Marketing faculty’s work tops study of research influence

Marketing professors at the UW–Madison School of Business have been the most influential in the United States based on the frequency that their research findings were cited by other scholars, a recent study has found.

Wisconsin’s current marketing faculty members were the most frequently cited in a variety of top journals, according to an article published this summer by the American Marketing Association in the publication, “Enhancing Knowledge Development in Marketing: 2003 AMA Educators’ Proceedings.” The analysis focused on articles from 1990 to 1996 to allow time to see how influential those articles were in subsequent research.

Following UW–Madison in the rankings were the University of Minnesota, Penn, University of Southern California, Dartmouth and Northwestern.

“Having your work cited by other scholars is the most widely accepted indicator of research impact,” says Michael Knetter, dean of the School of Business. “We are pleased that our marketing faculty has produced such influential research. It also means that our students are learning from the very best minds in the field.”

J. Paul Peter, chair and professor in the Marketing Department, says the findings reflect the department’s long tradition of leadership.

Jan Heide, professor of marketing, was either the third or fourth most-frequently cited researcher among 922 included in the study, based on different measurement tools used. Heide was also credited for being the co-author of one of the 25 most-cited articles during the period studied. John Nevin, professor of marketing, was ranked 47th in the study.

The authors of the study, Amanda Helm, David Hunt and Mark Houston, all of the University of Missouri-Columbia, counted citations in top journals, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research, as well as other marketing and related publications.