Nonmarket strategy: Paths and prisms

Abstract

Objective: our study verifies the panorama of scientific publications on nonmarket strategy (NMS) in the management area. We analyze the theoretical perspectives, nonmarket actions, and empirical contexts of the publications. Method: the research includes 10 databases, which resulted in 19,685 papers. We used alignment, duplication, and qualification filters, leaving 144 studies from the best journals in the world, according to the Academic Journal Guide (ABS). Results: we observed the predominance of a single theoretical perspective per publication; there were few that applied more than one theory concomitantly. These publications explore different nonmarket actions, such as lobbying, political donations, advocacy, and philanthropy, with 58% considering the context of developed countries, 26% of emerging countries, and 16% depicting more than one country with different levels of development. Conclusions: we perceive inconsistencies between recurrent calls in the field and empirical studies carried out, highlighting the lack of interaction of market strategies and NMSs and exploration of the relationships between corporate political activity (CPA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Thus, we contribute to the understanding of the evolution of NMS, through the description of the schematic model of previous research and understanding of theories, actions, and contexts studied.