International Journal of Consumer Studies最新文献

This study explores the intersection of gender and consumer behaviour within the food sector through a comprehensive review of 257 documents from the Web of Science database spanning 1999 to 2023. It identifies trends, themes, and emerging interests, underscoring how gender-specific dietary preferences, perceptions of food safety, and sustainability reflect broader societal norms and attitudes. The results reveal a significant annual growth rate in publications, highlighting an escalating scholarly interest in the relationship between gender and consumer behaviour within the food sector. This increasing focus is reflected in the thematic evolution detected through keyword co-occurrence and co-citation analyses. The findings underscore the dynamic interplay between established and emerging research areas, revealing a landscape where inquiries into food consumption's socio-economic and cultural dimensions complement traditional dietary studies. Building on these insights, we recommend further exploration of these complex interactions through interdisciplinary research, integrating more nuanced gender analyses to inform targeted interventions and policymaking. This approach enriches our understanding and enhances the practical implications for addressing contemporary challenges in food consumption and consumer behaviour.

Ethnocentrism is a delusional belief that one's ethnic group is central and superior to others, often shaping individuals' perceptions of cultural and economic interactions. In consumer behavior, such ethnocentric attitudes manifest in reluctance or refusal to purchase foreign-made products, as domestic goods are perceived as more acceptable or morally preferable. Closely related, but distinct, consumer animosity involves negative emotions or hostility directed toward a specific country, company, or brand—typically due to historical, political, or economic grievances—which can also significantly influence purchasing decisions. In fact, a substantial body of literature has sought to explain ethnocentric consumption patterns through the lens of animosity toward foreign entities, leading to a marked expansion of research in this area. However, there is a noticeable lack of effort in reviewing this evolving field of research. To address this gap, this review employs the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Method (TCCM) framework to examine 164 articles on the relationship between ethnocentrism and consumer animosity published between 1987 and 2024. It covers the main theories (i.e., widely used theories explaining the focused phenomenon), contexts (i.e., industries, countries, religion, culture), characteristics (i.e., dependent variables, independent variables, control variables, mediators, and moderators), and methods (i.e., research approaches, data collection, analysis techniques) used. The review highlights a strong reliance on single-theory approaches, with 106 distinct theories identified across the studies. Among these, Social Identity Theory emerges as the most frequently applied framework. The review also shows a notable emphasis on contexts involving foreign products, domestic goods, and boycott-related industries, which receive more attention than other sectors. Additionally, the literature demonstrates considerable engagement with diverse religious and cultural contexts, encompassing a broad range of countries. Moreover, the characteristics identified in the reviewed studies were systematically classified, allowing for a clearer understanding of the conceptual landscape. This classification sheds light on the various constructs used to explain the relationship between ethnocentrism and consumer animosity. Finally, the review reveals a dominant preference for quantitative research approaches within the field. Altogether, this systematic analysis and synthesis of relevant articles provides an overview of this research field, establishes avenues for future research within the TCCM framework, and offers profound insights for practitioners.

Over the past 40 years, microfinance has been widely used to support self-employment, reduce poverty, and empower economically disadvantaged groups. As microfinance products target underserved individuals and households, this research critically explores their impact on consumers' economic behavior, access to services, and well-being. This paper systematically reviews the microfinance literature from 1982 to 2023, applying the ADO (antecedents, decisions, and outcomes) and TCM (theories, contexts, and methods) frameworks. This study employs bibliometric analysis as the primary method, complemented by systematic literature review (SLR) principles to ensure a structured and comprehensive examination. Findings synthesized through the ADO-TCM framework offer a comprehensive analysis of the trends and gaps in, and the impacts of microfinance studies. Key findings include the identification of three principal research areas: financial inclusion as a foundational antecedent, sustainability, and governance mechanisms driving institutional decisions, and poverty alleviation as a measurable outcome of microfinance programs. This dual approach offers a nuanced perspective on microfinance, examining the adaptability of financial solutions and the contextual limitations that affect their impact. The study contributes to the field by refining the ADO-TCM framework, bridging theoretical constructs and practical applications, and pinpointing critical research gaps, such as the need for gender-sensitive models and psychological studies of group lending. Our bibliometric analysis highlights trends, identifies research gaps, and organizes the literature into themes: financial inclusion, institutional sustainability, and poverty alleviation. Content analyses reveal core research streams and provide a conceptual framework for ADO, along with associated TCM. The review identifies significant issues, such as debt dependency, mixed sociocultural impacts, and sustainability concerns, offering a balanced assessment for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. These insights advance our understanding of microfinance dynamics and propose actionable directions for future research. This comprehensive overview lays a foundation for future research, promoting an informed understanding of microfinance's potential and its limitations as a tool for financial inclusion and how these affect the consumption behavior, risk mitigation, and financial inclusion of low-income consumers.

