Journal of Consumer Affairs最新文献

Ethical consumption is important for both consumers and social welfare. However, many consumers avoid or ignore ethical consumption practices. An explanation of the psychological processes that impede ethical behavior is important research. A survey of 436 American consumers reveals that various types of moral disengagement (behavior and victim loci) and neutralization techniques sequentially explain unethical consumer behavior. From a theoretical perspective, both these constructs are relevant in this context, yet prior research utilizes these constructs separately or conflates them. Moreover, findings show that a particular type of moral disengagement, the agency locus, paradoxically promotes ethical consumer behavior. This research also examines locus of control (chance) and trait cynicism as antecedents of unethical consumer behavior. Locus of control (chance), not trait cynicism, leads to less ethical consumer behavior through moral disengagement and neutralization techniques. Insights benefit consumers, marketers, and policymakers in promoting ethical consumption that enhances consumer well-being.

This research investigates whether consumers anticipate any negative financial consequences arising from personalization practices, and examines how individuals respond to messages about its financial welfare implications, to see what factors increase blame toward firms for the impact their tactics can have on vulnerable populations. Results from a pilot study show that while privacy risks of personalization are highly accessible, few consider its potential to influence spending behavior. In addition, experimental studies reveal that individuals are more likely to blame firms for increases in teen consumer spending when they learn how online tactics limit and determine consumer choices, compared with when messages focus on firm's use of personal information. Additional studies also introduce a moderator for this effect. Overall, this research highlights limitations in consumers' ability to consider consequences of personalization, and provides guidance for advocates on how to better educate the public about potential issues associated with online marketing tactics.

Financial literacy is an important life skill, but to date, it is mostly studied on the individual level. To investigate the role of national culture in financial literacy, we analyze data from 20 countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 financial literacy assessment with four approaches to measuring national culture: Hofstede, Schwartz, Inglehart–Welzel, and Minkov–Kaasa cultural dimension frameworks. This is the first study that links PISA financial literacy scores to these four culture models simultaneously, filling a gap in research on youth financial literacy. We find that culture explains an important part of within-country variance in financial literacy. The results indicate that individualism is positively associated with youth financial literacy scores, with the Schwartz embeddedness dimension remaining consistent after a set of control variables. Therefore, financial education initiatives need to consider in their design and implication the cultural context of the participants.

Sixteen jurisdictions in the United States prohibit payday lending through stringent usury laws or well-established nonprofitable 36% interest rate caps. Yet over one in 10 consumers residing in these jurisdictions borrowed payday loans in the past 5 years. This raises questions about actual policy implementation and enforcement. We employ data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study to investigate if associations between payday lending prohibitions and payday borrowing differ by degree of enforcement. We find that nuances in degree of enforcement among restrictive states are not associated with payday borrowing likelihoods. However, these nuances appear when examining payday borrowing frequency, particularly when controlling for consumers' financial circumstances and when conditioning on alternative financial services consumers. We consistently note the highest borrowing behaviors for states sans regulation. Policymakers may consider strengthening enforcement in cases where the primary goal is preventing or reducing payday borrowing.

We provide updated results about the link between student loan debt and emergency savings with financial stress, and after conditioning for differences in social and personal resources. We use the stress process model framework and data from the 2020 Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness (N = 25,310) to estimate ordered probit regression models. The 2020 data confirm that students report higher levels of stress if they hold more loan debt and have lower emergency savings. Students with higher levels of financial socialization and financial self-efficacy experience less financial stress and experience more stress when they report both positive and negative financial management behaviors. Among student-borrowers, the role of social and personal resources is weakened. The data confirm ongoing financial stress among college students and points to the important role of financial socialization through parents and financial skill in students' ability to cope with financial stress.

In this editorial we outline why a call for more inclusive, conscientious approaches to studying gender/sex/ual diversity and intersectional identities is needed, and how the articles in this special issue answered this call. We summarize key takeaways from a review of the literature, noting significant under-representation of gender/sex/ual diversity and intersectional social locations. We also explore the history of the gender/sex binaries (e.g., female/male; women/men; femininity/masculinity) to help illuminate the premises upon which the popular trend of studying gender/sex differences between men and women and the invisibilities of gender/sex/ual diverse people exist. We conclude with guidance on how scholars and practitioners might engage in thinking, doing, and connecting to move the conversation forward.

In this panel discussion, we explore various ways that academics can advance work related to GenderS, intersectionality and inequities so that it has impact within academia and in society. Panelists offer practical insights, relate challenges in doing this work, and suggest avenues for alternative yet impactful dissemination of work. The purpose is to demonstrate how those interested in supporting or working in this space might move from being allies to advocates and accomplices.

We investigate whether targeting algorithms can improve the effectiveness of financial education programs by identifying ex-ante the most appropriate recipients. To this end, we use micro-data from around 3800 individuals who participated in a financial education campaign conducted in Italy in late 2021. First, we employ machine learning (ML) tools to devise a targeting rule that identifies individuals who should be primarily targeted by a financial education campaign based on easily observable characteristics. Second, we simulate a policy scenario, using a random sample of individuals who took part in the campaign but were not employed to devise the targeting rule. We find that pairing a financial education campaign with an ML-based targeting rule leads to greater effectiveness. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of our findings, and the conditions that must be met for ML-based targeting to be effectively implemented.

Societal well-being requires immediate global action from individuals and governments to vote on and enact policies that slow down, stop, and reverse the effects of climate change. To pressure governments and motivate policymakers to act, individuals can engage in environmental activism; however, even if individuals consider the environment important, they often do not follow through with action. Using a unique, large-scale secondary data set from over 60,000 individuals in 48 countries, we examine the influence of social institutions on environmental activism among a nation's citizens. We find that religiosity inhibits environmental activism while education enables it. Confidence in the judiciary system also increases the likelihood that individuals act on their pro-environmental attitudes while confidence in the government weakens this relationship. We discuss implications for policymakers and community organizers looking to increase the well-being of their constituents.