Social marketing Part B
Consumer wisdom - 5 facets.pdf Consumer Wisdom: A Theoretical Framework of Five Integrated Facets Michael Gerhard Luchs College of William & Mary David Glen Mick University of Virginia Accepted by Amna Kirmani, Editor; Associate Editor, Hans Baumgartner We establish a parsimonious theoretical framework of consumer wisdom based on five mutually reinforcing psychological facets. Our research draws from wisdom literature and a set of 31 phenomenological interviews with informants who were identified through a multi-stage nomination process. The five facets of consumer wisdom that emerged are Intentionality, Contemplation, Emotional Mastery, Openness, and Transcendence. Together, they comprise a data-grounded, aspirational model of consumer wisdom—for researchers as well as consumers—to understand, maintain, and improve personal and collective well-being. We discuss the implica- tions of the framework and directions for future research. Keywords Wisdom; Well-being; Mindfulness; Values; Morality; Choice Introduction The formal beginnings of the academic field of con- sumer research can be traced to the 1960s, with the founding of the Society for Consumer Psychology (1962) and the inauguration of the Association for Consumer Research (1969). Over its first half-cen- tury, a diversity of topics has been addressed, includ- ing many related to the challenges or “dark side” of consumption. These include impulsive and compul- sive buying, addictions (e.g., drugs, nicotine, gam- bling), materialism and status competition, decision biases (e.g., myopia, overconfidence), and ecological deterioration, among others. Research has also sug- gested that reckless consumption decisions (e.g., smoking, poor diet, alcohol abuse, sedentary life- styles) are the leading cause of premature death in the United States (Keeney, 2008). However, con- sumer research on related remedies and alternatives has been historically scant, until recently. A growing number of consumer researchers have turned more intensively to studying personal and collective well-being. One subset affiliates with the Transformative Consumer Research movement (see Mick, Pettigrew, Pechmann, & Ozanne, 2012; e.g., motivating sustainable consumption, improving nutrition labeling, fortifying retirement savings, protecting vulnerable consumers). Another involves public policies on “helping consumers to help themselves” (Lynch & Wood, 2006). Research is also now appearing on “meaningful consumer choice” in terms of long- versus short-term happi- ness (Aaker, 2014). And there has appeared the admirable idea of citizen-consumers within an “ele- vated marketing system” (Webster & Lusch, 2013). Across research on the tragedies, enrichments, and dilemmas of modern consumption, one could reasonably expect that the concept that encapsulates the apex of human functioning—as recognized by philosophers, religious leaders, and social scientists —would have been by now woven into new theo- ries and empirical findings in the field. Yet, wisdom is hardly to be found. The irony is glaring when one considers proclamations from antiquity to mod- ern psychology on the nature, significance, and urgency of wisdom: First among the virtues found in the state, wis- dom comes into view. (Plato, Republic) (Wisdom is) the foundation of all good qualities. Without the guidance of wisdom, all the other perfections, like generosity and ethics, are like a group of people without a leader. (The Dalai Lama, 1994, p. 179) Received 5 October 2017; accepted 4 February 2018 Available online 17 February 2018 This research was supported by the Templeton Foundation through a grant awarded to Michael Gerhard Luchs by the Enhancing Life Project, a project of the University of Chicago School of Divinity and Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. The second author acknowledges the support of the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael Gerhard Luchs, Henry and Phyllis Shook Term Distin- guished Associate Professor of Business, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA. Electronic mail may be sent to
[email protected]. © 2018 Society for Consumer Psychology All rights reserved. 1057-7408/2018/1532-7663/28(3)/365–392 DOI: 10.1002/jcpy.1037 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9015-5695 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9015-5695 Wisdom is what you need to understand in order to live well and cope with the central problems and avoid the dangers in the predicaments human beings find themselves in. (Nozick, 1989, p. 267) (Wisdom is) the ideal integration of knowledge and action, mind and virtue. (Baltes & Smith, 2008, p. 56) If there is anything the world needs, it is wis- dom. Without it, I exaggerate not at all in saying that very soon there may be no world. (Stern- berg, 2003, p. xviii) Similar assertions are readily found in Assmann (1994), Csikszentmihalyi (1995), Fowers (2003), Hall (2010), Kekes (1983), and Maxwell (2014), among others. However, wisdom might seem to consumer schol- ars beyond the reach of most individuals, or too pre- tentious, ethereal, and intractable to investigate. Yet elsewhere, in psychology particularly, wisdom research has accelerated during the last 20 years (Bal- tes & Staudinger, 2000; Ferrari & Weststrate, 2013; Grossmann, 2017; Schwartz & Sharpe, 2010; Stern- berg, 1990, 1998; Sternberg & Jordan, 2005). Taken together, these works offer hope and insights to lead people toward higher discernment, and even excel- lence, in the ways they comport their lives. Despite this promising development, Grossmann, Gerlach, and Denissen (2016) note that there still remains meager knowledge about wisdom in every- day life, which obviously includes consumer behav- ior. Accordingly, we explore and seek a rich, grounded understanding