Enabling and Cultivating Wiser Consumption: The Roles of Marketing and Public Policy

Abstract

Contemporary consumers, societies, and ecologies face many challenges to well-being. Consumer researchers have responded with new attention to what engenders happiness and flourishing, particularly as a function of consuming more wisely. Consumer wisdom has been conceptualized as the pursuit of well-being through the application of six interrelated dimensions: Responsibility, Purpose, Flexibility, Perspective, Reasoning, and Sustainability (Luchs, Mick, and Haws 2020). However, up to now, the roles of marketing management and government policies with respect to enabling and supporting consumer wisdom have not been thoroughly and systematically considered. To do so, we adopt an integrative approach based on a range of theoretical and empirical insights from both wisdom research in the social sciences and in consumer research. We weave those insights into the stages of an expanded version of the circular economy model of the value cycle, within which we also include the traditional four Ps of the marketing mix. This approach allows us to identify how marketing practices and public policies can enable and support consumer wisdom, resulting in advancements to well-being and the common good as well as restorations to the missions and reputations of business and government.

May the Force Be with You: Expanding the Scope for Marketing Research as a Force for Good in a Sustainable World

“…This inspiring article provides insights that help researchers, policy makers, educators, and parents design environments that empower youth social entrepreneurs. Ozanne et al (2021) examine strategies marketing and public policy can use to facilitate consumption practices that help promote happiness and flourishing. Specifically, the authors develop a framework based on six dimensions of consumer wisdom (Responsibility, Purpose, Flexibility, Perspective, Reasoning, and Sustainability;Luchs, Mick, and Haws 2020) to examine how to improve the circular economy model of the value cycle.…”

“…The articles in this special issue all resulted from the 2019 TCR Conference at Florida State University. Consistent with the ideal of marketing as a force for good, these articles address big, complex, and urgent problems faced by humanity, such as racism (Poole et al 2021) and marketplace inclusion (Kipnis et al 2021), the world’s refugee crisis (Boenigk et al 2021), political polarization (Weber et al 2021), youth entrepreneurs committed to prosocial causes (Bublitz et al 2021), wiser consumption (Ozanne et al 2021), climate change and sustainability education in subsistence marketplaces (Viswanathan et al 2021) as well as the impact of environmental disruptions on highly vulnerable segments of people (Steinfield et al 2021), and saving behavior and financial well-being (Newmeyer et al 2021). Undoubtedly, no article and no discipline alone will be able to solve these problems on its own; however, it is crucial to raise awareness, start conversations, and press forward.…”

Consumer Wisdom for Personal Well‐Being and the Greater Good: Scale Development and Validation

“…Scholarly attention to wisdom in the contexts of marketing and consumer behavior has emerged recently (Luchs & Mick, 2018; Mick, Bateman, & Lutz, 2009; Mick, Spiller, & Baglioni, 2012; Mick & Schwartz, 2012; Ozanne et al, 2021). This development portends important contributions to work on consumer happiness and meaningfulness (Aaker, 2014; Mogilner & Norton, 2015) and on consumer challenges with food and diet, technology and the internet, personal financial management, and pro‐environmental consumption, among others.…”

The Circular Economy and Marketing: A Literature Review

“…Moreover, the green knowledge of remanufactured products is valuable for understanding the significance of resource and energy savings and reducing waste and pollution through the manufacturing process (P. Wang & Kuah, 2018). Therefore, remanufacturing, coupled with marketing, can enable organizations to achieve a durable competitive advantage, mainly when competition is high, innovation is relatively slow, and the offered products respond to the concerns of environmentally-conscious consumers (Ozanne et al, 2021).…”