Ahmet Ekici

An Enlargement of the Notion of Consumer Vulnerability

Consumer vulnerability has long been an important issue in public policy and macromarketing. The focus of a special issue of the Journal of Macromarketing (vol. 26, issue 1) underscores this importance. The articles in that special issue lend both conceptual and methodological clarity to the subject of consumer vulnerability, thus bringing to the fore the hitherto overlooked importance of this construct. The purpose of this article is to extend this renewed interest by introducing an integrative view of consumer vulnerability that is a sum of two components: a transient, state-based component dominant in some of the articles in the special issue, and a systemic, class-based component. The proposition is that such an integrative view provides a proactive tool for macromarketers and policy makers in their efforts to safeguard and to empower vulnerable consumers.

Consumer Attitude toward Marketing and Subjective Quality of Life in the Context of a Developing Country

The purpose of this research is to better understand Consumer Attitude toward Marketing (CATM) and how it relates to quality of life (QOL) in a developing country. Such sentiments toward marketing practice are core indicators of the marketing systems performance in delivering well-being to consumers during the first stage of the consumption process—acquisition. In this stage, the activities of businesses are set in high relief for consumers. As Douglas and Craig (2006) have noted how marketing is sadly neglected in developing countries, the Consumer Attitude toward Marketing (CATM) measures suggest how QOL-marketing might correlate with QOL in developing countries. Measures used in Gaski and Etzels (1986) Index of Consumer Sentiments toward Marketing (ICSM) are enhanced and refined in this study of Turkish consumers. Using a confirmatory-factor-analysis approach, these measures are then used to derive a second-order factor representing CATM and to assess its nomological relationship with subjective quality of life (QOL).

The Unique Relationship Between Quality of Life and Consumer Trust in Market-Related Institutions Among Financially Constrained Consumers in a Developing Country

This study focuses on how relationships among constructs representing (1) consumer trust in market-related institutions (CTMRI), (2) distrust for individuals (DFI), and (3) subjective quality of life (QOL) differ across groups separated by the poverty line in a developing country (Turkey). A comparison of models across the two groups using multisample confirmatory factor analysis indicates that there is a correlation only between CTMRI and QOL for consumers below the poverty line (r = .43); there are no correlations between any of the three constructs for consumers above the poverty line. Accordingly, there is a unique relationship between QOL and CTMRI among financially constrained consumers in a developing country. Below the poverty line, consumers with lower trust in market-related institutions tend to report lower QOL, while those with higher trust in market-related institutions tend to report higher QOL.

Marketing and Public Policy: Transformative Research in Developing Markets

Developing markets are a challenge for researchers who study them and for governments, business leaders, and citizens who strive to improve the quality of life in them. The limitations of the dominant development paradigm coupled with the need to focus on consumers provide tremendous opportunities to engage in truly transformative research. Toward this outcome, several interactive forces must be understood and addressed during research design, management, and implementation. The purpose of this essay is to provide a synthesis—that is, a framework in the form of a conceptual model—with practical applications to transformative research in developing markets and, ultimately, with the broader objective to stimulate new conceptualizations, research, and best practices to transform consumer well-being.

Poverty in consumer culture: towards a transformative social representation

Abstract In this article, we consider the representations of poverty within consumer culture. We focus on four main themes – social exclusion, vulnerability, pleasure and contentment – that capture some of the associations that contemporary understandings have made with poverty. For each theme, we consider the portrayals of poverty from the perspective of key agents (such as marketers, media, politicians) and then relate this to more emic representations of poverty by drawing on a range of contemporary poverty alleviating projects from around the world. We conclude with a set of guidelines for relevant stakeholders to bear in mind when elaborating their representations of poverty. These guidelines may act as a platform to transform marginalising representations of poverty into more empowering representations.

Development and quality of life in Turkey:how globalization, religion, and economic growth influence individual well-being

Recently, scholars have been calling attention to the macro-social and institutional structures shaping development and welfare. In this study we offer a socio-temporally situated understanding of quality of life (QOL) in a developing country setting and investigate the effects of macro structures on consumer well-being. Specifically, we focus on neoliberal development (led by the business sector, rather than led or directed by the government) and examine how a neoliberal transformation of the marketplace affects consumers’ QOL perceptions. The context of our research is Turkey, a developing country that has been an avid follower of neoliberal policies since the 1990s. We focus on three key macro-social developments that have been shaping Turkish society in the past decades – globalization, religion, and economic growth – and seek to understand how these forces influence consumers’ satisfaction with life. Our study contributes to the literature on development and QOL by first, showing the moderating effect of income, and second, introducing faith and global brands as important variables in conceptualizing QOL.

Well-being in Alternative Economies The Role of Shared Commitments in the Context of a Spatially-Extended Alternative Food Network

Alternative economies are built on shared commitments to improve subjects’ well-being. Traditional commercial markets, premised upon growth driven by separate actors pursuing personal material gain, lead to exploitation of some actors and to negligible well-being gains for the rest. Through resocializing economic relations and expanding the recognition of interdependence among the actors in a marketing system, economic domination and exploitation can be mitigated. We define shared commitments as a choice of a course of action in common with others. We empirically demonstrate the existence of shared commitments through an in-depth study of a spatially extended alternative food network in Turkey. Finally, we offer an inductive model of how shared commitments can be developed between local and non-local actors to bring new economies into being and improve the well-being of consumers and producers, localities, markets, and society.

A Bayesian Network Analysis of Ethical Behavior

Using one of the major domains of macromarketing – ethics – this paper aims to introduce the Bayesian network (BN) method and demonstrate its added value for macro-level decision makers. Bayesian networks are particularly important for macromarketers because they allow researchers to analyze a domain from a system perspective. The BN approach is considered one of the most powerful tools for observing system changes. The method can also deal with multiple variables at once, which can lead to efficient scenario analyses, critical for understanding how a system functions. As such, BNs offer a powerful tool for macromarketers who deal with systems, interactions, and higher levels of aggregation. We believe that the adoption of this methodology by macromarketing researchers is likely to contribute to the discipline by advancing the understanding of how certain systemic/network relationships and various domains of macromarketing work.

Consumers' Use of Country-of-Manufacture Information? Norway and the United States: Ethnocentric, Economic, and Cultural Differences

ABSTRACT The influence and use of the country-of-manufacture (COM) information on purchase decisions is examined in Norway and the USA in a nonlaboratory setting. Ethnocentrism, dependence on imported products, market size, and cultural difference are variables that may have led to differences in measured behaviors between Norway and the USA. Respondents in Norway showed less ethnocentrism, were less aware of COM, and showed no difference in the rating of COM importance, but cited self-reported COM as a purchase influencing factor more frequently than consumers in the USA. The overarching finding is that COM is rarely used by the studied consumers in actual purchase decisions with little difference found between Norway and the USA.