Papers by Jessica Chelekis
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
This case focuses on the entrepreneurial use of multi-stakeholder value co-creation to emerge str... more This case focuses on the entrepreneurial use of multi-stakeholder value co-creation to emerge stronger from challenging trading conditions. In particular, it examines Pennine Pubs, a small-/medium-sized enterprise (SME) operating several rural public houses, which are licensed to sell food and alcoholic drinks to guests. Based in Northern England, it has adapted commercial strategies to mitigate government-enforced Covid-19 lockdowns. Pennine Pubs’ Managing Director is currently considering how to build upon the multi-stakeholder value co-creation strategy which emerged quickly immediately before and during the first lockdown period, when customers were prohibited from visiting pubs. He expects the outcome to be a more refined and sustainable commercial strategy which retains the most significant benefits of his lockdown-period innovations. The case considers how co-creation is applied as a reaction to unforeseen business challenges, and how it can underpin proactive strategies to c...
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2022
Abstract The current socio-economic climate is marked by an increased focus on corporate responsi... more Abstract The current socio-economic climate is marked by an increased focus on corporate responsibility and the role of business in society. In this climate, megamarketing – efforts to develop and sustain an industry or market by gaining the cooperation and support of various stakeholders and publics – is an increasingly relevant approach. Current research in megamarketing focuses on understanding how various industry actors and stakeholders establish the legitimacy of a given industry by accommodating prevailing regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive structures. In contrast, this paper examines megamarketing efforts that go beyond such attempts to establish legitimacy towards establishing an industry as a virtuous entity displaying qualities that surpass minimal accepted standards and ‘business-as-usual.’ Inspired by work on virtue ethics in organisational studies, we develop the concept of industry aura: a ‘halo’ of unique and authentic virtues that characterise an industry. We explore the development of industry aura by surveying the discursive megamarketing tactics through which microfinance has been established as a virtuous industry. We conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of 589 articles about microfinance appearing in five selected newspapers between 1986 and 2016. Our findings reveal three sets of megamarketing discursive tactics: 1) diagnostic framing and social mission framing, deployed to establish microfinance as a virtuous entity; 2) virtue anchoring and frame bridging, used to defend the industry’s aura in times of authenticity crisis; and 3) diagnostic and social-mission reframing aimed at recovering the tarnished aura of microfinance. Our paper enriches megamarketing research by charting relevant terrain that stretches beyond the established vectors of legitimacy theorizing and offers important implications for megamarketing practitioners.
Journal of Business Research, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for the British pub industry, due to the unc... more The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for the British pub industry, due to the uncertain conditions caused by the virus, changes in consumption patterns and government measures. Studies recommend that organisations adopt innovative and flexible business models to generate added value for customers and other stakeholders as a survival and growth strategy. However, such measures require business ecosystems which encourage co-creative engagement. This qualitative study extends the concept of value co-creation beyond its current boundary as a customer-driven experiential paradigm, reconceptualising it as a driver for societal benefits. Over the period March – December 2020, we carried out in-depth interviews with pub and brewery owners, managers, and customers, combined with netnographic and offline observations of pubs’ engagement with customers. We uncovered three stages of strategies and innovation during this period, which we term ‘survive’, ‘secure’, and ‘sustain’. We demonstrate how multiple stakeholders benefit from the innovations of pubs and breweries negotiating each stage, advancing current scholarship on sustainable value co-creation.
In this paper we discuss the causes of non-adherence to reversible contraceptives, especially hor... more In this paper we discuss the causes of non-adherence to reversible contraceptives, especially hormonal methods, among women in rural Santarem in the Brazilian Amazon. The analysis is based on questionnaires with 398 women and visits to health centers. We consider the motives reported by women who: never used contraception; used some method in the past; and who at the time of the survey were using a different method from the ones they used in the past. The results indicate a rejection of hormonal contraception and a preference for female sterilization, an option possibly influenced by the characteristics of health services in the region. The side effects of hormonal contraceptive use reported by part of the interviewees contribute to a generalized fear of the side effects even among women who have never used such methods. To improve women’s health services in the Amazon, we recommend further studies of the relationship between reported side effects and available services and prescrip...
