The Contribution of Scientific Production in Marketing for the Social Sciences

AbstractMarketing researchers often employ bibliometric analysis to assess the importance of scientific production in the field, but few studies have examined its influence outside the discipline itself, particularly in the social sciences with which it maintains an interdisciplinary relationship. This study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing citations of the eleven leading Marketing journals in the top journals of the closest social sciences – Management, Economy and Finance, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology – and identifying the articles, journals and subjects which have had more impact in these areas. The subjects were constructed by clustering article keywords, and the results were interpreted by means of network analysis and cross-tabulation. The results show that, although the overall contribution of the discipline is relatively small, certain topics have been objects of interest in each social science. Furthermore, the discipline's contribution is polarized, providing Management with methodology and articles of managerial and strategic natures, while providing other areas mainly with articles in Consumer Behavior. Based on the insights obtained, the scientific status of Marketing production is discussed, as well as the avenues for increasing the relevance of the discipline.