CfP in JHRM: Past Practices as Prologema

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

Call for Papers

Special Issue on ‘Past Practices as Prologema: Marketing Before, During and After COVID-19’

The Journal of Historical Research in Marketing invites submissions for a special issue focused on ‘Past Practices as Prologema: Marketing Before, During and After COVID-19.’  The global reaction to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on people and organizations around the globe.  Whether it is loss of revenue due to closures of retail and service workplaces as mandated by public health organizations; disruptions to manufacturing of goods and product distribution due to the interruption of previously synchronized cross-border flows in supply chains; the almost complete cessation of demand for international travel, tourism and hospitality; or the uncertainties reverberating through commodity and futures markets; few, if any, sectors remain untouched.  Despite a long history of pandemics, COVID-19 is the first in modern times that has both been global in nature – and has been seen to be global in nature.  Pandemics are treated as unusual events because of the gaps in time between them; or as disasters/crises that overwhelm our ability to respond.  Consequently, their apparent rarity has meant little engagement with pandemics from a marketing perspective.  What little research there is, focuses on the AIDS pandemic or can be found in the tourism and destination marketing literatures.  Paradoxically, while marketing academics have paid little if any attention to past pandemics and their effects on the practices of marketing, the current COVID-19 crisis has spurred the American Marketing Association to provide education and issue guidance to its membership – a sign of the looming importance of understanding the relationship between pandemics, their effects and impacts, and the general practice of marketing.  The intent of the special issue is to seek ‘lessons’ from the past that will help inform practitioners and researchers in the present/future.  We are soliciting submissions that explore the general themes of marketing activities during pandemics and of marketing’s contribution to the creation of post-pandemic ‘normalities.’  Papers may investigate these from either positive (e.g., retooling on a voluntary basis to produce needed medical protective equipment) or negative perspectives (e.g., the sale of ‘miracle’ cures). 

For this special issue of JHRM, specific themes and topics might include, but are not limited to:

• Advertising and Communications
  • Social Marketing/Public Relations (in)effective enterprise or organizational response to stakeholder communications during a pandemic
  • How do organizations orient themselves as actors in relation to their stakeholders (with regard to pricing, public relations, etc.)
• Products
  • Repositioning/rebranding of products/services to meet pandemic needs
  • New product/service development
  • Repurposing or alternative uses of existing product offerings
• Marketing Ethics in a Pandemic
  • Anti-Marketing or Propaganda
  • Marketing/Selling of miracle cures
  • Price gouging
• Changes in Marketing Practices
  • Changes to distribution/value proposition
  • Marketing changes introduced during crisis that have persisted
  • Demarketing
• Tourism and Event Marketing
  • Destination Marketing in Pandemics
  • Sports and Event Marketing in Pandemics
• Pandemic Marketing in Other Organizations
  • Higher Education Marketing
  • Public Health Marketing

The submission window for this special issue is May 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021 with an expected publication date in Volume 14, 2022.  If you are unsure of the suitability of your topic, or have questions regarding a submission, please contact the special issue guest editors Donna Sears, Associate Professor of Marketing, F.C. Manning School of Business, Acadia University, at donna.sears@acadiau.ca or Terrance Weatherbee, Professor of Management, F.C. Manning School of Business, Acadia University, at terrance.weatherbee@acadiau.ca.  

How to submit to the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

Submissions for this special issue of JHRM should be made using ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system. Registration and access is available on the journal’s ScholarOne site: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jhrm. Full information and guidance on using ScholarOne Manuscripts is available at the Emerald ScholarOne Manuscripts Support Centre: http://msc.emeraldinsight.com/.