Editorial: policies and practices

The Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics (IJC) is published for academics, policy makers and lay people around the world who are interested in consumer affairs and home economics. It is published quarterly and strives to publish original articles of the highest quality.     

Five decades of the Journal of Consumer Affairs: A bibliometric analysis

This study presents a retrospective of the Journal of Consumer Affairs (JCA) using bibliographic analysis between 1967 and 2019. The results indicate that both the number of JCA's publications and citations grew markedly over time. The dominant contributors to the journal are authors affiliated with U.S. institutions. Trends show increasing organizational diversity and collaboration among authors. The journal's central themes are consumer perception, consumer behavior, financial behavior, consumer spending patterns, financial literacy, consumer decision‐making processes, and marketing practices. Statistically significant relationships exist between the following article attributes and citations based on our negative binomial regression analysis. Age has a negative association with citations, but the direction of association turns positive when considering non‐linearity. A positive association exists between the number of authors, references, and U.S. affiliation. A negative relationship exists with article order, non‐academic author, top institution affiliation (FT100), funding, lead article, title length, and conceptual article.     

Defining the Consumer Interest: Challenges for Advocates

From its birth, The Journal of Consumer Affairs has provided a forum for government officials, consumer activists, and academics to discuss the definition of the consumer interest and how best to pursue it. In the inaugural issue of JCA, published in the summer of 1967, three of the first four articles were titled “The View from Washington” (by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor David Swankin), “Is It Time to Re‐Evaluate the Consumer Protection Activities of the Federal Government?” (by Consumers Union president Colston E. Warne), and “The Consumer Interest—the Real Issue” (by Professor of Marketing Robert D. Schooler). When JCA began publication in 1967, a few landmark pieces of consumer legislation had already been passed concerning pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, and motor vehicles, but the heyday of the consumer movement—and consumer research—was just beginning. In his article, Warne wrote: “The time has come, I think, for consumers and consumer movements to face some highly unpleasant problems” (p. 24). Schooler chastised the federal government for being “misdirected toward real but secondary issues” (p. 40). Swankin called for an organization and a professional journal capable of creating “an intellectual climate in which the phrases ‘consumer interest,’‘consumer economics,’ and, yes, ‘consumer information’ can be developed and can flourish” (pp. 9–10). Nearly forty years later, and long after the zenith of the U.S. consumer movement, we still face a host of consumer problems and a federal government disinclined to address them. We do, however, have a respected journal in whose pages the consumer interest and consumer policy can be examined. On April 25, 2005, the University of Utah hosted a symposium on consumer policy in honor of the retirement of Dr. John R. Burton. John, who established the consumer studies program at the University of Utah, has devoted his career to teaching, research, and service that advance the consumer interest. Seven nationally renowned speakers, including professors Monroe Friedman, Loren Geistfeld, Jeanne Hogarth, Jean Lown, and Ivan Preston, presented papers pertaining to the consumer interest. Two of the seven papers are reproduced here. The first is by Stephen Brobeck, long‐time executive director of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the editor of The Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement. Dr. Brobeck's article examines how a major consumer advocacy organization like CFA decides what public policy positions are in the consumer interest. The article applies a general framework to the specific issue of automobile fuel economy standards. In the companion piece to this article, Michael Burton, an assistant professor of political science at Ohio University and the son of the symposium's honoree, draws on his experience as a congressional aide and vice presidential staff member to describe and defend the art of compromise as it applies to consumer politics. – Robert N. Mayer, University of Utah     

A Comment on “The Consumer Impact of Alternative Allocation Plans: The Case of Gasoline”

This paper shows that the conclusions of a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs on consumer preferences among allocation schemes were not valid deductions. It is argued that an adaptation of index numbers of quantity can be used to deduce preferences and an illustrative case is presented for various plans to allocate gasoline.     

Bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, 1977–1983

Two questions formed the structure for examining the formal communication among researchers using the Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics (JCSHE) The first question pertained to the interrelationship between the literature published and cited in JCSHE. The second asked what impact the literature published in JCSHE had on authors publishing in other journals. By performing Bradford analysis using the 1,160 journal references cited by authors of 210 articles in the first seven volumes of JCSHE, 26 core journals were identified. JCSHE was ranked second because it was cited 54 times in 37 articles by 29 authors. Through citation analysis 17 citing articles published in 12 journals other than JCSHE were found. Seven of these 17 citing articles were published in other home economics journals.     

Financial Literacy 501

The articles in this special issue of The Journal of Consumer Affairs focus on financial literacy. The scope of the content spans conceptualization and measurement as well as factors influencing financial literacy and its impact. This editorial prelude suggests one way that educators might use this issue as well as a previous (Summer 2008) special issue of the journal that also focused on financial literacy.     

