Understanding value in social sciences: a review and research agenda

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.