Conceptualizing inclusive marketing: A synthesis of theory and practice

Fostering inclusion is a currently popular marketing imperative to which firms, policies, and individuals are giving increasing attention. Various brands are striving to join this trend in multiple ways, producing a wide and differentiated range of actions that could lead them to be defined as inclusive. There is also a surge of interest in recent literature. However, this literature does not produce a general understanding of the phenomenon and mostly focuses on one facet of diversity or one marketing mix element. The result is fragmentation of literature conceptualization and management operationalization. Based on this scenario, the objective of this paper is to propose a taxonomy for inclusive marketing (IM) actions, using a hybrid approach based on the integration of theory and practice. In particular, a deductive literature review led to the identification of four dimensions of IM: the audience, the purpose, the vehicle, the output, as well as their related characteristics. These elements have then been validated and confirmed through an inductive empirical study of 88 examples of IM initiatives. From the theoretical perspective, the taxonomy allows to systematize a field of research that has recently blooming yet is lacking a holistic approach. Moreover, basing on the identified dimensions and characteristics, a more detailed definition of IM has been proposed. From the managerial perspective, the elements of the taxonomy have been the base for the development of a roadmap that could support practitioners finetuning their IM strategies.