Validation of Consumer Styles Inventory for consumer decision making styles

The Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) developed by Sproles and Kendall, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 1986, 20: 267–279, is one of the most widely used instruments to classify consumers by their decision making styles. With changes in consumption culture attributable to the coexistence of global and local consumer culture in the past few decades, it is essential to reaffirm that the CSI measurement instrument is valid for contemporary consumers and can be applied in various contexts. This study, therefore, aimed to present a set of CSI validation procedures using contemporaneous participants and targeting two groups of participants in the United States. Two sets of exploratory factor analysis using the main data set (n = 390) were performed and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the main data set and the cross-validation data set (n = 172). Results from both the exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses seem to validate the eight underlying consumer characteristics of CSI.     

The impact of a shift in organizational role on ethical perceptions: A comparative study

This study investigates ethical decision-making by considering the differences in ethical judgments between undergraduate business and MBA students on selected ethical issues facing employees and managers of today's businesses. The study further investigates differences in ethical judgments between undergraduates and MBAs in terms of a perceived position as an employee or as a manager. The findings indicate that undergraduate students tend to be more ethical than MBA students and that both groups tend to be more ethical when they perceive themselves as managers rather than employees. The authors discuss the implications for both business practitioners and educators.Shohreh A. Kaynama is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a Ph.D. in Marketing and the Decision Sciences. Dr. Kaynama has published extensively in numerous National and International proceedings. Her area of research is strategic marketing, consumer behavior, applications of computers and decision sciences in marketing and global marketing. Louise W. Smith is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Smith's main professional interest is consumer behavior. Dr. Smith's articles have appeared in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Marketing among others. Algin B. King is Professor of Marketing in the School of Business and Economics at Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has served on the Faculties of seven universities, publishing numerous articles in National Professional Meetings Proceedings and scholarly journals including Journal of Euro-Marketing, Atlantic Economic Journal. In addition he has served as a business consultant to numerous business firms.     

“Reading” whiteness in consumer research

The concept of whiteness has been widely debated in the social sciences and humanities but has rarely surfaced as a theme in consumer research. This paper introduces whiteness theory as an additional theoretical perspective available to consumer researchers to add to those that are well established. The empirical section of the paper comprises a textual analysis of articles published in the Journal of Consumer Research from 1974–2004. The findings suggest that consumer research is dominated by “white faces” and “white spaces,” resulting in many investigators consciously or unconsciously performing whiteness. The ways whiteness can be re‐articulated to stimulate more interest within consumer research are discussed.     

Consumer complaint handling in an advanced developing economy: An empirical investigation

The purpose of this article is to examine consumer protection, complaint, and statisfaction/dissatisfaction behaviors in developing countries with special reference to an advanced developing country — Turkey. The study was designed to describe consumer complaint handling issues in urban Turkey. It tries to explain consumer behavior differences along five consumer product categories as to the frequency and manner of consumer complaining behavior and suggests insights into the effectiveness of consumer complaint handling policies in Turkey. It is maintained that the study results are also applicable to other developing countries which are at a similar level of socio-economic and technological development.Erdener Kaynak, Ph.D. is currently a Professor of Marketing at the School of Business Administration of The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Kaynak has served as a business consultant and training adviser to a number of Turkish, Canadian, Dutch, American, Peruvian, Yugoslavian, and international organizations. A prolific author, he has published over one hundred articles in refereed scholarly and professional journals as well as being the author or co-author of thirteen books. Dr. Kaynak is also Executive Editor ofInternational Business Press (IBP), an imprint of the Haworth Press Inc. of New York, London, and Sydney. In this capacity, in addition to being responsible for the international business book series, he edits several international marketing journals.Orsay Kucukemiroglu is presently an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the Pennsylvania State University, York Campus, York, Pennsylvania. He holds a B.S. degree in Economics, an M.A. in Statistics, and an M.Sc. in Business Administartion and Operations Research. He also holds a CPA designation in the Communwealth of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kucukemiroglu has published articles in such journals asDecision Sciences, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Professional Services Marketing as well as presenting papers before various learned societies in North America and in Europe.Yavuz Odabasi is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Vocational Training School of Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey. A graduate of Turkish and U.S. universities, Dr. Odabasi was a faculty member at Erciyes University before joining his current university. He has published articles in such journals asService Industries Journal, International Journal of Bank Marketing as well as publishing in Turkish academic and professional journals.     

The construction of qualitative research articles: a conversation with Eileen Fischer

Eileen Fischer, Professor of Marketing and Anne & Max Tanenbaum Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at the Schulich School of Business at York University, has published research on entrepreneurs, consumers, and markets in several leading management and marketing journals. Professor Fischer has served on the editorial review boards of Consumption Markets & Culture; Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice; Family Business Review; Journal of Business Venturing; and Journal of Small Business Management and is a current co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. In preparation for this conversation, the interviewers invited questions about the construction of qualitative research articles from multiple junior scholars in the field of consumer culture theory (CCT). This invitation yielded dozens of questions that were whittled down to the final questions you see here.     

