Marketing comes to its senses: a bibliometric review and integrated framework of sensory experience in marketing

Abstract

Purpose: Sensory experience profoundly impacts consumer cognition and behavior. This paper aims to illuminate the structure and development of sensory and experiential marketing research, to condense knowledge and to stimulate future research. Design/methodology/approach: In all, 156 articles with 9,670 references serve as this paper’s database. The factor analysis on co-citation patterns of the top-cited 148 articles reveals the main research streams. The social network analysis unveils the degree of intellectual exchange between and within these schools of thought. The authors also map the temporal emergence of research streams and condense insights into an overarching framework that guides future research. Findings: Early research in experiential marketing and store atmospherics emphasized the importance of affective reactions. Grounded and embodied cognition revised the understanding of the role perception plays in cognition. These developments culminated in the now most central research stream of sensory marketing, which bridges other research streams. Research limitations/implications: Although the research field is strongly interconnected, integration with other marketing disciplines potentially enriches the discourse. Practical implications: This paper is useful for any reader who wants to gain a synthesized overview of the research field of sensory marketing. The framework presented in this paper can serve as a starting point for new sensory marketing research. Originality/value: This paper offers a structured and unbiased account of sensory marketing and merges findings from diverse research backgrounds.