Abstract:The economic crisis that Spain has been facing since 2008 has produced significant effects in the way citizens are dealing with consumption. Beyond austerity practices and concerns about an uncertain future, there is a rising anxiety about the sustainability of current consumption patterns. Moreover, it is interesting to analyse how consumption evolves in a situation in which the budget is highly constrained. How do people from different social classes perceive consumption under these circumstances? Our contri… Show more
“…In relation to reduced financial well‐being, we anticipate that consumers spending on more discretionary, luxury items is felt to be wrong because (a) it is a controllable behaviour that (b) might exacerbate the original stressor, thereby creating difficulties for oneself and dependents (Alonso, Rodríguez, & Rojo, ). H3 : There is a positive relationship between reduced financial well‐being and increased consumer anticipated guilt .…”
Major economic crises create financial and normative stressors, affecting consumers long after economies technically leave recession. Consumer adaptations to these stressors challenge researchers’ and marketers’ assumptions of well‐established concepts and theories, notably consumer price consciousness (CPC). We examine this pivotal marketing construct within the domains of stress and coping during times of economic turbulence. In this paper, the authors develop and test a conceptual model, then present implications for consumer researchers, brand marketers, and retailers. The model focuses on the relationships between changing CPC and major economic and normative stressors, respectively financial well‐being and frugality norms. To inform opportunities for specific interventions, we identify mediating roles of consumer anticipated guilt, financial fear, and smart shopper self‐perception. SEM and mediation analysis test this model, based on a national survey of 1202 UK consumers. The results identify stressors that influence changing CPC, following fundamental shifts in consumer psychology and behaviour since recession. Each antecedent of CPC presents opportunities for marketers and retailers to defend or adapt brands to the challenges and opportunities presented by more price conscious consumers.
“…In relation to reduced financial well‐being, we anticipate that consumers spending on more discretionary, luxury items is felt to be wrong because (a) it is a controllable behaviour that (b) might exacerbate the original stressor, thereby creating difficulties for oneself and dependents (Alonso, Rodríguez, & Rojo, ). H3 : There is a positive relationship between reduced financial well‐being and increased consumer anticipated guilt .…”
Major economic crises create financial and normative stressors, affecting consumers long after economies technically leave recession. Consumer adaptations to these stressors challenge researchers’ and marketers’ assumptions of well‐established concepts and theories, notably consumer price consciousness (CPC). We examine this pivotal marketing construct within the domains of stress and coping during times of economic turbulence. In this paper, the authors develop and test a conceptual model, then present implications for consumer researchers, brand marketers, and retailers. The model focuses on the relationships between changing CPC and major economic and normative stressors, respectively financial well‐being and frugality norms. To inform opportunities for specific interventions, we identify mediating roles of consumer anticipated guilt, financial fear, and smart shopper self‐perception. SEM and mediation analysis test this model, based on a national survey of 1202 UK consumers. The results identify stressors that influence changing CPC, following fundamental shifts in consumer psychology and behaviour since recession. Each antecedent of CPC presents opportunities for marketers and retailers to defend or adapt brands to the challenges and opportunities presented by more price conscious consumers.
“…Por otro lado, un 6% de la población afirmaba haber participado en acciones de boycott en 2002, mientras que en 2010 el porcentaje se eleva al 20%. Los datos apuntan, pues, a un posible crecimiento en el futuro de estas acciones en este país, si bien hay estudios cualitativos que señalan la dificultad que presentan las opciones de consumo político o ecológico de consolidarse como patrón de comportamiento en la ciudadanía española, como consecuencia fundamentalmente de la crisis económica (Alonso, Fernández e Ibáñez, 2013).…”
Compromiso cívico • Consumidor consciente • Consumo político • Participación política
ResumenEl consumidor consciente es aquel que convierte su hábito de compra en hábito político tanto a través de sus acciones individuales como mediante su participación en movimientos sociales, convirtiendo el mercado en objeto de reivindicaciones para la práctica de la democracia. Este artículo persigue varios objetivos: analizar qué factores predicen el comportamiento de los consumidores conscientes y de los consumidores conscientes con trayectoria estable. Además, descubrir si el consumo político se acerca más a acciones de compromiso cívico o a otras formas de participación política. Los resultados indican que el proceso de socialización y la participación política aumentan la probabilidad de ser consumidor consciente.
Key wordsCivic Engagement • Conscious Consumer • Political Consumption • Political Participation
AbstractConscious consumers convert their buying habits into political habits, both through their individual actions and by participating in social movements, thus changing the market into a public arena and an area to practice democracy. In this article, we analyse what factors predict the behaviour of conscious consumers and of conscious consumers with a stable trajectory. In addition, we examine whether political consumerism resembles actions of civic engagement or other forms of political participation. The results indicate that the probability of becoming a conscious consumer is related to political participation and the resources acquired in the process of socialization.
Cómo citarGarcía Espejo, Isabel y Novo Vázquez, Amparo (2017). «La emergencia del "consumidor consciente": un análisis de la participación política a través de las decisiones de compra». Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas,
60La emergencia del «consumidor consciente»: un análisis de la participación política… IntroduccIón 1 En los años setenta se realizan los primeros estudios sobre consumidores socialmente conscientes, término utilizado para definir a «aquellos consumidores que tienen en cuenta las consecuencias públicas de su consumo privado o que tratan de usar el poder de compra para lograr que se produzca un cambio social» (Webster, 1975: 188). A partir de entonces nociones como consumo ético o consumo sostenible, entre otras, forman un concepto según el cual los ciudadanos se convierten en consumidores críticos y consecuentemente en agentes de cambio social (Micheletti, 2003; Neilson y Paxton, 2010).Para que las decisiones de compra sean consideradas como formas de consumo polí-tico han de cumplirse dos criterios: el primero podría ser denominado «conciencia», de tal forma que el actor ha de tener suficiente conocimiento y sus decisiones de consumo han de estar social o políticamente motivadas. El segundo criterio será la regularidad de la acción, es decir, tomar una decisión de compra una sola vez no será considerado como una forma de consumo político (Stolle y Hooghe, 2009: 280). Si a estos ciudadanos se les denomina c...
“…En cuanto al tema de la definición de los bienes comunes su polémica sobre su casi tragedia o imposibilidad esencial, pueden verse desde diferentes perspectivas Mattei (2013) y Laín Escandell (2015. Sobre la aparición de discursos de lo común y lo colaborativo en los discursos de los movimientos sociales de la crisis pueden consultarse Alonso (2015) y Alonso, Fernández e Ibáñez Rojo (2015).…”
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