ChatGPT and consumers: Benefits,Pitfalls and Future Research Agenda

The need of the hour is to encourage research on topics with newness and novelty. In this context, this article discusses multidimensional benefits and potential pitfalls of using artificial intelligence-based Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), and provides numerous ideas for future research in consumer studies and marketing in the context of ChatGPT. ChatGPT provides algorithm-generated conversational responses to text-based prompts. Since its launch in the late 2022, ChatGPT has generated significant debate surrounding its hallmarks, benefits and potential pitfalls. On the one hand, ChatGPT can offer enhanced consumer engagement, improved customer service, personalization and shopping, social interaction and communication practice, cost-effectiveness, insights into consumer behaviour and improved marketing campaigns. On the other hand, potential pitfalls include concerns about consumer well-being, bias, misinformation, lack of context, privacy concerns, ethical considerations and security. The article concludes by outlining a potential future research agenda in the area of ChatGPT and consumer studies. Overall, this article provides valuable insights into the benefits and challenges associated with ChatGPT, shedding light on its potential applications and the need for further research.     

Consumer ethics: A review and research agenda

Consumer ethics continues to draw the attention of academicians and practitioners as a significant economic and social issue globally. Consumer ethics refers to moral principles that govern a consumer's behaviour. This literature review seeks to enrich the discourse on consumer ethics through a comprehensive and detailed review of 106 articles, covering 21 journals from 2010 to 2020. Through an examination of theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies used in consumer ethics research, our review (1) presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the research in this field and (2) sets a future research agenda to spur scholarly research. We found studies have primarily relied on a single theoretical lens such as the theory of marketing ethics, planned behaviour, and neutralization theory. Further consumer ethics research focuses on advanced countries, with a narrow focus on developing countries. We have diagnosed the need to examine boundary conditions impacting consumer ethics. Finally, we provide actionable inputs to combat unethical consumer actions as well as promote ethical consumption.     

Intergenerational income mobility and economic freedom

Numerous studies have found that income inequality reduces the chances of upward relative mobility (i.e., climbing up the income ladder). However, most of this work ignores the role played by institutional quality (namely, economic freedom) in determining mobility and increasing the individual's set of choices. We fill this gap by empirically testing the direct and indirect (through economic growth) impacts of economic freedom on intergenerational income mobility. We find that economic freedom has both direct and indirect effects on intergenerational income mobility, while income inequality is a strong predictor of downward income mobility. When we incorporate findings about the purely mechanical relationship between inequality and intergeneration income mobility, we find that the legal system and property rights component of economic freedom matters more than inequality. These results suggest that good institutions can increase intergenerational income mobility.     

Status motives and agent-to-agent information sharing

Review of Accounting Studies - Although decision-making within firms improves when agents share information with one another, agents often have limited motivation to share because doing so takes...