Emergent Themes in Marketing Theory and Practice Literature from 1957 to 2015: A Systematic Review

Abstract

There are concerns that marketing theory is not reflecting marketing practice. In addition, it seems that though marketing graduates may be confident with their marketing theory foundations, they are not as confident about marketing practice imperatives. Such a gap obviously presents challenges for both marketing academics and practitioners alike. Therefore, this study investigates and collates extant studies on marketing theory and practice for underlying themes that can explain this gap. A systematic literature review was conducted. Articles from journals were located from electronic databases and analyzed using thematic analysis. Five major themes and related subthemes were exposed. Consequently 5 major research questions for future research were proposed. The study contributes to theory construction, marketing management decision making, as well as marketing training and teaching.