Adult consumer education across Europe – redressing the market or reaching the vulnerable consumer

Consumer education is an important EU and United Nations priority. In most countries’ formal education systems, it is not a single discipline in its own right, but a cross‐curricular subject involving many areas of the school curriculum. Adult consumers are expected to be critical and informed consumers but may not know how to acquire the appropriate skills. The formal school system in many countries has failed to deliver these skills and values and adults need consumer education through both formal and informal means. With increasingly varied societies consumer education will help to produce active socially responsible citizens and citizenship is an essential element of the delivery of consumer education to adults. It is particularly important that consumer education should reach the vulnerable groups in society. Increasing globalisation and business power necessitate ethical and sustainable business practices; an informed, educated and empowered consumer will strengthen the market place to the benefit of both consumers and business. Unlike school education, adult education across Europe is fragmented with a mixture of formal education, including training for vocational qualifications, continuing and community education, and informal education, an essential contributor to life‐long learning delivered through media, women's groups, consumer groups and many other large and small organisations. The issues have been addressed by the EU Socrates supported CEA (Consumer Education for Adults) project which has 10 partners from 7 European countries drawn from non‐government organisations, teacher training and adult education institutions, universities and research institutes. The project has produced a training manual for adult consumer education, a training module, piloted in Vienna, which includes a handbook of teaching materials and a video, and has initiated a dialogue between consumers, consumer educators, business and producers.     

Critical consumer issues in St. Lucia: an examination of consumer challenges and related learning among rural adults according to income levels

Consumer education is a relatively new and growing interest in St. Lucia. Neither the government nor the National Consumer Association has established a consumer education programme to address the growing consumer concerns in the country. The purpose of this study was to examine critical consumer issues, related learning challenges and strategies among rural adults in St. Lucia according to income levels. Rural adult consumers are most disadvantaged in terms of levels of education, income and access to resources, which may help to prevent and mediate consumer concerns. The specific research questions examined were: (1) What is the nature of problems experienced by rural St. Lucian adult consumers in the marketplace? (2) How do rural St. Lucian adult consumers solve the challenges they encounter in the marketplace? (3) What is it like for rural St. Lucian adult consumers as they go about trying to learn to solve the consumer issues they face? and (4) What do rural St. Lucian adult consumers perceive to be the requisites for effective decision making in the marketplace? Data were collected using a questionnaire comprising of 29 questions divided into four sections (problems, strategies, solving consumer problems and making effective decisions) and two biographical questions. A total of 500 rural adult consumers were surveyed verbally through door‐to‐door contact. The findings of this study revealed that middle‐income rural adult consumers experience more problems in the marketplace than those with each lower or higher level of income. Middle‐income rural adult St. Lucian consumers in particular seek more information and are comfortable with using more strategies than the lower‐ and higher‐income rural adult consumers. This research gives us a better understanding of the problems faced by rural adult consumers based on their income. Research results will be useful to the government of St. Lucia and the National Consumer Association when they decide to establish an adult consumer education programme for St. Lucia.     

Teaching financial literacy: a survey of community‐based educators

A nationwide online survey of financial educators in adult community‐based financial education programmes in the US was conducted to examine teaching beliefs, related curriculum and teaching strategies used to reach underserved populations. A transformative learning theoretical framework was used to discover how financial education engages learners in relation to their own lives. Survey findings indicate in community‐based settings financial educators are largely White, female, college educated and with multiple years of experience; believe their role is to provide expert information to help learners make informed financial choices; and often adapt published materials to reflect the life circumstances of learners. Learners are more racially diverse than educators, most having attended high school, who identify their own financial need to attend the programmes. Programmes do not often target specific groups, are frequently free and can take place in a variety of face‐to‐face settings. Implications indicate best practices for financial educators require inclusive, culturally responsive pedagogies.     

Pre‐schoolers,parents and supermarkets: co‐shopping as a social practice

The objective of this paper was to examine the co‐shopping practices of children and parents in supermarkets, i.e. the practical enactment of grocery shopping. Our special focus is on how informal consumer training occurs during parent–child interaction. We use observational data collected in spring 2008 in different Estonian supermarkets, post‐shopping interviews with parents and focus group interviews with their children. Our analysis is informed by practice theory, which helps to look in detail at how the activities in a particular situation are coordinated by understandings and procedures, and are guided by the engagement in a particular shopping trip. Co‐shopping interactions mostly revolve around particular material objects, although not exclusively. Product choice is a deeply contested area, where both parents and children face numerous pressures in this situation of two‐way socialization. There are implications for consumer education more broadly. To accomplish lasting and meaningful effects on the everyday lives of families, there has to be a wider range of actors – supermarkets, producers, governmental bodies, schools and families – who care about both formal and informal consumer education.     

