The Characteristics Of Transformative Consumer Research And How It Can Contribute To And Enhance Consumer Psychology

Journal of Consumer Psychology

Transformative Consumer Research is a relatively new academic movement whose overall mission is to encourage, support, and disseminate research that contributes to the well-being of consumers, environments, and societies around the world (Mick, 2006). Researchers seek to examine real-world phenomena experienced by people in specific contexts, to identify feasible courses of action that can either improve or detract from well-being, considering not only the individual, but also larger social groups including families, communities, regions, countries, and the world and environment at large, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups (Davis, Ozanne, & Hill, 2016; Mick, 2006). Transformative Consumer Research has a tradition of using a broad theoretical lens and a wide array of epistemological approaches that stem from psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, strategy, marketing, and other disciplines (Davis & Cornelia, 2013; Davis et al., 2016).