DISCOVERY-ORIENTED CONSUMER RESEARCH

The Journal of Consumer Research and the Association for Consumer Research initiated a new discipline, intended to embrace divergent topics, methods, concepts, data, motives, partners, and ideas. Over the years, that vision has faded. Now the discipline faces inward, toward a narrower range of issues, and away from the real world. Five guidelines seek to redirect the discipline toward its original goals. These guidelines advocate wider horizons, a larger audience, a different talent mix, more emphasis on discovery, more attention to consumers, and more single-minded dedication to meaningful results.