An investigative study of adult consumer education and lifelong learning needs in the United Kingdom and Latvia

Consumer education in Latvia is in the early stages of development and should be seen in the context of the rapidly changing society in the post‐Soviet era and the increasing influence of the marketplace, and Latvia's position as a new accession country. The Latvia University of Agriculture is in the process of developing an adult consumer education programme. A comparative study between the UK and Latvia was designed to test the hypothesis that many adult consumers lack knowledge and understanding of their consumer rights and responsibilities. A sample of adults in both countries completed a consumer rights questionnaire investigating attitude, knowledge and critical thinking ability. The UK questionnaire was modified, taking into account the different consumer environment in the two countries, to compare the need for adult consumer education in Latvia and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom results showed that the group overall were not confident that they knew enough about consumer rights and legislation or to resolve consumer problems and were unsure about their consumer responsibilities. Levels of knowledge were poor, leaving adults vulnerable to exploitation in the marketplace, uninformed about their responsibilities to voice dissatisfaction about goods and services, and unaware of how their consumer behaviour can affect the wider community. Adult participants in Latvia thought that they lacked education in consumer legal rights and responsibilities and did not have the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to manage consumer problems effectively. Results in both countries indicate that adult consumer education is needed, supplemented by a comprehensive package of adult consumer education. Despite the cultural differences between the two countries, the analysis showed that similar adult consumer skills and attitudes were needed. This joint research has shown that this methodology could be used to determine adult consumer and life‐long consumer education needs in other European countries and internationally.     

Consumer education between ‘consumership’ and citizenship: experiences from studies of young people

The aim of consumer education has been mainly to teach and educate students to act as informed, rational and prudent consumers. This perception of consumption as reasoned behaviour or action is inadequate in the late modern society, where consumerism is first and foremost characterized by globalization, cultural change and the liberation of the individual. The results of a research study involving Danish pupils aged 12–19 years present a picture of consumption connected both to material and non‐material aspects of life. Consumption as such has a significant impact on and meaning for the individual: it becomes a means by which human beings communicate and interact. Consumption is part of children's and young people's education and socialization, and plays a role in the development of identity and self‐image. Institutional consumer enlightenment and the education of students in school stand in contrast to informal consumer socialization and the education of individuals. The aim of formal consumer education may be described as ‘educating for critical consumer awareness and action competence’. However consumer education finds itself in the dilemma between ‘consumership’ and ‘citizenship’. This pilot study is aimed at understanding consumer socialization in order to improve formal consumer education and to reflect on how empowerment becomes part of consumer education.     

Framing consumer education conceptual innovations as consumer activism

This position paper developed the argument that creating innovative and forward‐thinking conceptual approaches to consumer education is a proactive process, the trademark of consumer activism. Assuming that (re)conceptualizing consumer education is a form of consumer activism, this article identified the conceptual contributions and intellectual innovations of 24 consumer education initiatives in North America (1962–2012). Using an historical analysis method, this study profiled consumer educators who tried to stay ahead of the curve by creating leading‐edge approaches to socializing people into their consumer role. In effect, they were expressing their personal and intellectual convictions about the potential and possibilities of consumer education as a means to promote change to protect and empower people in their consumer‐citizen role.     

Advances in consumer education: European initiatives

The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of developments in consumer education in the European Union and to present future directions for policy and research. The article responds to a call for more consumer education and the promotion of sustainable consumption. It makes a case for the benefits of studying the dynamic multi‐country process of developing coordinated consumer education curriculum and resources involving academics, government officials and non‐governmental organizations, ultimately affecting millions of students. The review of select initiatives, questions posed and subsequent recommendations highlights the complexity of the issues surrounding economic viability and the pedagogical and social value of transnational consumer education initiatives.     

Netnography as a consumer education research tool

‘Netnography’ is a research methodology in use since the late 1990s in the fields of consumer behaviour and marketing, but not fully utilized by researchers in the field of consumer education. This article argues that netnography is a helpful research tool for consumer education researchers who are interested in capturing and critically examining the education and learning occurring in informal sites of consumer education, especially in online communities. This article also presents an example of recent research conducted using netnography to understand how readers of the informal consumer education lifestyle magazine Budget Living created their own interpretations of meaning from the magazine.     

