Articles of faith and mystic matrices: Marketing textbooks and the misrepresentation of reality

摘要

Purpose - This purpose of this paper is to show that theories of marketing, as evident in a range ofrnkey textbooks, represent a set of reified articles of faith, which are unreflective of the reality of thernpractitioner's world.rnDesign/methodology/approach - This paper draws on some interpretative research findings intornthe nature of marketing practice. A series of phenomenological interviews were carried out with seniorrnmarketing managers. Their views were compared with existing representations of marketing as itrnappears in a range of textbooks.rnFindings - Marketing textbooks were found to be highly alike drawing as they do on an implicitrnsystems based paradigm. The findings from the interviews show that marketing is a locally defined,rnhighly contextualised activity that is dissimilar in many ways to the generalised prescriptions ofrnmainstream textbooks.rnResearch limitations/implications - Scholarship in the form of textbooks should attempt to movernaway from the dictates of the dominant articles of faith as espoused by the established church ofrnmarketing. Differing interpretations of marketing should not be viewed as being heretical. Theyrnshould be seen as being the result of diverse organisational contexts and outcomes which stem fromrnthe socially constructed nature of reality.rnOriginality/value - The contribution of this paper is to show that marketing in practice is notrnconstituted by textbook theory, but by context and the individual perceptions of people as they carryrnout their actions and routines in organisations.