“Teach ten thousand stars how not to dance”: a survey of alternative ontologies in marketing research

The functionalist paradigm has informed much of marketing research. In the last several decades, however, there has been increasing debate about the philosophy of science in marketing research. Today, some of the best‐known marketing researchers subscribe to a more interpretive paradigm. But how is this translated into publications in top marketing journals? Attempts to gauge marketing academe’s receptivity of alternative paradigms by surveying a sample of articles published in some of the top journals in the field. From 1970 to 1997, a slight shift towards the interpretive paradigm was found, but these researchers face an uphill battle in terms of acceptance as “mainstream”.