Research in Consumer Behavior (Vol. 9)

Citation

Bednall, D. (2001), "Research in Consumer Behavior (Vol. 9)", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 67-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsm.2001.15.1.67.1

I began to worry when reading, “The authors were part of a 17‐person, multicultural, bi‐gender research group ... a mobile video crew of three, two observers of Aboriginal descent, two Australian professors, two American professors, and one Danish ... the remaining seven were Australian university undergraduate and graduate students.” But I needn’t have worried. The study which Belk and his colleagues describe is thorough, insightful and respectful of their aboriginal subjects – a triumph of the ethnographer’s art. This first article sets the tone for the remaining articles. No simplistic treatment of cultures in transition here, but an earnest account of how traditional and non‐traditional aboriginal cultures simultaneously assimilate elements of consumer culture, while being changed or even threatened by them.

Alexander and colleagues have an interesting albeit limited view of judo consumers in US and Japanese cultures, demonstrating that, although artefacts and rituals may cross cultures, their meanings can be very different. The Japanese bow to greet each other in Judo, the Americans bow to their judo opponents to observe the ritual but also feel the need to shake hands.

Joy’s “works of art” has much to say about commercial and other pressures on what artists produce, but her piece says little about consumer behaviour. Baker and Martin’s piece on the culture of sports card collectors uses ethnographic methods to depict a broader notion of exchange that goes beyond utility theory into the realms of social and experiential value.

Moschis reviews methods for researching consumer behaviour in later life, advocating a modified “life course” approach in which consumers are followed as their life turns into middle and older age. Sayre and Horne have a more practical method piece on an interviewing method where an actor records questions on video, to which the interviewee responds. They claim that such a technique has potential in cases where privacy, sensitivity or intrusion‐into‐grief make other methods of data collection less insightful or revealing. Walle claims that the methods of literary criticism can provide useful insights for consumer behaviour researchers, but needs some more convincing examples.

The highlight piece is Hill et al.’s attempt at distinguishing arousal from affect and, using this theory, building a unified approach to consumer learning, attitude change and involvement. This paper should spawn a whole new series of research papers. Lehtonen also advances theory development with a largely speculative piece about the role of self‐discipline in consumer behaviour, noting how consumers place “moral” limits on their giving in to consumer pleasures and that this degree of control is in itself satisfying.

The book has no foreword or any attempt to discuss or justify the selection of articles. Apart from Cohen and Darian’s limited study of consumer inconsistency in using disposable consumer products while holding pro‐environmental attitudes, all show insights that sit well with the work of Belk and his co‐editors. The book should be of interest to consumer behaviour theorists looking for new qualitative approaches or those who have an interest in the mainly esoteric areas of consumer behaviour the book covers. If there were courses of advanced research methods in consumer behaviour, this book would be ideal.