Tracing global contribution of Jagdish N. Sheth to customer engagement and brand value enhancement

Abstract

Over the past five decades, Jagdish N. Sheth (JNS) has been at the forefront and the major turning points of the dynamic and evolving marketing discipline. As an active scholar and corporate adviser, JNS has made pioneering contributions to both theory and practice-relevant knowledge in marketing and business management. At the very start of his academic career, he catapulted himself into the frontlines of marketing discipline with his impactful publication: “A Review of Buyer Behavior” in Management Science in 1967 (Sheth 1967). In 1969 he followed it with the classic book on The Theory of Buyer Behavior with John Howard (Howard and Sheth 1969). Through the many subsequent seminal publications and his role in the founding of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), JNS became instrumental in bringing consumer behavior to the center of research and academic activities in the marketing discipline. Over the years, JNS has done pioneering work on research methods, multivariate statistics, buyer behavior, marketing theory, competitive behavior, strategic marketing, innovation, relationship marketing, customer centricity, value creation, mindful consumption, sustainable marketing, globalization, emerging markets, consumption cultures, marketing productivity, and the impact of technology on marketing practice, among others. That is, there is hardly an area of marketing thinking or practice where JNS has not made leading thoughtful contributions. Further, he has always been at the cusp of change, providing scholarly thought-shaping ideas and actively engaged scholarship. Befittingly, this special issue of JGSMS is a tribute honoring the outstanding contributions of JNS in advancing marketing knowledge and discipline over many decades. This special issue is dedicated to JNS’s remarkable contributions to the profession that continue to inform and inspire generations of marketing and business scholars worldwide. His impact has been global and beyond scholarly activities. We believe that a significant number of established and budding scholars have benefitted tremendously from personal mentoring, and impressive philanthropic contributions provided by JNS to advance the cause of the discipline. We would like to thank all the contributors of articles published in this special issue – Andrew Baker, Ruth Bolton, Daniel Corsten, Naveen Donthu, Thomas Gruen, Anders Gustafsson, Juergen Brock, Umut Kubat, V. Kumar, Suvi Nenonen, Nusser Raajpoot, Thomas Ritter, Arun Sharma, Kaj Storbacka, Vanitha Swaminathan, Crina Tarasi, Gerald Tellis, Seshadri Tirunillai, Mani Vannan, and Lars Wittel – for their enthusiasm, effort, and time taken to develop their scholarly contributions for this special issue. Although JNS contributions span many areas of marketing, the focus of this special issue is on the contemporary topics of customer engagement, experiences, relationships, and the organizational processes, capabilities, and technologies to enhance the brand value. These topics have gained prominence in the current era of rapid changes and disruptions in JOURNAL OF GLOBAL SCHOLARS OF MARKETING SCIENCE 2021, VOL. 31, NO. 3, 255–259 https://doi.org/10.1080/21639159.2021.1924956