Journal of Consumer Affairs最新文献

Understanding and mitigating consumer vulnerability is critical in an age of pervasive misinformation and deception. This research examines how technology dependence can heighten consumer vulnerability by elevating the risk of being deceived in the marketplace. Drawing from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research and Media Systems Dependency Theory (MSD), we propose that high technology dependence depletes cognitive resources, reduces consumer skepticism, and increases susceptibility to deception, an essential element of consumer vulnerability. Through three empirical studies, we show that technology dependence heightens consumers' vulnerability to deceptive information, primarily through reduced skepticism. Furthermore, we found that consumers' moods moderate this relationship, with negative moods mitigating and positive moods amplifying the adverse effects of technology dependence on skepticism. Our findings reveal mechanisms driving consumer vulnerability in the digital age, offering valuable insights for marketers and policymakers to enhance consumer protection, as well as marketplace and digital literacy.

Wicked problems pose both immediate and existential threats. Within this article we explore the underlying nature of wicked problems, including the social traps embedded in them. We deconstruct the ecosystem surrounding single-use plastics to make key points regarding controversies and conflicting interests surrounding wicked problems. We propose that wicked problems may be reframed by unpacking the relationships between individuals and collectives and how social traps are understood in terms of time horizon, ownership, responsibility, and involvement. We argue that resolutions to social traps are paramount to resolving wicked problems in the case of single-use plastics and to wicked problems more generally. We draw from marketing, psychology, public policy, and consumer research literature to suggest specific ways marketing can mitigate or perhaps eliminate the insidious dynamic of social traps and wicked problems, and in turn affect positive outcomes to enhance the short-term and long-term well-being for many consumers and stakeholders.

Recent economic shocks have intensified financial distress and inequality, prompting research into the factors contributing to financial resilience. Previous studies have primarily employed unidimensional measures of financial resilience, neglecting the role of race. This paper addresses knowledge gaps by exploring how race influences financial resilience. Using data from the South African National Income Dynamic Study, this paper constructs a multidimensional financial resilience index, examines the relationship between race and financial resilience, and identifies potential mediating variables. The results indicate that approximately 52% of South Africans are financially resilient. Empirically, propensity score matching shows that Non-Whites exhibit approximately 11% lower financial resilience levels than whites. Additionally, the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition proves that discrimination accounts for approximately 3.7% of this disparity. Financial resilience among Non-Whites would have increased by 1.5% if they had similar characteristics to Whites. Furthermore, mental health disorders and low trust mediate the relationship between race and financial resilience.

This study investigates whether individual happiness affects prosocial behavior in food choices. We considered two distinct dimensions of happiness: hedonic and eudaimonic. The hedonic component is focused on pleasure, joy, and immediate gratification, while the eudaimonic aspect is related to a sense of purpose in life, personal growth, and the fulfillment of individual aspirations. We conducted a discrete choice experiment to assess if happy people are more prone to altruistic choices when buying food. The results indicate that individual happiness exerts distinct effects according to its two dimensions, eudaimonia and hedonism. We found that happiness influences the demand for ethical foods, whereas it exerts a detrimental effect on preferences for food with environmental labels.

Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this study examines the extent to which financial literacy can mitigate financial distress. Employing a “what if” analysis, we simulate the effect of maximizing financial literacy on the likelihood of experiencing financial distress. We show that raising financial literacy to its highest level could prevent financial distress for a group of households facing moderate financial distress. Our results also imply that financial literacy is not a panacea for consumers' financial problems as those facing high risk of financial distress seem to be not affected by financial literacy. Interventions beyond financial literacy might be needed to effectively address financial distress.

Company activities are important contributors to climate change. Consumers take companies' actions toward environment into account when they decide to engage with these companies. We study under which conditions corporate misconduct with respect to climate change outrages consumers, eliciting negative moral emotions. Moreover, we explore the capacity of these negative moral emotions to energize consumer decisions and action tendencies to retaliate against “offending” companies. Testing two moderated mediation models on random samples of 152 adult citizens of the United States and 159 adult citizens of France, we show that negative moral emotions experienced by consumers that witness corporate malfeasance toward the climate determine negative attitudes toward the company and intentions to penalize it. Moreover, for both samples, empathy, collective self, and moral identity moderate the relationship between the perception of corporate irresponsibility and moral emotions, while the effect of political orientation is culturally specific. These findings help to uncover under which conditions consumer hostile responses toward corporate misconduct takes place.

Young people struggle to enter a new capitalist economy characterized by job instability and devalued wages and labor. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this instability, since employment sectors hit hardest by the economic recession affected jobs where young people worked. We study racially marginalized young people's labor market experiences in the United States through in-depth interviews with seven participants conducted between 2019 and 2022, before and during the pandemic. Through coding and analysis, we develop themes of surviving, navigating the labor market, and glimpsing cracks in the capitalist wall. Interviews illustrate how racial capitalism pulls the rug out from under young people while offering illusions of stability through cobbled-together work, benefits, and housing. Young people describe tuning themselves to become better capitalists and shifting their mindset to survive. Even so, young people recognize the pandemic created opportunities to question the status quo and reevaluate their engagements within the current capitalist economy.

Although preventive health technologies are commonly considered as enhancing consumer wellbeing, little is known about their unintended consequences. This paper explores the relationship between consumer engagement (CE) with preventive health technologies and wellbeing, to best understand when engagement is beneficial-versus detrimental-to consumer wellbeing. A thematic analysis of 30 in-depth interviews with users of such technologies reveal that (1) consumers engage with preventive health technologies based on a variety of health goals, (2) specific engagement trajectories result from those contrasting consumer health goals, and (3) the beneficial versus detrimental role of CE with preventive health technologies in consumer wellbeing is conditioned by the type of trajectories consumers engage in. This paper proposes a nuanced perspective by demonstrating that CE with preventive health technologies can be considered a double-edged sword for consumer wellbeing. While these technologies can support healthy routines, they can also lead to maladaptive behavior through over-engagement.

Previous research suggests a negative association between cannabis consumption and consumer mental health, but the magnitude and linearity of this association require further investigation. Therefore, this study analyzed eight suitable national survey datasets from Statistics Canada from 2009 to 2021. In the general population, the mean effect size between cannabis use (yes/no) and self-perceived mental health is negative but very small in magnitude ($��\overline{R}�$ = −0.096). Moreover, in the cannabis user sub-population, the mean effect size between cannabis usage frequency and mental health is small in magnitude ($��\overline{R}�$ = −0.157). More importantly, among cannabis users, a nonlinear negative relationship between cannabis use frequency and mental health was identified. Specifically, as cannabis use becomes more frequent and people's self-perceived mental health worsens, the association becomes stronger. These findings have significant implications for social marketing and health promotion.