Social Consumption Research Articles

Consumer Social Responsibility: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT While organizations continually focus on social responsibility, research and practice increasingly emphasize consumers’ role and importance in this domain. This study explores consumer social responsibility (CnSR) through a systematic literature review of 72 academic articles from reputable journals. The results indicate that CnSR is gaining research attention, as reflected in the growing number of publications. Most studies come from advanced economies, mainly the U.S., and researchers have predominantly used quantitative methods, though qualitative and mixed methods are in use. Content analysis reveals that CnSR is conceptualized around several themes, including economic, environmental, health, philanthropic, social, and ethical dimensions. Literature shows a shift in CnSR from firm-oriented (reactive) to self-oriented (proactive) responsibility. This study is limited to peer-reviewed academic articles published in English in reputable business and management journals, extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. While the study provides valuable insights into consumers’ role in promoting social responsibility and their impact on society and the environment, it may not fully represent non-English perspectives or other disciplines. Business practitioners and policymakers can utilize this research to promote responsible consumption. Although earlier studies have explored aspects of CnSR, this study presents a systematic literature review.

Economic education of preschool children. A pedagogical view of the phenomenon

The article presents the significance of economic education in a person’s life and the need for it from an early age. The stage of development from which education on the basics of economy should start is the preschool age (3-6 years). The age of the ancestors, the initial stage of the child’s consumer socialization, during which its effects and ideas about the world of consumption are shaped. The consumer behavior of preschool children is determined by parents, who can use the purchasing process in the upbringing process. This issue is very relevant, since it constitutes an integral part of each person’s life and it’s also a subject of interest in many fields of social sciences, each of which introduces a different view, hence it’s multidimensional nature. The essence and significance of the process of economic education, including equipping children with knowledge about economics as well as basic ability of its usage in certain life situations were presented based on the research of recent publications collected from the Scopus and Google Scholar databases. The article points out the existence of tools that could be used in the methodology of preschool teacher’s work. The offered examples taken from pedagogic practice could help teachers with implementing methods of efficient economical education in the field of preschool pedagogy. The findings presented in the article point towards the need for economic education of preschool children and show its integral and timeless nature. One of the tasks of economic education in kindergarten is to shape the foundations of economic culture, which emphasizes the relationship between economic education and morality.

Pro-Ecological Consumer Behavior versus Energy Reduction and Sustainable Consumption: A Case from Poland

The concepts of sustainable consumption and production increased in popularity after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. Moreover, the focus of attention was turned to the consumer and their key importance in achieving the goals of more sustainable practices. Hence, the main aim of this article is to present the influence of factors related to pro-ecological consumer behaviors on sustainable consumption including energy-use reduction. Epsilon regression was implemented as the research method. This statistical tool enabled the authors to carry out research on such complex phenomena and make the analysis immune to the high correlation among explanatory variables. Moreover, it allowed the authors to consider interactions in the set of diagnostic variables. The research presented in this paper is based on data drawn from the Barometer of Consumer Social Responsibility in Poland for 2022. As the final result of this research, a ranking of pro-ecological consumer behavior factors was constructed. On the one hand, not buying products using excessive packaging can be considered the most important factor of Polish pro-ecological consumer behaviors. On the other hand, trying to choose more ecological products with comparable prices can be regarded as the factor which has the smallest impact. Furthermore, the presented method also allowed for determining the contribution of individual factors to the pro-ecological behavior of consumers.

The surveillance, gamification and datafication of children’s finance: a feature and tagline analysis of child finance apps

Purpose Children’s finances are increasingly digitised through the emergence and development of a range of finance applications, or apps, for managing chores, saving and spending. This paper aims to offer a preliminary scoping study of these child finance apps in the nascent consumer research area of children’s FinTech. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertakes a qualitative analysis of the design features and marketing taglines of child finance apps to explore their role in the digitisation of children’s financial literacy, consumer socialisation and economic agency. Findings The present analysis reveals five key design functions of child finance apps: chore management; child savings; payment and spending systems; parental control features; and banking and finance features. Furthermore, three key child consumer themes emerge from the analysis of these child finance apps: gamification of child household labour; surveillance of children’s consumer participation; and datafication of children’s financial lives. Originality/value To date, there is little research into the increasingly popular use of child chore, consumption and financial management apps, and thus a research gap or problem is that we do not yet have sufficient understanding of how finance apps operate through their design and marketing to influence the financial conditions of contemporary childhoods. This study is significant in bringing theories of surveillance, gamification and datafication from digital platform studies to the fields of childhood studies, children’s consumer research and child FinTech studies. The findings suggest that child finance apps use gamification features to encourage children’s financial learning, surveillance features to enable parenting care in children’s financial development and datafication to exploit children’s financial data within the finance industry. This study is clearly limited to the app environment, and so future work should investigate the use and perceptions of these apps in more detail using more situated social research methods with families and children.

