A systems approach to understanding the philosophical foundation of marketing studies

Marketing represents a multidisciplinary research domain in which several instruments, models and approaches have been provided to both researchers and practitioners in order to better face the emerging social and economic challenges. Despite the relevance of all contributions provided by marketing studies, the academic marketing domain seems to be affected by a strong reductionist view in which the focus is on the single actors and transactions as key links between companies and environments. With the aim to overcome the limitations of reductionist view in academic marketing studies, this chapter adopts the interpretative lens provided by systems thinking. The ontology and epistemology of academic marketing studies are analysed in light of the systems perspective, and a transcendent philosophical perspective is proposed to support the building of more effective multi- and trans-disciplinary approaches and models within the marketing domain.