Evolution of Research in Interactive Marketing: A Bibliometric and Thematic Review

Abstract

With the advent and increasing proliferation of rich media, interactive content and ubiquitous access to the Internet, interactive marketing has grown significantly over the last couple of decades. Evolving from direct marketing, interactive marketing has now emerged from the periphery and begun to assume a more central, strategic role in marketing decision-making. Despite its growing importance, there is little evidence for the synthesis of various themes and subthemes that constitute research scholarship in the domain. This chapter, by employing the features of bibliometric analysis based on keywords, aims to develop and present the landscape of the thematic evolution of various research subthemes in the area of interactive marketing. Specifically, using bibliometric analysis methods, the focus is on identifying the most influential studies, authors, affiliations and countries in the field of interactive marketing. It then tries to identify the major themes and subthemes that comprise the research scholarship on the topic and finally how these subthemes have evolved over time.