Motherhood and consumption: A systematic review and directions for future research

AbstractThis article presents a hybrid literature review on the relationship between motherhood and consumption, encompassing academic research in Business, Management, and Cultural Studies that investigates mothers as consumers and the reciprocal influence between mothers and other actors in family consumption dynamics. Bibliometric research was conducted on 175 articles indexed on the Web of Science using the SPAR‐4‐SLR protocol. It included performance analysis, intellectual and conceptual structure of the field, an evolutionary overview of publications, and a map of trends. Moreover, from the systematic review, a new framework, PTCCM, is proposed to identify the publications' widely used perspectives, theories, constructs, characteristics, and methods. The findings reveal nine major perspectives on motherhood and consumption: consumer socialization and intergenerational influence, consumption and identity, vulnerabilities and public policies, consumption and liminality, influences of children on family consumption, maternal practices, decision‐making and consumption process, gender studies, and advertising. Based on the identified gaps, thematic, theoretical, contextual, and methodological suggestions for future work are presented. This systematic review provides a map for academics and professionals interested in consumption in the context of motherhood, offering a comprehensive overview of the state‐of‐the‐art and research agenda.

Examining Household Composition, Parental Style, and Consumer Socialization Practices Towards Children’s Media Consumption

This study investigates the consumer socialization practices of parents in single versus multi-child and nuclear versus extended families in an emerging market. Previous consumer socialization research has focused primarily on western cultures. We examine parenting in a developing market and suggest that single-child families are more nurturant and maintain greater control of their children’s media exposure than multi-child families. The findings indicate that Modal Indian consumer socialization practices may be shifting from an Authoritarian to an Authoritative parental style with greater maternal intervention in media exposure and support for regulating children’s advertising. Implications for marketers, consumer educators, and public policy makers are discussed.

The Effect of Self-Control and Sales Promotion on Consumptive Behavior on Consumer Social Commerce TikTok Shop

This study aims to determine the effect of self-control and sales promotion partially or simultaneously on consumptive behavior in TikTok Shop social commerce consumers. The research method used in this research is a quantitative method explanatory design with an accidental sampling method. The sample in this study amounted to 351 people. Data collection was carried out using a Likert scale consisting of a consumptive behavior scale, a self-control scale, and a sales promotion scale. Multiple linear regression analysis techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. The results showed that: (1) self-control has a significant negative effect on consumptive behavior in TikTok Shop social commerce consumers (p = 0.000; t = -5.221; r partial = -0.270). (2) sales promotion has a significant positive effect on consumptive behavior in TikTok Shop social commerce consumers (p = 0.000; t = 17.351; r partial = 0.681). (3) Self-control and sales promotion simultaneously affect consumptive behavior in TikTok Shop social commerce consumers (p = 0.000; F = 160.111). (4) The results of stepwise regression analysis show that the effect of sales promotion variables on consumptive behavior is 43.8% and self-control variables on consumptive behavior is 4.1%. Keywords: Self-Control, Sales Promotion, Consumptive Behavior, TikTok Shop

Tourist Engagement and Perceived Naturalness: Unveiling the Pathways to Sustainable Tourism and Purchase Intentions in Vertical Farming

With sustainable tourism and escalating food demands, vertical farming emerges as a pivotal innovation that bridges agricultural sustainability and tourism. This paper explores the role of tourist engagement at vertical farms in promoting sustainability awareness, altering perceptions of naturalness of vertical farm agricultural products, and shaping purchase intentions for these products. Utilizing Consumer Socialization Theory (CST) as a framework, the study delves into how tourist engagement at vertical farms can serve as a catalyst for enhancing the appeal and acceptance of sustainable agricultural practices. A cross sectional survey of 558 tourists in Malaysia and the Greater Bay Area of China was conducted using a quantitative approach. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis revealed that tourist engagement significantly increases sustainability awareness and perceived naturalness, which, in turn, positively impacts purchase intentions. Interestingly, while tourist engagement directly increases purchase intentions, sustainability awareness does not directly increase purchase intentions, underscoring the nuanced role perceived naturalness plays in the decision making process. The findings underscore the importance of integrating vertical farming into the tourism experience as a strategy for promoting sustainable agricultural practices and increasing consumer acceptance. This study enriches the discourse on sustainable tourism's role in advancing sustainable agriculture, providing key insights for stakeholders in both the tourism and agriculture sectors to foster environmental stewardship and sustainable consumer behavior.