Ann Maree Rees Memorial Prize

Ann Maree Rees, the founding editor of the Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, had a great interest in students of all ages, developing their research skills and fulfilling their academic potential. She believed strongly in encouraging a life-long learning culture and providing opportunities for people to develop an interest in the field of consumer studies and home economics. She was herself an accomplished author. The Editorial Board has decided to establish an essay competition in memory of Ann Maree Rees. The competition is open to people of all ages within the field of consumer studies and home economics. The paper should be a maximum of 2500 words. The paper can be on any aspect of consumer studies and home economics. The judges will be looking for the following points in the paper:relevance and interest to consumer studies and home economics professionals;potential to stimulate a lively debate;cogent argument and clarity of expression;written for presentation.The winning paper will be published in the December issue of the IJC. The author of the winning paper will receive £250 towards the cost of attending the XIX International Consumer Studies and Home Economics Research Conference being held from 2 to 4 September 1999 at the University of Ulster and will also receive a cash prize of £100. Entry forms for the Prize Paper competition are available from:     

A Bibliometric Review of the Special Issues of Psychology & Marketing: 1984-2020

Psychology & Marketing (P&M), an internationally reputed journal, publishes original, peer-reviewed, empirical research on the application of psychological theories and techniques to marketing. The aim of this essay is to provide a bibliometric overview of the leading trends in the special issues of P&M over its history (1984–2020). Using bibliometric techniques, we analyze the impact of the special issues via their most cited papers, most productive authors, affiliated institutions and countries, as well as the best guest editors who contributed to the selection of the most cited special issue articles. Using network analysis VOSviewer software, we also group the special issues into four clusters to identify common themes. Further, we develop graphical visualization of coauthorships, bibliographic coupling, and cocitations. Results show that the most productive contributors are from American institutions and that P&M remains well connected to other leading journals in the marketing and psychology discipline, such as the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research.     

A Bibliometric Study of Advertising Citations

Abstract

A bibliometric investigation identified citation patterns in advertising-related articles published during 1981–83 in a number of core journals and conference proceedings in advertising, marketing, consumer research and communication. Business publications and psychology publications were found to have accounted for more than half of the 6,312 citations coded in this study. Although the raw data indicated that the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Advertising Research were historically the most-cited journals, a method that controls for differences in years of publication, number of articles published per year and frequency of self-citations detected an increased impact, in recent years, on the part of the Journal of Advertising and of consumer-research publications.     

Twenty-five years of consumer vulnerability research: Critical insights and future directions

Consumer vulnerability is gaining increasing attention from researchers and practitioners as a social phenomenon in modern consumption-driven societies. In an attempt to conduct a comprehensive review using credible published research materials on the topic, this study applies a big data analytics approach to analyze scholarly research with a pool of 859 articles covering the last 25 years of post-modern marketing practices that have been a precursor to market-driven vulnerability. This paper identifies the most influential articles, as well as the top contributing journals and authors, along with their affiliations. In addition, this study reveals four major themes of research in consumer vulnerability, namely marketing, fraud and consumers, consumer vulnerability and well-being, ethics and vulnerable consumers, and consumption, disability and gender. These integrative perspectives will serve as a critical starting point to encourage focused theme-based exploration in the field.     

An analysis of the Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics 1977–93

Any field of study worthy of academic consideration and development needs a research base to support it. Many research practitioners working within the consumer studies and home economics areas have expressed fears about not only the lack of development of a research base but also the communication network within the research community. This study analyses one of the main research journals that is used by this research community, the Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, and examines its contribution. By analysing its development over the first 17 years of its existence, it has been shown that there is an international research community which is beginning to communicate with itself. However, these research practitioners still seem to rely more on research material from outside their own professional area rather than from work published in their own research journals. A lack of an indexing service covering the consumer studies and home economics areas continues to hamper dissemination of research material to a wider academic audience.     

Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy

Journal of Consumer Policy - The author examines the role of economics in consumer protection, drawing from her experience at the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has a dual mandate to...     

Business ethics: Micro and macro

As in the field of economics, the questions of business ethics can be divided into two distinguishable types — micro and macro. Micro-ethical questions arise primarily for subordinates in an organization and concern what should be done when the demands of conscience conflict with perceived occupational requirements. Macro-ethical questions arise principally for superiors and concern the setting of policy for the organization in general. The present article elaborates upon this distinction and advances a line argument for resolving micro-ethical problems when their affinity to macro-ethical issues is noted. James Brummer holds a joint appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Departments of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics, Educational Forum, and the Business and Professional Ethics Journal in the areas of personal and professional ethics.