Journal of Strategic Marketing

Strategic Marketing and Regenerative Futures

Call for Papers

Sustainability has become a central concern for businesses, policymakers, and societies worldwide (Agyemang et al., 2025; Nguyen et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2026). Yet, there is growing recognition that sustainability, while essential, may not be sufficient on its own, as many contemporary challenges require not only the preservation of existing systems but also their restoration and renewal (Väätänen, 2025). Increasing attention is therefore being paid to the idea of a regenerative future, which goes beyond sustaining existing systems to emphasize restoration, renewal, resilience, and the creation of conditions under which ecosystems, communities, markets, and organizations can thrive over the long term (Camrass, 2020; Thomas, 2025). The concept of regenerative futures is broader and more ambitious than conventional sustainability thinking. Rather than focusing only on efficiency, harm reduction, or compliance, a regenerative perspective highlights how firms can actively restore social, ecological, and economic systems through their strategies, partnerships, value propositions, and market practices (Fischer-Kreer et al., 2025). For example, while a sustainable apparel brand might use recycled raw materials (e.g., recycled polyester) to reduce harm, a regenerative brand might invest in regenerative organic agriculture that restores soil health and revitalizes local farming communities – move beyond net zero to net positive.

In the regenerative context, marketing plays an important role (Bocken et al., 2025). As a function concerned with value creation, stakeholder relationships, market shaping, and long-term competitiveness, strategic marketing is well positioned to contribute to regenerative transformation. In this Special Issue of the Journal of Strategic Marketing, we take a holistic approach to the strategic role of marketing in regenerative futures, where strategic marketing is not only about responding to stakeholder expectations but also about designing and guiding future-oriented pathways for value creation that are more inclusive, resilient, and restorative.

Prior research has examined related areas such as sustainability marketing, green marketing, responsible consumption, and corporate social responsibility, among others (Bawack et al., 2025; White et al., 2025). However, there is still limited understanding of how strategic marketing can contribute to regenerative futures more proactively and systematically. We still know relatively little about how firms formulate regenerative marketing goals, develop strategies to achieve them, credibly communicate regenerative value, and align commercial objectives with broader societal and ecological renewal. Moreover, although businesses increasingly use the language of sustainability and purpose, important questions remain regarding whether existing marketing strategies truly support regenerative transformation or merely repackage conventional growth logics in new terms.

This Special Issue seeks to advance the understanding of how strategic marketing can shape and support regenerative futures. We invite research papers that examine the strategic role of marketing in enabling restoration, renewal, resilience, and long-term stakeholder value. We welcome submissions that address issues pertaining to, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Strategic marketing capabilities for a regenerative future
• Regenerative marketing strategy and long-term value creation
• Brand strategy, brand purpose, and regenerative value propositions
• Consumer behaviour in relation to regenerative offerings and marketing implications
• Digital and social media marketing for regenerative transformation
• The role of emerging technologies in enabling regenerative marketing strategies
• Leveraging AI and big data for regenerative strategic marketing
• Market shaping and ecosystem orchestration for regenerative futures
• Circular, restorative, and regenerative business models from a strategic marketing perspective
• Strategic partnerships and cross-sector collaborations for regenerative value creation
• The role of communities, stakeholders, and co-creation in regenerative marketing
• Metrics, accountability, and performance evaluation in regenerative marketing strategy
• Marketing ethics, governance, and regulations related to regenerative claims and practices
• Tensions, paradoxes, and trade-offs in pursuing regenerative marketing strategies
• Strategic marketing responses to greenwashing, symbolic action, and legitimacy risks in regenerative positioning
• Strategies for inclusive restoration in emerging markets
• Strategic marketing and regenerative futures at the Base of the Pyramid

Both conceptual and empirical submissions are welcome. We invite diverse methodological approaches, such as experiments, surveys, qualitative research, mixed-method designs, social media analysis, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). Submissions adopting multi-level perspectives, cross-cultural or cross-industry settings, or longitudinal and configurational approaches are especially encouraged.

References

Agyemang, A. O., Osei, A., & Kongkuah, M. (2025). Exploring the ESG‐circular economy nexus in emerging markets: a systems perspective on governance, innovation, and sustainable business models. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34(5), 5901-5924.

Bawack, R., Kala Kamdjoug, J. R., Agnia Nkolo, P. M., Bonhoure, E., & Ouallet, S. (2025). Strategic CSR: investigating the ripple effect of corporate social responsibility on perceived marketing performance through corporate image and reputation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 33(5), 639-657.

Bocken, N. M., Niessen, L., Gossen, M., Das, A., & Zielińska, M. (2025). Marketing in the anthropocene: A future agenda for research and practice. AMS Review, 15(1), 23-47.

Camrass, K. (2020). Regenerative futures. Foresight, 22(4), 401-415.

Fischer-Kreer, D., Greven, A., Desel, L., & Brettel, M. (2025). Measuring regenerative orientation: A new scale for firms' net-positive impact beyond sustainability. European Management Journal. In press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2025.04.008

Liu, S., Voola, R., Freeman, S., & Margaret, M. (2026). Exploring the role of dynamic marketing capabilities and cross-functional dynamic capabilities in implementing climate action strategies in emerging economies: Insights from Chinese SMEs. Journal of Strategic Marketing, In Press.

Nguyen, N., Dang-Van, T., Greenland, S., D’Souza, C., & Nguyen, H. V. (2025). Understanding the impact of store innovativeness on organic food purchase intention: a mediation and moderation analysis. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 33(8), 1078-1094.

Thomas, S. (2025). Futures thinking and regenerative sustainability. In The Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Education and Thinking for the 21st Century (pp. 307-324). Routledge India.

Väätänen, J. (2025). Regeneration is the new sustainable development, because sustainability alone is no longer enough. Retrieved from: https://www.lut.fi/en/articles/regeneration-new-sustainable-development-because-sustainability-alone-no-longer-enough

White, K., Cakanlar, A., Sethi, S., & Trudel, R. (2025). The past, present, and future of sustainability marketing: how did we get here and where might we go? Journal of Business Research, 187, 115056.