Impact of Consumer Socialization on TikTok Intensity and Addiction: The Moderating Role of Individual Characteristics

TikTok is an exciting social media platform that enables young consumers to create a unique social presence. Despite increasing concern about the misuse of TikTok among users, limited academic research has examined TikTok addiction and its association with consumer socialization. This exploratory study investigates how consumer socialization processes are related to TikTok intensity, defined as the extent to which an individual actively engages in TikTok activities, and addiction among Internet users. A conceptual model that integrates consumer socialization constructs (i.e., reinforcement and modeling), TikTok intensity, and TikTok addiction is developed and tested. Findings of the study suggest that consumer socialization has a positive impact on TikTok addiction. Further, TikTok intensity mediates the effect of consumer socialization on TikTok addiction. Results also show that personality characteristics specifically agreeableness, openness, and curiosity moderate the relationship between consumer socialization and TikTok intensity. This study contributes to the communication technology literature by providing theoretical insights into the use of short-form video-based social media platforms. Practical implications for marketers are discussed.

A bibliometric investigation into the intellectual milieu of research on consumer socialization of children

A bibliometric investigation into the intellectual milieu of research on consumer socialization of children

Consumer Socialization Research: a systematic literature review and directions for future research

Consumer Socialization Research: a systematic literature review and directions for future research

The Role of Brand Management on Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Selection Among the Unemployed Urban Class During the Covid-19 Era. A Conceptual Paper

Brand management is viewed as one of the marketing practices that may influence the choice of fast-moving goods among customers if effectively managed. Brand management research has been skewed towards the employed class thus leaving reaseach gaps among the unemployed urban class. Considering that pandemics can influence customer choice of produts based on the constrained income, it is vital for a research to be conducted to unravel the link between brand management and choice of fast-moving consumer goods and more specifically among the urban unemployed class. Despite extensive studies which have been carried out to unravel the association between brand management and consumer choices of fast-moving consumer goods, little is understood on how the variables of this study are associated thus the need for a study to clear the conceptual controversies. The main objective of this study was to establish the association between brand management and fast-moving consumer goods selection among the unemployed urban class during the Covid-19 Era. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of emographic, sychographic and contextual factors on fast-moving consumers goods selection among the unemployed urban class during the Covid-19 era. Further, the fourth objective was to evaluate the mediating role of Covid-19 pandemic between factors influencing consumer buying behaviour and fast-moving consumers goods selection. This study was anchored on thurstone model, reference price model, brand loyalty theory, theory of reasoned action, consumer motivation theories, social cognitive theory, life-cycle theory, prospect theory and consumer socialization theory. Exploratory research design was adopted by this study. Exploratory approachis considered appropriate because it facilitates discovery of new knowledge by establishing whether what is being observed can be explained by using existing body of knowledge such as theories and empirical studies in the related field. It lays the foundation that sheds light to future studies. The relationship between the variables of this study was explained based on the principles of the exploratory research design. This study purely relied on desktop analysis of published research papers on brand managemenrt in relation to product choices. Papers published between 1991 and 2021 were reviewed. Theses, projects, reports and journal articles relating to social marketing and promotion of products and services were comprehensively reviewed. The findings, conclusions and recommendations of this study were derived from meta-analysis. The meta-analysis in accordance with recommended protocols and guidelines as recommended in statistical literature. Based on the marketing management literature analysis, it is concluded that brand is a multifaceted concept that is perceived differently by individual customers. Considering different results about what triggers consumers to prefer or buy a particular offering in the market, future studies should seek to understand consumer buying behaviour by using a multi-theoretical approach rather than a single theoretical approach that gives partial explanations about consumer behaviour. Further studies are recommended in other sectors to unravel factors that influence consumer selection in the market.

Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Effects on Consumer Social Responsibility: A Value-Belief-Norm Perspective

The main purpose of this study is to explore consumer perceived corporate social responsibility (or perceived CSR) and its effects on consumer social responsibility (CnSR) in the food and beverage (F&B) industry in Vietnam. We built on the Value-Belief-Norm Theory to propose a model that explains how perceived CSR induces consumers to perform consumer social responsibility. Using a survey of 460 Vietnamese consumers, we examine the relationships between personal values (altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, conservative and openness to change), perceived CSR, and CnSR. The research results show that perceived CSR does affect CnSR through awareness of negative societal consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, and social norms. Moreover, personal norms tend to significantly shape CnSR. The study provides important theoretical and practical implications by shedding light on how enterprises can improve their CSR efforts to appeal to consumers and promote CnSR.

