A Review of Past Trends, Recent Developments and Future Directions in Consumer Research
Keywords:
Consumer Research, Empirical Phase, Formative Phase, Positivist, NeopositivistAbstract
According to Kotler, a product/service is any thing that seeks to satisfy a need or a want. Going by the traditional definition, if we were to go into a store or shop only when we needed to buy something, and if once there, we bought only what we needed, the economy would collapse! Since this is not the case with developed as well as the developing countries, today the science of buying/shopping is a force to reckon with.
"The whole world is a stage and each one of us an actor" - so said Shakespeare. Studying each individual through his/ her consumption pattern and playing with various permutations and combinations can give an approximation into the consumer behavior at large. So where do we start? The present can be viewed as an entity only when compared with the past and extrapolated to the future. Otherwise any study in our context remains incomplete without its normative validation. Therefore this study begins with the history of consumer research. To study any topic in detail, the topic needs to be defined and its boundaries outlined; in order to refrain ourselves from deviating from the topic.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
It is herein agreed that:
1.I/We will not publish above said contribution anywhere else without the prior written permission of the publisher unless it has been changed substantially.
2.I/ We declare and warrant that the shared contribution is original, excerpts for such excerpts from copyrighted works as may be included with the permission of the copyright holder and author thereof, that it contains no libelous statements, and does not infringe on any copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, proprietary right of others. The author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors.
3.The author also warrants that he/ she has the right to enter into this agreement, the research paper/ book review/ articlecontains no libelous or unlawful statements, contains no instructions that may cause harm or injury and does not violate the copyright or trademark, or infringes on the right or the privacy or others; and that all statements in the article asserted as facts are either true or are based upon reasonable research.
4.I/ We agree to indemnify the Editors of IMR against all claims and expenses arising from any breach of warranty from me/us in this agreement.
References
Arndt, Johan, 1986. "Paradigms in Consumer Research: A review of perspectives and approaches."
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 20 (N0.8), pp. 23
Belk, Russell W. 1995. "Studies in the New Consumer Behavior." In acknowledging consumption: A Review Of New studies. Ed. Daniel Miller. London: Routledge.
Brown, Stephen, 1993. "Postmodern Marketing" European Journal of Marketing, Vol.27 (4), pp.19-34.
Ekstrom, Karin M. 2003, "Revisiting the family tree: Historical and Future Consumer Behavior Research, "Academy of Marketing Science Review, Vol.1, pp.1 31.
Firat, A. Fuat and Venkatesh, A.1995. "Liberatory Postmodernism and the Reenchantment of Consumption" Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 22, pp.239-267.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C.I 985. "Scientific Style and the conduct of Consumer Research" Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 12 (September), pp. 225 -239.
Holbrook, Morris B.1987. "What is Consumer Research?" Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, (June): pp. 128-132.
Holbrook, Morris B.2000, 'Consumer Research: Introspective essays on the study of consumption'. Sage publication, N. Delhi.
Hunt, Shelby D, 1991. "Positivism and Paradigm Dominance in Consumer Research: Toward Critical Pluralism and Rapprochement", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 (June): pp. 32-44.
Sherry, John F.,Jr, 1991. "Postmodern Alternatives: The interpretative Turn in Consumer Research," in Handbook of Consumer Research, ed. Harold H. Kassarjian and Thomas Robertson, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 548-591.
