Providing Societal Value: A Holistic Perspective

In recent years, the capacity and readiness of academics to provide societal benefit has come under more scrutiny. In this chapter, we regard the concept of societal value as an open, all-encompassing term that transcends quantifiable and tangible outcomes like the quantity of encounters with practitioners, the quantity of committee memberships, etc. We suggest that societal value also includes societal implications that do not involve tangible effects, such as the cultural value of a better understanding of social phenomena and the big challenges that confront most societies. Taking a holistic perspective, we also believe that social value should not be limited to specific societal arenas but rather that it may be highly relevant for almost all types of domains. We discuss the complex and nuanced nature of societal value through two case examples that pertain to marketing research in the public and private domains, respectively. We also propose that marketing research and societal value should be regarded as a two-way and interactive process between academics and societal domains.