The publications of marketing faculty – Who are we really talking to?

The current environment in higher education drives faculty members towards research and publication. What the system values most is publication in refereed journals, preferably those which have achieved high reputation. This research examined the extent to which academic research informs practitioners engaged in marketing. Clear evidence was obtained that academic marketing journals are neither read nor recognised by the great bulk of the sample. The consequence for academics and other writers in the subject area is significant. They can either strive to meet the demands of academically rated Journals and publications which will undoubtedly further their career or they can publish their work in outlets more likely to be read by the practitioner. In the latter case, they then risk their colleagues and superiors taking them less seriously, considering them to be “less than academic” and “too commercial”. Finally they can attempt to achieve both, although this is a somewhat difficult task, as an author skilled in one style can struggle to achieve in the other. The evidence from this study would confirm however, that whatever efforts are made by Marketing faculty to publish their work, their readership, most likely, will be disappointingly exclusive.