Levy, Sidney. 2003. Roots of marketing and Consumer Research at the University of Chicago.
Consumption, Markets and Culture.: 99-110.
Reprinted in:
Handbook of Consumer Behavior , edited by Margaret Hogg, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
The marketing and consumer research fields began to flourish in the late 1940s after World War II. Social Research, Inc. was founded in 1946 by members of the University of Chicago's faculty. Students at the University's interdisciplinary Committee on Human Development and the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, and Psychology worked at Social Research, Inc., pioneering the application of behavioral methods of research to problems of business and other organizations. This paper traces the transmission of knowledge from the academic setting to the business environment. It notes especially the influence of members of the university faculty and their theories of human behavior on the emerging fields devoted to the study of consumption and culture.
Levy, Sidney. 2002. Revisiting the Marketing Domain.
European Journal of Marketing. 36(3): 299-304.
The two debates about the domain of marketing and the division between theory and practice are old, recurring and endless. Nevertheless, it is indubitable that marketing pervades society whether or not the critics like the idea of it or the troubling forms it sometimes takes. Similarly, the differences between theoreticians and practitioners are – like parts of a tree – also inevitable as they think differently, have different roles to play, have different languages and feel superior to each other. Those who are blind to these facts create the debates instead of realizing that is the way it is and making the best of it. Reasonable people bridge the gaps by understanding the situation and working cooperatively with their diverse colleagues.
Levy, Sidney. 2001. The Psychology of an Online Shopping Pioneer.
Advances in Consumer Research. 28(1): 222-226.
This article presents an analysis of an online shopping experience of marketing professor Bruce Weinberg, as part of his Internet Shopping 24/7 Project. Some people objected to that he is not a typical consumer, that his shopping on the Internet would be unique, an individualistic activity, just an idle curiosity, and therefore not generalizable. Weinberg shops for and/or buys all sorts of products online, showing that almost anything can be purchased electronically. Weinberg is convinced that he showed the superiority of online shopping in savings of time and money. The author of the article believes his analysis is not a fair, unbiased one. He says the experiment is not controlled systematically and plays down the disadvantages of shopping online.
Levy, Sidney. 1999. Book Review: The Enjoyment of Reading Books.
Journal of Marketing. 62(4): 99-101.
'Marketing' by Edmund Brown Jr. (1925), is an interesting representative of the kind of books on marketing written early in this century. It is highly informative and conveys a wonderful picture of the nature of marketing at that time. Pursuing more recent developments led me to the respected work of Wroe Alderson. His 'Marketing Behavior and Executive Action' (1957) gave me a broad theoretical approach, argued in a richly detailed and insightful manner. Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell's major textbook about 'Consumer Behavior' broke onto the scene in 1968. This was an excellent compendium. Among other volumes about marketing that are important in my development, I would list 'The Theory of Buyer Behavior' by John A. Howard and Jagish N. Sheth (1969) and 'Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control' by Philip Kotler (1967). There are certainly many other tomes that have influenced me; the mention of a few authors brings to mind the domains of ideas by Robert Barrels (1988), who is one of our great historians of marketing thought; I had to look to see if he mentioned me. There was Jerome McCarthy (1960) and the four Ps, essential to a beginning marketing professor. Sleuart Henderson Britt (1970) was an inspiration with his books on psychological aspects of consumer behavior. Shelby Hunt's (1991) work on the philosophy of marketing science always set my own ruminative juices flowing.
Levy, Sidney. 1998. Marketing at the Millennium.
Corporate Report.
Levy, Sidney. 1996. Stalking the Amphisbaena.
Journal of Consumer Research. 23(3): 163-176.
McGrath, Mary Ann and
Sidney Levy. 1993. Giving Voice to the Gift.
Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2(2): 171-191.
The field of consumer-object relations has recently emerged as a significant area of inquiry. Renewed attention has been devoted to understanding the meanings of gift giving as a result of this emergence. In this study, we employ projective techniques to uncover meanings that are less accessible by more direct measures. We analyze these meanings, and demonstrate the utility of projective techniques as a complement to other methods of investigation. The metamorphosis and growth of ethnography as an accepted method of consumer inquiry has brought both excitement and skepticism to the discipline. Participant observation, which views researcher-as-instrument and eschews detached lurking in research settings, encourages diversity in data collection and analysis techniques. In-depth interviews with key informants are often combined with observations to access the etic perspective of consumers. The etic perspective is the native viewpoint of the informant; its counterpart, the analyst's interpretation, is the etic perspective. Several articles have demonstrated the kinds of results that these techniques offer (Belk, Wallendoff, & Sherry, 1989; Sherry, 1990; Sherry & McGrath, 1989). we seek to demonstrate that the careful Use of projective techniques, applied in conjunction with ethnographic methods, can illuminate aspects of consumer experience that are difficult to study.
