practitioner theories at the advertising agency

243 Pages·2006·0.62 MB·English

PRACTITIONER THEORIES AT THE ADVERTISING AGENCY:
EVIDENCE ON THE ACADEMICIAN-PRACTITIONER GAP AND THE PROFESSIONAL
STATUS OF ADVERTISING
by
GERGELY NYILASY
(Under the direction of Leonard N. Reid and Karen W. King)
ABSTRACT
This dissertation investigates advertising agency practitioners’ theories of advertising.
The study asks three fundamental questions about practitioner knowledge in advertising: (1)
what ad practitioners think about how advertising works, (2) what meta-theoretical
presuppositions they have about the nature of this knowledge, and (3) how this knowledge is
negotiated with advertiser clients. Qualitative in-depth interviews with senior level advertising
executives (creative, planning and account directors) in the Atlanta market constitute the
empirical data. Findings include the description of practitioners’ Truncated Hierarchy model,
ontological and epistemological meta-theories as well as pseudo-professionalization tactics. The
study uses the sociological theory of professions as a theoretical framing and provides
implications for the narrowing of the academician-practitioner gap in advertising.

INDEX WORDS: Advertising agencies, Advertising theory, Grounded theory, Marketing
theory, Meta-theory, Philosophy of science, Practitioner theories,
Sociology of occupations, Sociology of professions
PRACTITIONER THEORIES AT THE ADVERTISING AGENCY:
EVIDENCE ON THE ACADEMICIAN-PRACTITIONER GAP AND THE PROFESSIONAL
STATUS OF ADVERTISING

by

GERGELY NYILASY
B.A., Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary, 2000
M.MC., The University of Georgia, 2001

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2006
© 2006
Gergely Nyilasy
All Rights Reserved
PRACTITIONER THEORIES AT THE ADVERTISING AGENCY:
EVIDENCE ON THE ACADEMICIAN-PRACTITIONER GAP AND THE PROFESSIONAL
STATUS OF ADVERTISING

by

GERGELY NYILASY

Major Professor: Leonard N. Reid
Karen W. King

Committee: William Finlay
Dean M. Krugman

Electronic Version Approved:

Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
December 2006
iv

DEDICATION
To my family:
Peter, Ilona, and Zsofi.
v

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

Many people deserve my deepest thanks and appreciation for assisting the completion of
this project. First of all, I would like to thank my chair, Dr. Leonard N. Reid for his relentless
support and help, even in the darkest hours, when hurdles seemed impossible to overcome.
Thank you for your wisdom, suggestions, leadership and motivation, without which this study
would have never been completed. I am grateful that I found a true mentor and friend in you.
I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. William Finlay, Dr. Karen W.
King, and Dr. Dean M. Krugman for their great suggestions and overall support for this project.
Your ideas and direction helped me find much needed focus and avoid mistakes. I would like to
express my special gratitude to Dr. Elli Lester Roushanzamir, who has been my intellectual
advisor and friend not only during the dissertation project but throughout all my graduate years
at Grady. I would also like to thank Dr. Peggy Kreshel for her priceless advice about anything
qualitative.
I would like to thank all my respondents, members of the Atlanta advertising agency
community. Thank you for your generosity in offering your time and ideas. I also thank you for
your passion for and devotion to the advertising trade. Without your openness and welcoming
spirit, quite literally, this dissertation would not exist today. Thank you Professor Ron Lane and
Mr. Richard Riley for helping me find my way around agency offices in the city.
vi
Finally, my friends and fellow Grady doctoral students deserve my thanks and
appreciation for giving much needed intellectual and social support: Michelle, Freddy, Laszlo,
Angela, Peter, David, Andras and Barbara, thank you for all your help.
vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................................x
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
The academic-practitioner gap................................................................................2
Purpose and significance.......................................................................................15
Research questions and delimitations...................................................................16
2. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................19
Direct literature.....................................................................................................20
“Practitioner polls”................................................................................................24
Naturalistic inquiries into advertising practice.....................................................26
The theory of professions – a general theory........................................................32
The theory of professions – in the context of advertising.....................................40
How advertising works – what do we know in academia?...................................48
Summary...............................................................................................................60
3. METHODOLOGY............................................................................................................61
Basic assumptions.................................................................................................61
A grounded theory design – and the role of professionalization theory...............63
Data collection......................................................................................................65
viii
Data analysis and the emerging nature of the data...............................................72
4. FINDINGS: CONTENT OF PRACTITIONER THEORIES............................................75
Layers of understanding........................................................................................75
Advertising effects................................................................................................77
Basic and mid-level practitioner theories.............................................................84
Moderator-focused theories..................................................................................92
Domain-specificity..............................................................................................109
Summary and discussion.....................................................................................124
5. FINDINGS: PRACTITIONER META-THEORIES.......................................................131
The only rule: there are no rules.........................................................................132
Ontological skepticism........................................................................................138
Epistemological skepticism................................................................................146
Summary and discussion.....................................................................................161
6. FINDINGS: PRACTITIONER THEORIES AND ADVERTISER CLIENTS: PSEUDO-
PROFESSIONALIZATION TACTICS..........................................................................168
Need for certainty...............................................................................................169
Commercial market research as a professionalization agent..............................175
Pseudo-professionalization tactics......................................................................180
Summary and discussion.....................................................................................197
7. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................201
Summary of findings...........................................................................................201
Implications of the research................................................................................205
Research limitations and suggestions for future study.......................................208
ix
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................211
APPENDICES.............................................................................................................................229
A INTERVIEW GUIDE......................................................................................................229
B CONSENT FORM...........................................................................................................231
C EXHIBIT OF PRACTITIONER’S AESTHETIC THINKING (FROM
PRICKEN 2002)..............................................................................................................232