From Grassroots to Government: Empowering Social Change to Address Wicked Problems
Marketing and Public Policy scholarship seeks to address issues at the intersection of consumers, organizations, and policymakers. As a field, our focus often resides at the level of national legislation and major-headline decisions. However, social change and impactful policymaking often begins at the local, community level. Further, bottom-up, grassroots movements fueled by consumers as well as corporate interests play a major role in shifting public sentiments, community social endeavors, and legislative action. While federal, top-down approaches may result in broad, sweeping action, consumer groups and communities can create significant, lasting change through local policymaking efforts. For our 2024 conference, we encourage work that addresses the relationships between marketing and public policy activities at the micro, meso and macro perspectives. We invite scholars to consider diverse stakeholder groups at all levels, who generate or influence social change at the intersection of marketing and policy.
As with all eras, our present society is facing major crises and challenges that not only affect every corner of the globe, but also seem impossible to solve. These complex issues, or wicked problems (Rittel and Webber 1973), are persistent challenges because there are typically no straightforward solutions, with unequally distributed costs and benefits. Therefore, addressing these issues demands consideration from multiple, sometimes opposing perspectives and stakeholder groups. As academics and policymakers, it is our responsibility to explore these difficult issues through holistic assessments and creative approaches to problem solving. Further, we must consider the intersectionality of these concerns, including diverse contributors and those implicitly and explicitly affected by them.
By adopting a broad view to include all approaches to developing and impacting policy, we hope to bring fresh ideas to pursue boundary-spanning, marketing-relevant work, resulting in sustainable responses to pervasive wicked problems (MacInnis et. al 2020). Drawing on the words from constitutional law scholar, Paul Freund, we urge our colleagues to submit work that advances thought not merely suited for the “weather of the day,” but also for the “climate of the era.”
Conference Topics
- Housing and urban development
- Community and social services
- Poverty, consumption adequacy, and self-reliance
- Gun violence, control and rights
- Mental health crises
- Sustainable energy, practices, and products
- Collaboration and tension in policy development at varying levels of government
- Policy connected with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals
- Polarization and radicalization of ideologies
- Civil rights, gender and race in the marketplace
- Substance abuse, opioids, vaping
- Healthcare, consumer rights and access to health services
- Neurodiverse consumers and the marketplace
- The risks and costs of using artificial intelligence
- Online and data privacy
Call For Papers Now Open
All submissions should be made electronically via the AMA’s online submission management system (Ex Ordo). If you have submitted to an AMA academic conference in the last year, you should be able to use the same username and password.
The deadline for submission is November 1, 2023.
Conference Co-Chairs
Courtney Azzari
University of North Florida
Sterling Bone
Utah State University
Meredith Thomas
Florida State University
Eaton DC
1201 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 289-7600
Room Rate:
We’ve secured an AMA room block at a special rate of $279.00 single/double occupancy per night (excluding taxes and applicable fees which are currently 15.95%. Taxes and fees are subject to change).
To make reservations, Reserve online or call the Hotel at (844) 863-6144 and reference AMA 2024 Marketing and Public Policy.
Please reserve your overnight accommodations early as there are a limited number of AMA special rates available. The discount rate cut-off date is May 9, 2024.
Please know that any hotel room booked outside the AMA negotiated block may not be eligible for the discounted rate. Those reservations may also have a different cancellation policy and will not be eligible for reimbursement in the case of event cancellation.
Please view the Eaton Cultural Calendar and the Covid-19 Community Updates for more information.
Area Attractions, Events and Tourism
Please explore Destination DC for destination information:
ADA
The AMA is committed to providing equal access to our meetings for all attendees. If you are an attendee with a disability and require program accommodations, please contact the AMA Support Center at (800) AMA-1150. A member of our staff will ensure that appropriate access arrangements are made. If you have specific disability-related needs for your hotel sleeping room, please be sure to communicate those directly to the hotel when you make your reservation. In an effort to provide the highest quality of service to all attendees, we require that details of all access requests be communicated to our office at least 14 days in advance of the beginning of the meeting.