerations” continues the issue of technology in marketing research but from the perspective of functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this paper, Mostafa encourages us to question the use and application of this marketing research tool. Returning to more traditional methods, our fifth paper, by Nathalie Veg-Sala entitled “The use of longitudinal case studies and semiotics for analysing brand development as process of assimilation or accommodation” encourages us to understand the differing approaches taken to brand development and in doing so suggests a more long-term methodological approach to understanding brand development. Our final paper in this issue’s methodological section is entitled “Reshaping the Village Test for investigating service brand attachment” by Chourouk Mzahi. Using a methodological technique previously reserved for psychology the author demonstrates through researching service brand attachment how the Village Test can be applied to marketing research.

Moving onto our second collection of papers, we focus on branding. Our first paper by T.C. Melewar, Christina Willi, Charles Dennis and Bang Nguyen entitled “Corporate Impression Formation in Online Communities - A Qualitative Study” evaluates elements of corporate communication in online communities (OCs). Of particular interest is their exploration of the role of these OCs in influencing corporate impression formation. Our next paper is entitled “Benchmarking desired corporate brand image in relation to stakeholders: a managerial perspective” continues the previous papers theme surrounding corporate image by Tatiana Anisimova. The author argues that a corporate brand is not perpetuated through multiple stakeholders but only by consumers raising important issues for brand managers. Our next paper by Reto Felix is entitled “Multi-brand loyalty: When one brand is not enough”. In this paper, Felix explores issues surrounding multi-brand loyalty and what contributes towards this consumer behaviour. Our final brand paper entitled “Brand love in emerging market: A qualitative investigation” Abhigyan Sarkar explores the role of brand love in developing hedonistic consumption in Asian markets.

Finally, I would like to welcome our new Book Review Editor – Dr Anoop Bhogal. In her new role for Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. I have pleasure in including our first book review from Dilip Mutum who reviews Russell Belk and Rosa Llamas’s book “The Routledge Companion to Digital Consumption”.

As I bring this editorial to a close for this issue, I would just like to encourage our previous, current and future authors to submit their work to Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. With my first year now behind me it is going to be an even better year ahead of us.

Thank you.

Andrew Lindridge