This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Krepapa, A. Articles by Berthon, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Making Meaning

Interpretive Diversity and Market Learning - A Model and Propositions

School of Management, University of Bath, England

Pierre Berthon

Department of Marketing, Bentley College, USA, PBerthon{at}bentley.edu

A major task for organizations is to make interpretations. Despite, however, the growing concern of the business and academic community over organizational weaknesses in interpreting and acting upon the contemporary market information tsunami, the process of interpretation has not yet been explicitly addressed in the marketing literature. To this end, this article identifies interpretation of information as the central phenomenon of the market learning process and explicates its nature. The authors address the issue of collective interpretation by introducing the concept of interpretive diversity and modelling four interpretive modes. These modes are then linked through formal propositions to the key market learning processes of information acquisition and marketing action. The implications for marketing thought and practice are discussed.

Key Words: information acquisition • interpretive diversity • marketing action • organizational learning

Marketing Theory, Vol. 3, No. 2, 187-208 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/14705931030032001


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?