Title: Understanding value in social sciences: a review and research agenda

Authors: Renata Klafke; Maik Arnold; Claudia Picinin; Sandra Moreira

Addresses: Pontificia Universidade Católica do Parná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901 CURITIBA, PR, Brazil ' Fachhochschule Dresden (FHD), Güntzstraße 1, 01069 Dresden, Germany ' Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, R. Doutor Washington Subtil Chueire, 330 – Jardim Carvalho, Ponta Grossa – PR, Brazil ' Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, R. Doutor Washington Subtil Chueire, 330 – Jardim Carvalho, Ponta Grossa – PR, Brazil

Abstract: This paper revises some theoretical literature of value in three different, although connected, areas: management (focus in marketing), sociology and economics. This paper also aims to show how value concept unfolds and intersected over time. It also places value in the marketing literature, for its recent field of study, compared to economics. Most downloaded papers from ten top journals were browsed. Seminal papers in business, sociology, and economics were read and some articles from SCImago (top ten business journals). All three sciences share the different meanings of the concept of value. In economics, value is more or less related to the idea of benefit vs. cost. Sociology understands value as something subjective inherently associated with human beings; the self, whereas marketing focuses on value as a strategy towards an end. In marketing literature, we find much evidence of the idea of creating unique experiences 'of value' for customers.

Keywords: management sciences; society; values; conceptual map.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2025.145243

Global Business and Economics Review, 2025 Vol.32 No.3, pp.298 - 327

Accepted: 23 Apr 2023
Published online: 31 Mar 2025 *

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