Reaching for rigor and relevance: better marketing research for a better world

Over the past several decades, scholars have highlighted the obligations and opportunities for marketing as a discipline to play a role in creating a better world — or risk becoming irrelevant for the largest problems facing consumers and society. This paper provides a framework to enhance the relevance and rigor of research in marketing that not only contributes new knowledge to science, but also makes a positive difference in the world. To that end, we urge authors and reviewers to foster cross-fertilization from different theoretical and methodological silos, bolster robustness through multiple methods, and expand the domain of research to explore different populations and cultures. In doing so, we hope to encourage further consideration of the role of marketing scholarship in providing a novel lens into potential solutions for societal concerns.