Research on intrahousehold financial management has continued to gain momentum. The purpose of the present research is to provide a panoramic view of this domain under one roof by comprehending the intrahousehold financial management (IFM) processes, which include income organization, money management systems, financial management role involvement, and control over finances within romantic relationships. This systematic literature review adopted the PRISMA protocol to identify 87 research papers published from 1987 to June 2024, acquired from the Scopus database. The bibliometric analysis is used to identify publication trends and major publication outlets. Further, the integrated theories, contexts, and methods—antecedents, decisions, and outcomes (TCM-ADO) framework is used to locate TCM in IFM research. This review reveals 47 different antecedents classified based on four broad categories: demographic and socio-economic characteristics, psychological characteristics, personality and relationship processes; decisions; and outcomes of IFM such as relationship processes (e.g., relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and marital intent) and individual well-being (e.g., satisfaction with finances, consumption share, equality, and autonomy). Notably, the research also highlights inconsistencies leading to non-consensus in findings, with possible explanations and areas overlooked. These limitations underscore the need for researchers to adopt multidimensional approaches to assimilate the nuances of IFM further. To overcome identified literature gaps, the review demonstrates future research directions corresponding to the dimensions of the TCM-ADO framework. Besides, the present research aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and can help financial counselors, relationship therapists, and policymakers promote well-being (SDG-3) and gender equality (SDG-10).

The rapid development of metaverse technologies is poised to transform consumer behavior and marketing strategies, yet empirical research on this topic remains limited. To fill this gap, the study aimed to systematically explore the existing academic research on the metaverse's influence on consumer behavior in the broader management context. Utilizing the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, 48 eligible articles were assessed and selected based on inclusion criteria focusing on studies examining the influence of the metaverse and providing empirical (quantitative or qualitative) evidence. Additionally, the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methods (TCCM) framework was employed to comprehensively analyze existing studies. The review identified key trends, theories, and methodological approaches used in metaverse research. Our findings revealed a significant lack of empirical studies and highlighted the need to integrate metaverse technologies more effectively into consumer behavior research. The study also offers specific insights into the influence of immersive experiences, technological acceptance, and interaction patterns on consumer behavior. By highlighting these research gaps and proposing a future research agenda that includes diverse contexts and methodologies, this paper provides a comprehensive roadmap for advancing metaverse and consumer behavior research. This study contributes to both consumer behavior and metaverse literature by offering actionable directions for future research and enhancing understanding in this emerging field.

Drawing on persuasion theory and the affect transfer hypothesis, this study explores how affection for social media influencers mediates and moderates followers' content perception (entertainment and informational value) and purchase intent. Using a dataset of 6633 French female followers across fashion, beauty, sports, news, and personal development sectors, and analyzed via PLS-SEM, results show affection's dual role. Information quality enhances affection, whereas entertainment compensates for low affection, especially among younger followers in beauty and fashion. Information quality, entertainment, and affection explain purchase intent across sectors, with older users valuing information quality more and showing higher purchase intent.

Gratitude—often identified as a feeling of thankfulness or appreciativeness—is important to individual happiness, well-being, and numerous other positive outcomes. Yet surprisingly little is known about the impact of gratitude on the consumer decision-making process, particularly its underlying mechanisms, relative to normative decision-making. Specifically, the current research examines the process by which grateful consumers make decisions and the quality of those decisions in relation to similar constructs, such as “happiness” and “best-possible-self.” Across five studies conducted in the United States, the authors examined the unique influence of gratitude on various consumer decisions, including financial decisions, prosocial giving, and healthy food choices. First, a week-long field study using a gratitude diary, rather than a happiness or best-selves diary, found that gratitude impacted higher-quality decisions, despite all three diaries enhancing feelings of positive emotions (study 1). Next, gratitude influenced health and consumption behaviors (study 2), mediated by specific positive emotions of determination and inspiration, while also reducing negative feelings of guilt and anxiety (study 3). These mediated emotions led to greater deliberation (i.e., careful consideration) towards a healthy eating food choice (study 4). Lastly, temporal focus enhanced (present focus) and mitigated (future focus) gratitude's impact on decision-making (study 5).