CnSR: Exploring Consumer Social Responsibility Using Machine Learning-Based Topic Modeling with Natural Language Processing

This study delves into Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR) within the fashion industry, with the goal of understanding consumers’ sustainable and responsible behavior across three major consumption stages: acquisition, utilization, and disposal. While “corporate” social responsibility (CSR) has been extensively studied in the literature, CnSR that sheds light on “individual consumers” has received less attention and is understudied. Using topic modeling, an unsupervised machine learning (ML) technique that uses natural language processing (NLP) in Python, this study analyzed textual data consisting of open-ended responses from 703 U.S. consumers. The analysis unveiled key aspects of CnSR in each of the consumption processes. The acquisition stage highlighted various ethical and sustainable considerations in purchasing and decision making. During the utilization phase, topics concerning sustainable and responsible product usage, environmentally conscious practices, and emotional sentiments emerged. The disposal stage identified a range of environmentally and socially responsible disposal practices. This study provides a solid and rich definition of CnSR from the perspective of individual consumers, paving the avenue for future research on sustainable consumption behaviors and inspiring the fashion industry to create goods and services that are in line with CnSR.

Motivations to Collect: How Consumers Are Socialized to Build Product Collections

Most people have collected products at some point in their lives; however, little is known about how people are socialized to collect. This mixed methods study recruited 213 participants to explain and explore the influences of family, friends, romantic partners, and online social media on the continued intention to build product collections. Qualitative findings revealed a clear pattern of familial influences when participants shared how their collections started. When starting collections, participants acquired products through either personal interest in the products or receiving gifts from family members. However, quantitative results indicate that friends, romantic partners, and social media have a greater influence after the product collection has started. The results and findings of this study also guide an adaptation of the consumer socialization theory.

The contagion effect on children's consumption decision

The inclusion of a positive contagious source can increase consumers' attitudes and purchase intention to a product. However, few studies investigated this effect when consumers have prior preferences. To bridge the literature gap, a field experience was conducted to examine the influence of positive contagion on children's food decision-making in a real-life scenario. Fifty-eight children between ages 7 and 12 were invited to make consumption decisions under either the control condition or the treatment condition where items were surrounded by contagion sources. The treatment condition partially optimized children's selections. Moreover, eye movement results showed that less visual attention was distributed to the items surrounded by contagion sources. Finally, the moderating role of consumer socialization and family communication patterns was examined.

Productive and repressive power: The influence of gender norms on parents' decisions on children's consumption

AbstractThis study examines how parents exert productive and repressive power in influencing their children's gender socialization through consumption. We interviewed 20 parents responsible for educating 36 children to investigate their challenges when confronted with their children's consumption demands that deviate from gender‐appropriate norms. Under a queer feminist poststructuralist perspective, our results reveal the conflicts between parents and their children and between mothers and fathers when making consumption decisions that affect gender socialization. Our findings contribute to the consumer socialization literature by recognizing how gender norms influence parents' decisions about their children's consumption. We also shed light on the deployment of productive and repressive power tactics by parents in shaping their children's gender identity toward an “ideal” norm.

소비자사회화 요인과 환경의식이 제로 웨이스트(Zero-Waste) 소비행동에 미치는 영향

소비자사회화 요인과 환경의식이 제로 웨이스트(Zero-Waste) 소비행동에 미치는 영향

Learning to be consumers of “smart” retail channels: The baby boomer experience

ABSTRACT A global shift in aging populations points to greying consumers as an important market for retailers and an underserved segment for researchers. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital expansion in the marketplace, innovated new industries, and encouraged new participants. This acceleration provides significant implications for the greying population whereby the adoption of smart-enabled platforms and channels becomes essential. Most of the digital and smart-consumer socialization research has focused exclusively on younger generations because of their digital nativity. This study aims to expand our understanding of baby boomer consumers’ attitudes and behaviors in the smart retail context using a consumer socialization framework. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness, ease of use, reliability, and fun were significant influences on global attitudes toward shopping in smart retail channels. Global attitudes toward shopping in smart retail channels significantly influenced behavioral intention and digital mass media exposure significantly influenced all dimensions of attitudes toward shopping in smart retail channels suggesting interest and engagement in smart retail channel participation among older adults.

Between Fashion and Piety: Hijab Influencers and Religious Communities in the Consumer Socialization of Indonesian Muslims

Fashionable hijab is a trend in Muslim societies worldwide. In Indonesia, hijab commercialization has been especially prominent. This study used consumer socialization theory to examine the relationship between hijab influencers (HIs), religious factors, attitudes toward fashionable hijab, and commodified hijab-style choices. In particular, we examined involvement with HIs, HIs' influence on hijab consumption, religiosity, and religious community involvement to investigate the mechanisms of consumer socialization. Structural equation modeling revealed that hijab influencers, as consumer socialization agents, reinforced positive attitudes toward fashionable hijab, whereas religious community involvement, as a social structural variable, had a negative effect. Finally, positive attitudes toward fashionable hijab positively influenced the pursuit of commodified hijab-style choices. These findings have practical implications for vendors targeting the Indonesian market by distinguishing commodified hijab styles from conservative hijab styles and identifying the factors influencing consumers.