Methodological Nationalism: Pitfalls in Consumer Research and Their Remedies

The nation-state as fundamental research unit has had a hegemonic presence in the scientific world, resulting in a theoretic myopia that affects the quality of much extant consumer research. Three assumptions commonly found in consumer research distort the interpretation and conclusions of research findings, diminishing the credibility of the analyses and weakening the strength of the claims. The lack of problematization of the role of nation-states as containers of a national culture, often referred to as methodological nationalism, and the assumption that countries are the natural units of analysis when examining macro-cultural processes are among commonly repeated mistakes. The purpose of the present research is to examine the implications of methodological nationalism in both consumer culture and marketing research, and to suggest strategies that enable researchers to minimize the issues that follow such simplistic national conceptualization.

Citation:

Bernardo Figueiredo (2011) ,"Methodological Nationalism: Pitfalls in Consumer Research and Their Remedies", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 489.