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Does Marketing Activity Contribute to a Society’s Well-Being? The Role of Economic Efficiency

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Abstract

Does the level of marketing activity in a country contribute to societal well-being or quality of life? Does economic efficiency also play a positive role in societal well-being? Does economic efficiency also moderate or mediate the marketing activity effect on societal well-being? Marketing activity refers to the pervasiveness of promotion expenditures and number of retail outlets per capita in a country. Economic efficiency refers to the extent to which the economy is unhampered by corruption, burdensome government regulation, and a large informal economy. We used secondary data from the World Bank and other statistical sources to answer these questions. Our study findings suggest that both marketing activity and economic efficiency contribute positively to societal well-being, and that economic efficiency plays more of a mediator than moderator role between marketing activity and societal well-being. The public policy implication of this study is that increases in marketing activity and economic efficiency in countries characterized as low on both dimensions should significantly increase the quality of life in those countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), 2025 Pamplin Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0236, USA

    M. Joseph Sirgy

  2. Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Grace B. Yu

  3. Department of Marketing, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Dong-Jin Lee

  4. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA

    Shuqin Wei

  5. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Ming-Wei Huang

Authors
  1. M. Joseph Sirgy
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  2. Grace B. Yu
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  3. Dong-Jin Lee
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  4. Shuqin Wei
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  5. Ming-Wei Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Joseph Sirgy.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 6.

Table 6 Construct and measures
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Sirgy, M.J., Yu, G.B., Lee, DJ. et al. Does Marketing Activity Contribute to a Society’s Well-Being? The Role of Economic Efficiency. J Bus Ethics 107, 91–102 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1030-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1030-7

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