Levy, Sidney. 1993. Book Review: Ethics in Marketing.
Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. 12(1): 137-139.
Reviews the book "Ethics in Marketing," by N. Craig Smith and John A. Quelch.
McGrath, Mary Ann and
Sidney Levy. 1992. The Disposition of the Gift and many Happy Returns.
Journal of Retailing. 68(1): 40-64.
The symbolic exchange value of the gift is amenable to investigation via ethnographic methods and projective techniques. In this paper, the topic of gift disposition, which arose from a comparative ethnographic study of two midwestern American gift stores, is refined and elaborated through projective analysis. Attitudes and behaviors related to the disposition of the gift are difficult to elicit directly through observation or structured interview. Through the use of a modified thematic apperception test and other projective techniques a more balanced and comprehensive account of the gift disposition and gift return emerges.
Levy, Sidney. 1992. Constructing Consumer Behavior: A Grand Template.
Advances in Consumer Research. 19(1): 1-6.
Presents an address given by the president of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Sidney J. Levy of Northwestern University, at the association's 19th annual convention. Interests in early study of consumer behavior; Depth of psychological theories; Study of social stratification; Grand template's impact on society and its structure; Characteristics of the grand template; Basic gender roles and roots in consumer behavior
Levy, Sidney. 1991. Autodriving: A Photoelicitation Technique.
Journal of Consumer Research. 18(3): 257-272.
This article presents a literature review that explains the antecedents and values of visual research. Then it illustrates the use of photographs and audio recordings of informants to enrich interviews. The term "autodriving" indicates that the interview is "driven" by informants who are seeing and hearing their own behavior. Autodriving addresses the obtrusiveness and reactivity inherent in consumer-behavior research by explicitly encouraging consumers to comment on their consumption behavior as the photographs and recordings represent it. Thus, the research aims for a negotiated interpretation of consumption events. The results suggest that photographs offer exciting challenges to informants by encouraging their need to explain themselves.
Levy, Sidney. 1991. An Appreciation of the 1991 ACR Conference.
ACR Newsletter.
Levy, Sidney. 1991. Consorting with Consumer Behavior.
ACR Newsletter.: 2-5.
Dholakia, Ruby Roy and
Sidney Levy. 1987. Effect of Recent Economic Experiences on Consumer Dreams, Goals, and Behavior in the United States.
Journal of Economic Psychology. 8(4): 429-444.
The paper examines the effect of subjective economic experience on consumer behavior in the U.S. The empirical effort uses survey data from a national mail sample. Consumer behavior is seen to reflect two kinds of orientations - a strategic and a tactical one - and the analysis supports the effect of changing economic environment only on tactical orientations, as hypothesized.
Levy, Sidney. 1985. Dreams, Fairy Tales, Animals, and Cars.
Psychology and Marketing. 2(2): 67-81.
With growing interest in qualitative research beyond its popular use in focus groups, a greater appreciation of the potential of projective techniques is recommended. Examples are given to illustrate the variety of methods available, and how they may be practically applied in research projects to elicit rich information about perception of products and brands, and about characteristics of respondents.
Levy, Sidney. 1985. Review of "Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society" by Michael Schudson.
American Journal of Sociology. 91(1): 159-161.
Levy, Sidney. 1983. How Comparative is Comparative Advertising.
Advances in Consumer Research. 10(1): 381-382.
The article comments on papers about comparative advertising. It states that the paper by Eric Wendler looks at the effects evaluative product information and its comprehension has on consumer confidence. It mentions that the study showed changes in comprehension and confidence for the two test products dependent on if subjects were given or denied product information. It states that the paper by Gorn and Weinberg examines the value of comparative advertising for new products challenging brand leaders. It mentions that the results indicated that when a new product is compared with a leading brand, it benefits from a more favorable attitude and less distance from the leading brand than when there isn't a direct comparison. It comments on aspects of the paper by Ash and Wee.
Levy, Sidney. 1983. Psychosocial Themes in Consumer Grooming Rituals.
Advances in Consumer Research. 10(1): 329-333.
Ritual behavior is discussed as a mode of conceptualizing and analyzing consumer behavior. With specific focus on personal grooming rituals, thematic stories were collected from a cross section of young adults, using a projective, TAT-type Instrument. Their content Is Interpreted using Eriksonian theories of psychosocial development and ritualization of behavior, to illustrate variations in grooming product symbolisms at different social class levels.
Levy, Sidney. 1983. Interdisciplinary Marketing Study.
Advances in Consumer Research. 10(1): 9-10.
Levy, Sidney. 1981. Personal Narratives: A Key to Interpreting Consumer Behavior.