Journal of Business Research, 2018
Research in Consumer Behavior, 2016
Abstract Purpose This conceptual paper diagnoses the fundamental tensions between the social temp... more Abstract Purpose This conceptual paper diagnoses the fundamental tensions between the social temporality of sustainability and the individual temporality of marketing in the Dominant Social Paradigm. We propose the notion of ‘existentialized sustainability’ as a possible way forward. Methodology/approach We take the Heideggerian perspective that death may bring individual and societal time into a common framework. From here, we compare anthropological and consumer culture research on funerary rites in non-modern societies with contemporary societies of the DSP. Findings Funerary rites reveal important insights into how individuals relate to their respective societies. Individuals are viewed as important contributors to the maintenance and regeneration of the group in non-modern societies. In contrast, funerary rites for individuals in the DSP are private, increasingly informal, and unconnected to sustaining society at large. This analysis reveals clear parallels between the goals of sustainability and the values of non-modern funerary rites. Social implications We propose the metaphor of a funerary rite for sustainability to promote consciousness towards societal futures. The idea is to improve ‘quality of death’ through sustainability – in other words, the ‘existentialization of sustainability’. This opens up a possible strategy for marketers to actively contribute to a societal shift towards a New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). Originality/value The Heideggerian approach is a novel way to identify and reconcile the epistemic contradictions between sustainability and marketing. This diagnosis suggests a way in which marketing can address the wicked problem of global sustainability challenges, perhaps allowing a new spirituality in consumption.
Research in Consumer Behavior, 2015
Abstract Purpose We introduce critical regionalities and the archipelago metaphor as an analytic ... more Abstract Purpose We introduce critical regionalities and the archipelago metaphor as an analytic lens for interrogating and redrawing regional borders while preserving the benefits of a regional approach. Methodology/approach Using secondary data from Latin America, we interrogate the mode by which regions are adopted in marketing and consumer research, raising a discussion of the analytical scales and boundaries of regional cultures, considering regional interdependencies and their common sociohistorical backgrounds. Findings We use the critical regionalities approach to examine the rise of gated-communities in Latin America and demonstrate how a regional approach can reveal connections between meso-level sociohistorical processes and cultural values. Research implications The critical regionalities approach transforms assumptions of national or global scales into tools of inquiry: both the nation and the globe become possible scales to contrast with regional archipelagos and enhance researchers’ reflexivity of the how’s and why’s of consumer phenomena. Social implications The method prompts cultural researchers to adopt scales of analysis that more closely reflect the social phenomena being studied, which is especially useful for understanding emerging markets and marginalized areas. We also emphasize the importance of attending to consumer cultural phenomena and processes in non-Western contexts. Originality/value The paper offers a solution for the conundrum of how to write about regions without essentializing them. Marketers and policy makers can use the concept of cultural archipelagos to define new segments and understand new markets, without the need to conform to preestablished geographic or political borders.
Journal of Macromarketing, 2014
Situated at the intersection of markets and development, this commentary aims to promote a cross-... more Situated at the intersection of markets and development, this commentary aims to promote a cross-fertilization of macromarketing and Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) that directs attention to the sociocultural context and situational embeddedness of consumer experience and well-being, while acknowledging complex, systemic interdependencies between markets, marketing, and society. Based on a critical review of the meaning of development and an interrogation of various developmental discourses, the authors develop a conceptual framework that brings together issues of development, well-being, and social inequalities. We suggest that these issues are better understood and addressed when examined via grounded investigations of the role of markets in shaping the management of resources, consumer agency, power inequalities and ethics. The use of markets as units of analysis may lead to further cross-fertilizations of TCR and macromarketing and to more comprehensive theorizing and tra...
Economic Anthropology, 2017
The Amazon is widely regarded as a peripheral region, connected to international economies as a s... more The Amazon is widely regarded as a peripheral region, connected to international economies as a supplier of forest materials. However, little research investigates other ways Amazonian residents are connected to global markets, especially through the sale and consumption of massproduced goods. This article presents ethnographic research investigating the risks and value of working as a direct sales representative for global beauty brands in three Amazonian communities. While direct sales offers potentially significant income, in practice, most representatives earn meager profits or just break even; many lose money, and some fall into debt. I address the question of why women would pursue an activity with a high risk of financial loss from an institutional and feminist economic perspective. The findings reveal that the risk of CHELEKIS 2 debt, as well as the potential household contribution from direct sales, derives from the particular institutional environment that characterizes rural Amazonian communities. The appeal of direct sales lies in the opportunities it affords for social inclusion and enhancing household well-being. These opportunities include access to discounted consumer goods, social bonds through sales relationships, and participation in "global sociality" through direct sales catalogs and products.
Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture, 2011
Marketing Theory, 2015
ABSTRACT Marketing scholarship often employs geographical regions to demarcate and contextualize ... more ABSTRACT Marketing scholarship often employs geographical regions to demarcate and contextualize market and consumer research. Regions help researchers grasp phenomena that span over areas larger than a single locality. However, the potential for regions to create greater understanding in consumer research has been limited by researchers’ acceptance of geopolitical frontiers as the natural boundaries of cultural practices. We introduce critical regionalities and the archipelago metaphor as an analytic lens for interrogating and redrawing regional borders while preserving the benefits of a regional approach. Combining poststructuralist and critical historical perspectives, we argue for greater sensitivity to place and history in operationalizing regional consumer cultures. To illustrate this approach, we take Latin America as our point of departure and use examples from the central consumption areas of food and dwelling, for example, the consumption of rice and beans and the rise of gated communities. We contribute to recent theoretical developments in marketing and consumer culture theory with a flexible notion of regional consumer culture, paying critical attention to the relationship between analytical scales and researchers’ reflexivity. This approach also allows for more attention to non-Western contexts, ontologies, and epistemologies.
Journal of Macromarketing, 2014
Situated at the intersection of markets and development, this commentary aims to promote a cross-... more Situated at the intersection of markets and development, this commentary aims to promote a cross-fertilization of macromarketing and Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) that directs attention to the sociocultural context and situational embeddedness of consumer experience and well-being, while acknowledging complex, systemic interdependencies between markets, marketing, and society. Based on a critical review of the meaning of development and an interrogation of various developmental discourses, the authors develop a conceptual framework that brings together issues of development, well-being, and social inequalities. We suggest that these issues are better understood and addressed when examined via grounded investigations of the role of markets in shaping the management of resources, consumer agency, power inequalities and ethics. The use of markets as units of analysis may lead to further cross-fertilizations of TCR and macromarketing and to more comprehensive theorizing and transformational impact. Two empirical cases are provided to illustrate our framework.
Marketing Theory, 2015
ABSTRACT Marketing scholarship often employs geographical regions to demarcate and contextualize ... more ABSTRACT Marketing scholarship often employs geographical regions to demarcate and contextualize market and consumer research. Regions help researchers grasp phenomena that span over areas larger than a single locality. However, the potential for regions to create greater understanding in consumer research has been limited by researchers’ acceptance of geopolitical frontiers as the natural boundaries of cultural practices. We introduce critical regionalities and the archipelago metaphor as an analytic lens for interrogating and redrawing regional borders while preserving the benefits of a regional approach. Combining poststructuralist and critical historical perspectives, we argue for greater sensitivity to place and history in operationalizing regional consumer cultures. To illustrate this approach, we take Latin America as our point of departure and use examples from the central consumption areas of food and dwelling, for example, the consumption of rice and beans and the rise of gated communities. We contribute to recent theoretical developments in marketing and consumer culture theory with a flexible notion of regional consumer culture, paying critical attention to the relationship between analytical scales and researchers’ reflexivity. This approach also allows for more attention to non-Western contexts, ontologies, and epistemologies.
Journal of Marketing Management, 2014
In order to understand the connection between development, marketing and transformative consumer ... more In order to understand the connection between development, marketing and transformative consumer research (TCR), with its attendant interest in promoting human well-being, this article begins by charting the links between US 'exceptionalism', 'Manifest Destiny' and modernisation theory, demonstrating the confluence of US perspectives and experiences in articulations and understandings of the contributions of marketing practice and consumer research to society. Our narrative subsequently engages with the rise of social marketing (1960s-) and finally TCR (2006-). We move beyond calls for an appreciation of paradigm plurality to encourage TCR scholars to adopt a multiple paradigmatic approach as part of a three-pronged strategy that encompasses an initial 'provisional moral agnosticism'. As part of this stance, we argue that scholars should value the insights provided by multiple paradigms, turning each paradigmatic lens sequentially on to the issue of the relationship between marketing, development and consumer well-being. After having scrutinised these issues using multiple perspectives, scholars can then decide whether to pursue TCR-led activism. The final strategy that we identify is termed 'critical intolerance'.
Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 2009
In this paper we discuss the causes of non-adherence to reversible contraceptives, especially hor... more In this paper we discuss the causes of non-adherence to reversible contraceptives, especially hormonal methods, among women in rural Santarém in the Brazilian Amazon. The analysis is based on questionnaires with 398 women and visits to health centers. We consider the motives reported by women who: never used contraception; used some method in the past; and who at the time of the survey were using a different method from the ones they used in the past. The results indicate a rejection of hormonal contraception and a preference for female sterilization, an option possibly influenced by the characteristics of health services in the region. The side effects of hormonal contraceptive use reported by part of the interviewees contribute to a generalized fear of the side effects even among women who have never used such methods. To improve women's health services in the Amazon, we recommend further studies of the relationship between reported side effects and available services and prescriptions, as well as an analysis of women's discourse and perceptions.
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Papers by Jessica Chelekis