Marketplace Sovereignty under Threat: A Research Curation on Marketplace Actors in Turbulent Times

Amid growing political polarization, recurring global pandemics, and escalating geopolitical tensions, the sovereignty of marketplace actors is under increasing threat. This growing erosion of marketplace sovereignty has opened new avenues for consumer and international marketing research. In this research curation, the authors bring together five articles from the Journal of International Marketing that examine how consumers and firms navigate turbulent environments. Collectively, these articles advance our conceptual, empirical, and methodological understanding of marketplace behavior under conditions of turbulence. The authors also propose two avenues for future research that build on emerging themes at the intersection of consumer behavior and corporate strategy. Specifically, they highlight (1) the tension between empowerment and surveillance and (2) the tension between globalization and national security as promising themes for advancing both theoretical and managerial understanding of human–technology interactions and international marketing in contexts characterized by volatility and uncertainty.