Western Folklore. 40(1): 94-106.
Levy, Sidney. 1981. Symbols, Selves, and Others.
Advances in Consumer Research. 9(1): 542-543.
The three papers are diverse views on the symbolic character of products. The two studies reported are convincing demonstrations that cars, houses, and flowers have meanings that both cut across market segments and differ among them. Hirschman's paper highlights the difference between the diffusion of innovations that are physically or technologically novel and those that are innovations by virtue of change in social meaning alone. Further study can work toward clarification of concepts, exploring interaction of symbols, richness and layering of symbolic meaning, and the complex process whereby people interpret symbols to themselves, to others, and about others.
Levy, Sidney and
Philip Kotler. 1979. A Rejoinder: Toward a Broader Concept of Marketing's Role in Social Order.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 7(3): 233-237.
Levy, Sidney. 1979. The Fine Art of Marketing.
ACUCAA Bulletin.
Levy, Sidney. 1978. Hunger and Work in a Civilized Tribe, or the Anthropology of Market Transactions.
American Behavioral Scientist.: 557-570.
Reprinted in:
Perspectives in Consumer Behavior, edited by Harold H. Kassarjian and Thomas S. Robertson, Scott-Foresman, 1981.
Levy, Sidney. 1977. Consumer Behavior in the United States.
Nikkei Research Journal.
Levy, Sidney. 1975. The Human Side of Interviewing.
Marketing Research.
Levy, Sidney. 1973. Consumer Views of Bank Services.
Journal of Bank Research.
Kotler, Philip and
Sidney Levy. 1973. Buying is Marketing Too.
Journal of Marketing. 37(1): 54-59.
Marketing is widely viewed as a subject serving the interest of sellers. Buyers are typically studied from the perspective of helping sellers achieve their objectives. Earlier students of marketing studied both parties to the market transaction and how each pursued their marketing advantage. The buyer has a broad range of marketing strategies available to increase the chances of consummating the desired transaction. This article attempts to restore interest among marketing practitioners and scholars in the objectives and strategies of the buyer.
Kotler, Philip and
Sidney Levy. 1971. Demarketing, Yes, Demarketing.
Harvard Business Review. 49(6): 74-80.
The way marketers try to cope with excess demand or unwanted demand may affect the company's long-run objectives just as much as do marketing policies for normal times. What kinds of situations lead companies to cut back on their marketing efforts? How do methods of de-emphasis differ depending on the type of problem? This instructive and sometimes amusing analysis answers these and other questions that have never before been raised in HBR. It also suggests new directions for the study of marketing.
Kotler, Philip and
Sidney Levy. 1970. Beyond Marketing: The Furthering Concept.
California Management Review. 12(2): 67-73.
The article mentions the broadening scope of marketing and the challenges in marketing management. Six factors contributing to renewed interest in the marketing process and putting new demands on managers include the need for cultural sensitivity in international marketing, selling of intangibles such as insurance, incidence of social protest, and rapid innovation and competition. The development of marketing is represented in a framework of concepts: bartering or the face-to-face exchange of goods; selling where the exchange includes money; marketing that promotes economic transactions; and "furthering" where marketing extends into intangible areas that are relevant to nonbusiness organizations. Marketing responsibilities, public affairs, and public relations are mentioned.
Kotler, Philip and
Sidney Levy. 1969. Broadening the Concept of Marketing.
Journal of Marketing. 33(1): 10-15.
Reprinted in:
Perspectives in Marketing Management: Readings, edited by Frederick D. Sturdivant, Scott-Foresman, 1971.
Marketing and the Social Environment: A Readings Text, edited by Leonard L. Berry and James S. Hensel, Petrocelli Books, 1973.
Marketing in Private and Public Nonprofit Organizations: Perspectives and Illustrations, edited by Ralph M. Gaedeke, Goodyear, 1977.
Readings in Public and Nonprofit Marketing, edited by Christopher H. Lovelock and Charles B. Weinberg, Scientific Press, 1978.
Marketing is a pervasive societal activity that goes considerably beyond the selling of toothpaste, soap, and steel. The authors interpret the meaning of marketing for nonbusiness organizations and the nature of marketing functions such as product improvement, pricing, distribution, and communication in such organizations. The question considered is whether traditional marketing principles are transferable to the marketing of organizations, persons, and ideas.
Levy, Sidney. 1966. What Kind of Corporate Objectives.
Journal of Marketing. 30(4): 53-58.
The article presents information about different kinds of corporate objectives, focusing on overriding or "broader" corporate objectives as opposed to sub-objectives used to accomplish a larger objective. Conflicting or mismanaged corporate objectives can lead to the suboptimization of company resources and the author advocates the presence of a governing objective to increase the efficiency of corporate problem-solving. Categories of objectives discussed include the utilization of resources, production concerns, and personnel management.
