Marketing to Evolving Consumers

Introduction

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Special issue of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour; Deadline 15 Aug 2023

INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Journals

Author: Ashley Hass

SPECIAL ISSUE – CALL FOR PAPERS

Guest Editors

Siti Aqilah Jahari, Monash University, aqilah.jahari@monash.edu
Ashley Hass, University of Portland, hassa@up.edu

Submission Window: July 15th, 2023-August 15th, 2023

Marketing to Evolving Consumers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

“It is no longer enough to satisfy your customers. You must delight them” – Philip Kotler

The statement made by the renowned scholar, Philip Kotler, signifies how imperative it is to understand the needs and wants of consumers; failing which would be detrimental to the viability of the business.

Consumption behavior has changed drastically with the evolution of the marketplace in the last decade. From the conveniences of online shopping to receiving personalized content on digital platforms, consumers are getting accustomed to a hassle-free lifestyle. This is further proliferated by the pandemic whereby consumption on online platforms has skyrocketed with reports stating an increase of 43% e-commerce sales in 2020 among American consumers (Brewster, 2020). Hence, there seems to be evidence that alludes to the linkage between technology advancement and consumers’ wellbeing.

The good of marketing translates in the creation of new products and services that help to improve the overall being of consumers. For instance, Apple has been successful in creating a software that is intuitive for consumers to use their iPhones, making it easy for consumers of varied tech-savvy levels. On another spectrum, the emergence of immersive technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, metaverse, and mixed reality are some of the recent developments aimed at improving consumer engagement and consumer journey while enhancing their experiences (Grewal et al., 2022; Moriuchi, 2019; Nguyen et al., 2022; Trivedi et al., 2022). Nguyen et al. (2022) found that the use of artificial intelligence in hotels enhances the experiences of consumers to such an extent that they are willing to advocate for the brand. In a similar vein, Moriuchi (2019) found that the use of voice assistant technology such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa is more prevalent for habitual purchases as these transactions involve less cognitive process. As new age technologies emerge and evolve, so does consumption behavior. Yet, the role of new age technologies in improving the quality of life of consumers remains largely unexplored (Kumar et al., 2021). While beliefs and values of consumers are difficult to change due to their inherent nature, technological disruptions as well as external forces (i.e., pandemic and economic changes) are some of the drivers of change (Boyle et al., 2022; Sohn et al., 2022; Sheth, 2020; Yazdanparast & Alhenawi, 2022). The rise of digital transformation, coupled with the evolving consumer demand for technology-oriented products and services (Kumar et al., 2021) suggests that there is room for exploration in the realm of digital technologies and innovation, and how this influences consumption behavior.

Although the purpose of marketing is to fundamentally satisfy the needs of consumers through value creation, it has also contributed to social and environmental problems (Mohr, 2019). The same tool that can be used to solve problems can also inflict wider social implications such as unsustainable and unhealthy behaviors stemming from wastage (Wakefield & Axon, 2020), overconsumption (Frick et al., 2021), compulsive and addictive behaviors (Wei et al., 2017), and socially inept behaviors (Kowert & Oldmeadow, 2013), among others. For instance, while social media applications are effective tools to engage consumers, excessive use of social networking sites has been found to trigger financial anxiety that comes with online compulsive behaviour among young consumers (She et al., 2021), thus demonstrating its negative effect on consumer wellbeing. Likewise, while new applications such as digital contact tracing applications are developed to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, consumers expressed distrust over how data is being stored, used and managed by the government which may potentially violate the privacy of consumers (Jahari et al., 2022). As information becomes readily accessible in the digital realm, discerning between real and fake news becomes a challenge for consumers (Di Domenico et al., 2021), posing a potential threat to political, economic, and social well-being of consumers. Importantly, these incidences reflect the perils of marketing that are inherent in the marketplace and need to be addressed by scholars.