of the phenomenology of consumer wisdom through personal stories and viewpoints. Other projects in consumer psychology using a similar paradigm include Baker and Hill (2013), McGrath, Sherry, and Levy (1993), and Posa- vac (2009). Our main intended contributions are two- fold. First, we develop from these data and a selection of compelling wisdom literature a parsimonious theo- retical framework consisting of five integrated facets of consumer wisdom, the first of its kind in the field. Second, we employ the emergent framework to pro- vide new directions for research on consumer wis- dom, covering a range of topics and varied methods. Selective Literature Review on Wisdom Historical and Modern Sources. For centuries in both Eastern and Western philosophies, living wisely across activities and contexts has been con- sidered the pinnacle of human behavior (Assmann, 1994; Fowers, 2003; Hall, 2010; Walsh, 2015). Devel- oping and enacting wisdom has also been identified as the principal manner by which personal flourish- ing and the common good are achieved and sus- tained (Ardelt, 2004; Csikszentmihalyi, 1995; Sternberg, 1998). The Oxford English Dictionary defines wisdom as the “Capacity of judging rightly in matters relat- ing to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends.” Put differently, wis- dom is doing the right thing in the right way for the right reasons to live a good life (Schwartz & Sharpe, 2010). Hence, as revealed below, wisdom’s core mission of rightness and goodness continually involves values and morality (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000; Fowers, 2003; Kekes, 1995; Sternberg, 1998). Different types of wisdom have been identified over the years. A renowned Aristotelian distinction is that between phronesis, the practical kind (Fow- ers, 2003; Schwartz & Sharpe, 2010), versus sophia, the philosophical kind (Trowbridge, 2011). The for- mer emphasizes observation and applied reason toward the pursuit of specific objectives. The latter emphasizes introspection and intuition that evoke timeless first principles, including a holistic perspec- tive through which commonly perceived bound- aries dissolve (notably the Self (ego) versus the Other), as emphasized in Eastern perspectives such as Buddhism (Mick, 2017). The last 35 years of psy- chology research on wisdom has concentrated on phronesis (Trowbridge, 2011). A sub-goal in our pro- ject is to probe for both types of wisdom in actual consumer behavior. The significance of wisdom is counter-weighted by the recognition that it is among the most elusive of concepts (Sternberg, 1990; Walsh, 2015). Not sur- prisingly then, there is neither a consensus defini- tion nor a predominant theory (Gl€uck et al., 2013; Grossmann, 2017; Trowbridge, 2011). There are also different emphases in empirical approaches, rang- ing from analysis of iconic wisdom figures (e.g., the Bible’s King Solomon, Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr.), to the collection of primary data via interviews, diaries, surveys, and even experiments. Given the complexity of wis- dom and diversity of approaches in examining it, a plentitude of positive human virtues and character- istics has been associated over the years with wis- dom (as many as 48, according to MacDonald (2011) such as attentiveness, empathy, responsibil- ity, patience, humility, equanimity, wonder, joy, and desiring the welfare of the whole). Within the 366 Luchs and Mick realm of modern empirical research on wisdom, the characteristics that emerge, including what they entail, depends in part on the context of interest and research approach. Three Contemporary Social Science Streams on Wisdom. Three wisdom research streams have been prominent in psychology and sociology over the last two decades. The first is the Berlin para- digm in which researchers have examined how individuals analyze and resolve difficult life prob- lems through interviews with small samples of older adults who have been nominated by peers for their wisdom (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000). From that orientation, the researchers define wisdom as “a highly valued and outstanding expertise in dealing with fundamental, that is, existential problems related to the meaning and conduct of life” (Kunz- mann & Baltes, 2003, p. 117). Properties of wisdom derived from the Berlin paradigm include the addressing of significant and demanding questions (and related strategies) for coping with life’s vicissi- tudes; knowledge and humility about the limits of knowledge and the uncertainties of the world; a synchronization of values, goals, and action; and the use of knowledge and judgment for the well- being of oneself and of others. A second stream sources from Sternberg’s bal- ance theory of wisdom. He maintains that wisdom is above all a metacognitive style, composed of the application of successful intelligence and creativity as mediated by values toward the achievement of a common good. Such wisdom is attained through a balance among (a) intrapersonal, (b) interpersonal, and (c) extrapersonal interests, over (a) short, and (b) long terms by (a) adapting to existing environ- ments, (b) shaping existing environments, and (c) selecting new environments (Sternberg, 1998, 2003). This dense conceptualization has strengths of focus- ing on the meta-functionality of wisdom (i.e., first seeing the bigger picture of situations and decisions in need of wisdom), the central role of balancing multiple and often contradictory issues, the inescap- able role of values and ethics, the importance of both short-term and long-term orientations, and a requirement to consider a wide range of stakehold- ers in anticipating the consequences of any particu- lar decision or behavior. Despite its thoroughness, or perhaps because of