Business‐to‐Business Branding: A Review and Assessment of the Impact of Non‐Attribute‐Based Brand Beliefs on Buyer's Attitudinal Loyalty

Business‐to‐business branding has received increasing attention from researchers in the last few years. Nonetheless, there is no agreement on the relative contribution of a brand versus an offering's functional attributes to the industrial buyer's preferences. Drawing on models from the business‐to‐consumer context, this paper demonstrates that non‐attribute‒based brand beliefs are predictors of hedonic outcomes as measured by industrial buyers' attitudinal loyalty, while attribute‐based brand beliefs are not. Moreover, the moderating role of the buyer's level of knowledge for the value‐generating process is identified, suggesting that the impact of non‐attribute‒based brand beliefs on attitudinal loyalty is greater for buyers with a low level of knowledge. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can conscious consumption be learned? The role of Hungarian consumer protection education in becoming conscious consumers

The purpose of this research is to examine how consumer consciousness can be defined, along what dimensions it might be measured and, according to these dimensions, how conscious Hungarian university students are. In addition, it is also discussed how their consumer protection education might contribute to their consumer consciousness. Two hypotheses have been proposed concerning factors potentially affecting conscious consumer behaviour (gender; participation in consumer protection education). To test these hypotheses, a questionnaire survey has been conducted with a total of 280 respondents, whom are undergraduate students of a Hungarian university. It is found that different aspects of consciousness dominate the consumer decisions of females and males. Female respondents appear to be characterized more by hedonistic consumption but they are more price sensitive than males. Veblen effect is stronger for males, and they have greater trust in well‐known brands. Although the survey revealed that both research variables might affect consumer behaviour (not only gender but the participation in consumer protection education as well), the role of education cannot be unambiguously identified in the process of establishing consumer consciousness. On the one hand, the results show that the behaviour of ‘trained’ consumers is mainly characterized by price sensitiveness, while the other (‘non‐educated’) group is more reliant on marketing and brands. However, on the other hand, it might also be concluded that young adults participating in the survey already have their own consumer habits and preferences; therefore, their consumer behaviour is more difficult to be formed by means of education during their university years. These findings are nevertheless limited to Hungarian university students and cannot be generalized to the entire society or other countries.     

Ideological maps of consumer education

The case is made for the merit of discovering and owning the ideological and paradigmatic underpinnings of consumer‐related education initiatives. After briefly profiling two camps of dominant and contending/emergent world views (ideologies and attendant paradigms), two ideological maps of consumer education are developed and applied, providing a scaffold for future deliberations about the import of world views in consumer education.     

Financial literacy education and behaviour unhinged: combating bias and poor product design

The growth of products available in the consumer financial market has provided more choice and formal control over household financial decisions than ever before. Financial literacy education programs are generally assumed to improve consumer behaviour in relation to financial products and services. However, there is scant evidence that demonstrates the causal link between education, literacy and behaviour. Through the use of a sample study, we show that the actions of individuals who are financially literate do not necessarily mean they will demonstrate good financial behaviour. We propose that in order to improve the financial behaviour of consumers, two critical areas need to be addressed. Firstly, the objectives of financial literacy programs should be not only to educate consumers about financial markets and products but highlight to individuals the psychological biases and limitations that they as humans cannot easily avoid. Secondly, the regulation of financial products sold to consumers needs alteration to meet the aim of protecting retail consumers from complex financial products that are confusing, ambiguous and inappropriate. We propose regulation and redesign of product information offerings using techniques employed in ecological interface design models to derive a suitability test for consumer financial products.     

How Do You Know That? The Epistemology of Consumer Health Decision Making under Conditions of Risk–Benefit Conflict

Consumers are confronted with conflicting health information in the form of risks and benefits on a regular basis. One way to understand how different consumers handle the challenge of this conflicting information is by considering consumers’ epistemic beliefs, that is, their beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing. In two studies, it is shown that both measured and manipulated epistemic beliefs similarly influence consumer assessments of conflicting risk–benefit health information through two epistemic dimensions—texture (simple or complex) and variability (stable or dynamic). Moderated mediation findings indicate that those who were presented risk–benefit information about health‐related products and diets that were perceived as being less (more) familiar had a lower (greater) likelihood of using the product or following the diet through the mediators of thinking about both the risks and the benefits involved, for several of the moderating variability and texture epistemic beliefs. The contribution of this research is to show how epistemic beliefs can differentially frame and inform consumer perceptions and evaluations of conflicted health information.     

