International Journal of Consumer Studies最新文献

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).

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the integration of environmental, social, and economic sustainability into business operations to foster positive societal impact. While environmental sustainability has been widely studied, social sustainability in consumer behavior remains underexplored, with existing research scattered and fragmented. This gap makes it challenging to extract meaningful insights and develop a cohesive understanding of the field. To address this gap, the paper systematically synthesizes the available literature on the brand social sustainability domain and consumer behavior by reviewing 90 papers published between 2009 and 2024. This study employs the SPAR 4 protocol and TCCM framework to conduct the domain-based systematic literature review. Further, a bibliometric analysis is conducted using R Studio, Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer, along with a systematic thematic analysis. The systematic thematic analysis uncovers five key themes: brand outcomes of social sustainability, artificial intelligence and brand social sustainability, communicating and marketing socially sustainable brands, brand social sustainability in achieving sustainable development, and consumer behavior and perceptions of brand social sustainability. Additionally, content analysis is employed to examine theoretical perspectives, contextual factors, key variables, and methodological approaches, offering valuable insights into the knowledge dimensions of this field. By consolidating fragmented research, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of brand social sustainability and provides a roadmap for future research, ultimately promoting responsible, ethical, and inclusive business practices. The study also suggests theoretical and managerial implications to contribute meaningfully to the domain of brand social sustainability.

Brand's owned social media (OSM) user engagement has become an influential concept in marketing. The phrase refers to user responses—such as likes, comments, shares, and favorites—to content on brand-controlled platforms, forums, or channels. However, as yet, there is no consensus among scholars about the impact of brand's OSM user engagement on sales. This study is a meta-analysis of 1240 effect size data from 40 publications with a sample size of 1,880,154. The findings show that OSM user engagement has a positive effect on sales. Moderation analysis indicates that this effect depends on factors such as the OSM content, firm-related characteristics (brand type: hedonic vs. utilitarian; product type: service vs. product; product life cycle: new vs. mature products), and social media-related characteristics (platform type: microblogs vs. social networks; platform advertising). Our results reveal that the impact of brand's OSM user engagement on sales is more pronounced and effective for hedonic brands (vs. utilitarian brands), in new products (vs. mature products), in microblogs (vs. social networks), and in the absence of platform advertising (vs. presence of platform advertising). These results provide novel insights into the relationships between brand's OSM user engagement, sales, and other key variables and offer avenues to assist marketers in effectively managing their social media marketing initiatives.

Despite extensive research on advertising appeals, the role of gender in shaping consumer perceptions of the informational and transformational cues used in ads, and how such perceptions influence brand equity variables, remains underexplored. This study applies gender schema theory to examine how these appeals impact brand equity dimensions across male and female audiences. Using a survey-based analysis of UK consumers, this study captures consumer perceptions of the informational and transformational advertising appeals that have been used in actual brand communications of leading TV brands and explores their effects on brand personality, perceived brand quality, company associations, and attitudes toward advertisements. The findings from structural equation modeling reveal that informational appeals are more effective for male audiences in enhancing brand personality, perceived brand quality, and company associations. Conversely, for female audiences, transformational appeals are more effective in improving attitudes toward advertising and brand personality, while performing equally well as informational appeals in fostering positive quality perceptions and strengthening company associations. These findings highlight the importance of aligning advertising strategies with gender-specific cognitive processing patterns, offering valuable insights for optimizing message effectiveness based on audience composition and strategic objectives.

Balancing household consumption and saving has become an increasing concern amid global economic uncertainty. This study conducts a systematic literature review following the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates bibliometric analysis and content analysis grounded in the TCCM framework. A total of 145 peer-reviewed articles published between 1994 and May 2025 in the WoS database were reviewed. Bibliometric results indicate a consistent rise in publications, with the most influential studies published in leading journals and primarily originating from developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Keyword co-occurrence analysis reveals that demographics, income and wealth, uncertainty, life cycle dynamics, and interest rate fluctuations form the foundational research themes. Emerging areas include financial education, behavioral and psychological factors, and cultural differences. Content analysis highlights that the Life Cycle–Permanent Income Hypothesis and the Precautionary Saving Theory are the most frequently applied fundamental theories. Influencing factors are classified into five categories comprising 50 variables: socio-environmental, household economic, demographic, psychological, and attitudinal. Regression analysis based on large-scale secondary datasets remains the dominant methodological approach. Finally, guided by the TCCM framework, this review identifies key theoretical tensions, methodological gaps, and contextual limitations, and outlines a structured research agenda. The findings advance the understanding of household financial behavior and offer actionable insights for policymakers, educators, and financial practitioners.