While the good and the bad represent the tension in marketing, the ugly represents the way marketers can take advantage of vulnerable situations. Marketers may partake in unethical conduct, such as intentionally violating consumers’ privacy or knowingly withholding information of how products and services can negatively impact consumers’ lives and well-being. For example, research withheld by a major social media platform showed how social media can have a negative impact on vulnerable groups such as teens and children. Individuals are stepping up and stepping forward as with the case of Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, who testified in front of the United States Congress and European Union Parliament and called for meaningful reform to protect consumers (Zakrzewski & Stein, 2021). In response to unethical conduct, consumers are responding more aggressively as a form of retaliation by boycotting brands (Makarem & Hae, 2016; Wilson et al., 2022) or hijacking brands’ hashtag campaigns on digital platforms (Gilkerson & Berg, 2018; Truong et al., 2022) or reprimanding public figures (e.g. social media influencers, celebrities) through cancel culture (Saldanha et al., 2022; Lee & Abidin, 2021). With digital technologies, consumers’ voice is amplified and such a shift in powerplay signifies how consumers are demanding for greater transparency and accountability from brands and public figures alike. This is also an area that the special issue seeks to uncover that relates to the ugly of marketing.

Indeed, marketing is a double-edged sword. Hence, the special issue aims to highlight the importance of addressing both sides of the coin; the positive whereby marketing provides solutions to address consumer needs, as well as the dark side of marketing whereby marketing contributes to unhealthy behaviors. Potential papers can address either side of the coin to uncover ways to reduce the tension or paradox. We invite submissions of possible topics related to questions such as, but not limited to:

  • Consumer well-being
  • Social causes and consumers boycotting brands
  • Deployment of augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and voice assistants in enhancing consumer quality of life
  • How artificial intelligence shapes consumer journeys
  • Web 3.0 and metaverse points of caution, considerations, and opportunities
  • Consumer privacy concerns and ethics
  • Overconsumption and consumer wastage
  • Sustainable Consumption
  • Consumer addictions
  • Misinformation & fake news
  • Cancel culture
  • Consumer activism
  • Consumer resilience in the face of adversity

Submissions focusing on scale development of consumer behavior constructs, systematic reviews of consumer behavior theories, proposing new theories, or extending previous theories from other fields into the consumer behavior realm are highly encouraged. Considerations for contextual nuances that may challenge or cause disruptions to consumption behavior are also welcome. Finally, we strongly encourage the use of multi-study and multi-method approaches for empirical papers.

Submission Criteria

Please address the submission criteria on a separate document from the manuscript.

  • First author should be a current doctoral student or a PhD graduate during/after Spring 2021.
  • The submission needs to clearly specify how their research contributes to consumer behavior theory and practice.
  • The submission must include a statement of eligibility that clearly explains how the authors meet the submission criteria.
  • The Journal of Consumer Behaviour encourages multiple studies research and multimethod research manuscripts.

Submission

All manuscripts submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or be currently under consideration elsewhere.

Manuscripts should be submitted in accordance with the JCB author guidelines online at

All submissions should be made via the online submission system and should be made to the special issue, which is identified on the submission site.

Submission Deadline: August 15th, 2023

t the Guest Editors

Dr. Siti Aqilah Jahari is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Monash University, where she also earned her Ph.D. Her research area focuses on consumer’s vulnerability and empowerment, ethical and responsible consumption, digitalization as well as tourism marketing. Her work has been published in Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Tourism Management and Tourism Recreation Research. She serves the Higher Education Special Interest Group as the Vice Chair of International Relations and Journal of Consumer Behaviour as a member of the Editorial Review Board.

Dr. Ashley Hass is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Pamplin School of Business at the University of Portland, Oregon, USA. She earned her Ph.D. in marketing at Texas Tech University, USA and her MBA from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX, USA. Her research interests rest at the intersection of digital marketing and consumer wellness. Specifically she is passionate about how digital technology impacts consumers’ digital and social media wellness. Her research has been published in the Journal of Macromarketing, the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, the Journal of Consumer Marketing, and Marketing Education Review, among others. She is the Vice Chair of Membership for the ’s Higher Education Special Interest Groups and serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Consumer Behaviour. She is the recipient of the Helen DeVitt Jones Excellence in Teaching Award at Texas Tech University in 2022.

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