Do Consumers Acculturated to Global Consumer Culture Buy More Impulsively? The Moderating Role of Attitudes towards and Beliefs about Advertising

This research advances knowledge that can foster understanding of how global consumer culture (GCC) and its elements relate to impulsive buying and sheds light on how advertising attitudes and beliefs interact with this main relationship. Specifically, this study examines the moderating effects of attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising on the relations between consumers’ level of acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC) and impulsive buying. Consumers who are the most acculturated to GCC, and who have positive attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising, buy the most impulsively. AGCC is related to increased impulsive buying, even when attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising are negative. The article contributes to the development of a theoretical explanation of these understudied relations by employing acculturation theory and congruity theory. Social and practical implications are discussed.     

Adolescent consumers: reaching them,border crossings and pedagogical challenges

Consumerism is part of living in the contemporary post‐modern world. It is claimed that schools and consumer education have a rather marginal impact on the consumer behaviour of young people. This qualitative study explores adolescents’ ways of consuming in three different worlds: home, school and peer groups. The aim is to understand how the adolescents experience border crossings between these worlds. What do they think about consumerism and consumer education? Finally, the pedagogical challenges of consumer education are discussed. The qualitative data was collected through mind maps, written questionnaires and semi‐structured group interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The data was collected from 59 teens (between 14 and 15 years of age) from Vantaa, Finland. According to the results, the adolescents’ way of consuming in each world differs from each other. However, border crossings occur with natural strategies and smooth transitions. The adolescents feel that ‘real’ consumerism does not begin until adulthood. Then, it is time to act like responsible consumers. Their motivation to study consumer issues at school is poor, because they feel the substance of consumer education not corresponding to their lives. Because of this, consumer education needs pedagogical renovation based on the needs of the adolescents and the special features of their consumerism.     

Creative teachers and creative teaching strategies

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence creative teaching and to find out what effective strategies are used by three award‐winning teachers in the learning area of Integrated Activities. As creative thinking is crucial for the knowledge economy, it is essential that education serves its purpose in improving this important aspect. The methods used for data collection include in‐depth interview, focus group interview, classroom observation and content analysis. Three teachers with a GreaTeach Creative Instruction Award for creative teaching in the Integrated Activities field were selected as subjects. Results were acquired by analysing the interview content, the teaching plans, teachers’ reflection and the classroom observation videotapes. The study found that: the factors influencing creative teaching in Integrative Activities are (a) personality traits: persistence, willingness to develop, acceptance of new experiences, self‐confidence, sense of humour, curiosity, depth of ideas, imagination, etc.; (b) family factors: open and tolerant ways of teaching children, creative performance of parents, etc.; (c) experiences of growth and education: self‐created games and stories, brainstorming between classmates, etc.; (d) beliefs in teaching, hard work, motivation and (e) the administrative side of school organization. Among these factors, beliefs in teaching, hard work and motivation are the main aspects. The effective teaching strategies used by the awarded teachers are: student‐centred activities, a connection between teaching contents and real life, management of skills in class, open‐ended questions, an encouragement of creative thinking and use of technology and multimedia. Integrated Activities are closely connected to life experience and a basis for the development of creative thinking within education.     

How Well Do Consumers Protect Themselves from Identity Theft?

Identity theft is a serious and increasingly prevalent crime, and consumers need to take preventative measures to minimize the chance of becoming a victim. In an effort to assess consumer preparedness, this exploratory study measured the self‐reported behavior of 61 college students and 59 non‐students on thirteen identity theft preventative activities that were suggested by the Federal Trade Commission. Consumer education appears to be adequate for several identify theft preventative behaviors, but not for others. In addition, students and non‐students demonstrated some interesting divergencies in behavior. Based on these preliminary findings, areas for increased consumer education and future research are recommended.     

Consumer Education: Does It Change Students' Competencies and Attitudes?

A number of states require or are considering the required teaching of consumer education in secondary schools. However, almost all previous research has found no difference in consumer economic competency between students who had taken a consumer education/economics course and students who had not taken the course. This research was conducted in a state that requires consumer education of all students to see if there was a change in competency level and attitudes toward business. Potential differences in types of courses used to meet the state requirements were also investigated. The basic finding is that students who took a course specifically designed to present consumer education topics did improve their consumer economics competency and developed a more positive attitude toward business.