The evolution of consumer well‐being

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical origins of consumer well‐being as well as the factors that shaped its evolution.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a review of original publications that highlight classic views of consumer well‐being, including schools of thought on functionalism, management, buyer‐behavior, macromarketing, and consumer activism.

Findings

There has been a tendency to understand consumer well‐being as a function of economic‐based choice, where a “more‐is‐better” ideology has motivated much of the extant literature on the topic.

Originality/value

Integrating literature from the twentieth century demonstrates that perspectives on consumer well‐being have been influenced by forces beyond the classic economic model. The paper speculates that incorporating more community‐oriented and contextually‐bound criteria into the understanding of consumer well‐being may yield new research insights.

Citation

Pancer, E. and Handelman, J. (2012), "The evolution of consumer well‐being", Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 177-189. https://doi.org/10.1108/17557501211195118