Levy, Sidney. 1963. The Public Image of Government Agencies.
Public Administration Review. 23(1): 25-29.
The author of this article believes that government agencies cannot do much to improve public recognition of their accomplishments. According to his interpretation of the findings reported in this piece, Americans prefer to believe their government is bureaucratic, lazy, and authoritarian. They want to be able to criticize this authority.
Levy, Sidney. 1963. Cigarette Smoking and the Public Interest Opportunity for Business Leadership.
Business Horizons. 6(3): 37-44.
Levy, Sidney. 1963. New Dimension in Consumer Analysis.
Harvard Business Review. 41(6): 129-140.
The article mentions consumer analysis and decision making in marketing that is based on the evaluation of consumption systems. Consumption systems provide information about consumers' purchasing behavior and product use, as well as insight into the marketability of related products and the interrelated subsystems in the total consumption system. Topics include the examples of a home laundry system which analyzes the steps used in laundering clothes from a consumption system perspective, an analysis of the total gardening consumption system, advertising strategy, selling, and pricing policy.
Levy, Sidney. 1960. This Way to Self-Improvement.
Personnel Journal. 38(10): 373-376.
Levy, Sidney. 1960. Symbols of Substance, Source, and Sorcery.
Art Direction.
Levy, Sidney. 1960. Humanized Appeals in Fund Raising.
Public Relations Journal. 16: 17-18.
Levy, Sidney. 1959. Symbols for Sale.
Harvard Business Review. 37(4): 117-124.
Reprinted in:
Perspectives in Consumer Behavior, edited by Kassarjian and Robertson, Scott-Foresman, 1981.
Handbook of Consumer Behavior , edited by Margaret Hogg, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
This article presents a discussion around the concept that sellers of goods are engaged in selling symbols as well as practical merchandise. The article discusses the need for marketing managers at business enterprises to consider the symbolic significance of their products, the diversity of spending, the personal and social meanings behind the things that people buy, and the recognition of modern goods as essentially psychological things which are symbolic of personal attributes and psychological goals.
Levy, Sidney. 1958. Direct Mail Is a ScapeGoat.
Art Direction.
Levy, Sidney. 1957. The meaning of a Brand Image.
Art Direction.
Levy, Sidney. 1957. Creativity and Brand Imagery.
Art Direction.
Levy, Sidney and Burleigh Gardner. 1955. The Product and the Brand.
Harvard Business Review. 33(2): 33-39.
Reprinted in:
The Role of Advertising, edited by Sandage and Fryburger, Irwin, 1969.
Marketing Management and Administrative Action, edited by Britt and Boyd, McGraw-Hill, 1963.
Modern Marketing Strategy, edited by Busch Chapman, Harvard Business Review, 1964.
Perspectives in Marketing Management, edited by Sturdivant, Scott-Foresman, 1971.
This article presents an examination of the effectiveness of qualitative research into consumer motives for improving corporate advertising and selling strategies. The article discusses the methods used for advertising various products and brands, implications for marketing and advertising, and the need for the analysis of consumer attitudes, behavior, and motives. Also presented are the contrasting profiles of competing brands including taxi drivers, salesman, grocery clerks, carpenters, and electricians.
Levy, Sidney. 1951. Artful Contrivers: A Study of Engineers.
Personnel. 28: 148-153.
Levy, Sidney. 1949. Non-Directive Techniques in the Study of Developmental Tasks of Adolescence.
School Review. 57(5-6): 300-309.
Levy, Sidney. 1948. Analysis of a non-directive Case with Follow-up Interview.
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 43(1): 78-89.
15 nondirective counseling interviews are presented in abridged form, with the verbatim follow-up interview one year later. The remarks show progress in acceptance of self, decrease of fantasy and inadequacy feelings, and increase of ability to cope with problems. Confirmation of the trend is obtained by graphing the Dollard and Mowrer Discomfort-Relief Quotients for each interview, showing temporary setbacks but gradual relief toward the end.
Levy, Sidney. 1947. A Comparative Study of the Academic Ability and Achievement of Two Groups of College Students.
Journal of Educational Psychology. 38(5): 307-310.
A group of 71 students, who had applied at the Counseling Center of the University of Chicago for help with personal problems, was equated on the basis of sex, date of college entrance, and level of grades on entrance with a group of 71 other students who were judged to be better adjusted since they had not applied for assistance at the Center. Scores on College Reading and College Writing Ability tests and A.C.E. scores showed no significant differences between the groups. On the College Comprehension Examination, however, the scores gave evidence of significantly poorer academic achievement on the part of the less well-adjusted group.
