British Arcow@q Review (1990) 22, 3-26 MODELLING ADVERTISING DECISIONS BY ACCOUNTANTS: A PATH ANALYSIS A. DIAMANTOPOULOS* University of Edinburgh S. O’DONOHOE University of Edinburgh J. LANE Ernst & Whinney Based on a national survey of chartered accountancy practices, this paper develops and tests a path model of the advertising management process in the profession. Specifically, it examines the relationship between resources devoted to advertising, key decision areas and the success of advertising campaigns. The findings are discussed in light of previous empirical work and their managerial implications are highlighted. 1. INTRODUCTION The economic importance of the service sector has increased dramatically in recent decades. Bradlow (1986) for example, notes that the service sector in the United States increased its share of GNP from 54% to 66% between 1948 and 1978. The trend towards a service-oriented economy is also evident in the United Kingdom. In 1966, services contributed 42% to GDP, rising to 48% by 1986 [Central Statistics Ofice (CSO), 1976a; 1988a]. A more striking indicator of the growth of services is the major change in employment patterns over the same period. Less than half of UK employees worked in the services sector in 1966; by 1986 this sector accounted for just over two-thirds of the total number of employees (CSO, 19766; 19886). Corresponding to the growing importance of the services sector is the growing literature on services marketing. An interesting indicator of this is provided by Gummesson (1978), who laments the fact that Kotler’s (1972) classic text devoted less than two of its 885 pages to the marketing of services. In recent years, however, Kotler has not only included in revised editions of his basic text entire chapters on nonbusiness marketing (Kotler, 1980) and service marketing (Kotler, 1988), but he is also one of many authors writing whole textbooks on the marketing of specific *Address for correspondence: Mr. A. Diamantopoulos, Department of Business Studies, University of Edinburgh, William Robertson Building, 50 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JY. 0890-8939/9O/Ol(N)O3+24 $03.00/O (Q 1990 Academic Press Limited