Don R. Rahtz

Research on Consumer Well-Being (CWB): Overview of the Field and Introduction to the Special Issue:

In this article, the authors introduce the concept of consumer well-being (CWB), address the distinction between consumer satisfaction and CWB, identify several conceptualizations of CWB, and briefly describe the five articles making up this special issue on CWB.

The Elderly Audience: Correlates of Television Orientation

Abstract For some time researchers have suggested that elderly individuals are, as a group, heavier viewers of television than other age segments of the population. However, there have been few efforts to explore the segment itself relative to television orientation. Using data generated from two samples of elderly individuals (n1 = 788, n2 = 752), this research explores the elderlys social-psychological and demographic correlates of television orientation. Results from both studies suggest a negative relationship between television orientation and morale, outside home activity, perceived respect for the elderly, income, and education; and a positive relationship between television orientation and concern for ones personal and financial well-being. These findings are explained using social disengagement theory, consumer socialization, the cultivation hypothesis, and activity theory. Implications for advertisers and future research are also discussed.

Perceived Youth: Appraisal and Characterization

Results from a mail survey of respondents aged sixty to ninety-four suggest that psychographic dimensions of youthfulness and identification with old age constitute effective inner-age research variables, especially to those seeking to study older populations. The two specific dimensions explored are: “perceived youth,” a magnitude measure of the proportional discrepancy between chronological and cognitive ages; and “feeling-old,” which inversely measured youth through reliance on a six-point Likert agree/disagree statement: “I feel old.…” In addition to the obvious inverse relationship between these inner-ages, research established trait covariation relative to an increase in perceived youth coincidental with a rejection of a feeling-old identity, corresponding to increases in “happiness, own-health rating, being venturesome, giving advice, self-esteem, social activity, and keeping-in-shape,” as well as decreases in “taking advice, being a homebody, and having health worries.”

A LIFE SATISFACTION MEASURE: ADDITIONAL VALIDATIONAL DATA FOR THE CONGRUITY LIFE SATISFACTION MEASURE

Meadowet al. (1992) have developed a measure of life satisfaction based on judgment theory, referred to as Congruity Life Satisfaction (CLS). This paper reports the results of a major study involving six samples from different countries testing the construct validity of the CLS measure. The results of these studies provide additional validational support for the CLS measure.

Satisfaction with Health Care Services Consumption and Life Satisfaction among the Elderly

This article argues that overall life satisfaction is influenced by satisfaction within a variety of individual life domains. One of these is the marketing or consumptive domain, which includes the health care consumptive life domain. A study was conducted to test hypotheses that among elderly consumers (1) health care services satisfaction affects global evaluations of life or life satisfaction, (2) perceived personal health and cognitive age influence the elderly persons global evaluation of life, and (3) perceived personal health and cognitive age play a moderating role in the spillover effect between health care services satisfaction and life satisfaction. The study involved a mail survey sent to a sample of 560 elderly consumers. The results indicate that health care services satisfaction / dissatisfaction is positively related with life satisfaction / dissatisfaction, as expected. The results also indicate that perceived personal health and cognitive age are related to life satisfaction / dissatisfaction, and that perceived personal health may play a moderating role between health care satisfaction / dissatisfaction and life satisfaction / dissatisfaction. Contrary to expectations, cognitive age was found to affect life satisfaction / dissatisfaction independently of health care services satisfaction / dissatisfaction. The public policy and social importance implications of these findings also are discussed.

Tourism as Catalyst for Quality of Life in Transitioning Subsistence Marketplaces: Perspectives from Ha Long, Vietnam

Tourism is a potential catalyst for transforming subsistence marketplaces, and the quality of life (QOL) for people who live in them. The authors share findings from a study on tourism development in Ha Long, Vietnam, a community transitioning from central economic planning and a focus on heavy and extractive industries, to one that is increasingly dominated by tourism and the industries, goods and services that support it. The authors used multiple methods to gain insights into QOL in Ha Long; those methods included site observations, depth interviews and data collection via an instrument designed and developed by the authors that quantifies perceptions of the evolution of residents’ well-being, including anticipated QOL. Findings indicate that a large majority of citizen-stakeholders in Ha Long generally feel life-quality has improved because of policy changes and subsequent tourism development. Concern is growing, however, that some environmental and societal degradation has accompanied positive economic outcomes. Marketing and policy implications, and opportunities for further research are discussed – not only for Ha Long, but for other actual or hopeful transitioning subsistence marketplaces whose leaders see tourism as a catalyst from economic hardship and subsistence-living toward enhanced QOL.

Can Health Care Organizations Better Contribute to Quality of Life by Focusing on Preventive Health Knowledge

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of programs developed by health care providers and public domain entities to enlighten consumers about the benefits of learning more about healthy behaviors. In this study, the authors share a model developed and tested to explore the relationships among an individuals health knowledge, health, and overall quality of life (QOL) assessment. Data were collected as part of a large mail survey. Results support the relationships hypothesized and provide preliminary support for the notion of improving QOL by creating “expert” patients. These results have implications for public policy and future research.

Globalization, Transformation, and Quality of Life: Reflections on ICMD-8 and Participative Marketing and Development

The authors reflect on the trends that inspired the 8th International Conference on Marketing and Development and some overarching sentiments that emerged during the conference. Trends indicate that globalization and transformation continue and are inextricably connected to marketing and development; many stakeholders in developing economies are enthused about opportunities provided by globalization and transformation. It is, however, becoming clear that quality of life only can be enhanced throughout the world during the long term if (1) more stakeholders are more fully included in the process, (2) concepts and measures of development are expanded, and (3) more cross-disciplinary, collaborative research endeavors and policies are designed and implemented.

Organizational rewards and coalitions in the industrial buying center

Abstract This paper focuses on the critical role of coalitions in organizational buying. Organizational buying is frequently a mixed-motive decision scenario in which decisions are actually made by coalitions among the members of the buying center. It is argued that the organization reward and measurement system is a major causal influence on coalition behavior. The results of an experiment are described in which the impact of reward systems which encourage competition, cooperation, and a mixture of both on coalition formation and conflict in the buying center is examined. The results suggest that coalitions are less likely the more the reward system places strong emphasis on cooperation or competition, and more likely when it creates a mixed-motive bargaining situation. Managerial implications are drawn for selling organizations.

Distinguishing Flourishing from Distressed Communities: Vulnerability, Resilience and a Systemic Framework to Facilitate Well-Being

In this chapter we expand the conceptualization of community well-being, the indicators used to measure it, and suggest fresh and more systemically comprehensive considerations for research and practice in distressed and flourishing communities. Past research has distinguished between distressed and flourishing communities in terms of quality-of-life (QOL) indicators: distressed communities tend to focus on basic needs of community residents (e.g., food, shelter, crime, unemployment, and security measures); flourishing communities on basic needs plus growth needs (e.g., sports, recreation, arts and culture, innovations, and leisure). We revisit the concept of flourishing in QOL studies and discuss concepts such as human flourishing, self-determination, psychological well-being, flow and engagement, and purpose and meaning in life. We then discuss concepts of community vulnerability and resilience and advance our own definition of flourishing versus distressed communities. A flourishing community is a recognizable assembly of people with shared values, cooperating to ensure clear evidence of positive physical, economic, environmental, and social well-being, which empower constituent members in their efforts to affect further prosocial outcomes for stakeholders of the community. A distressed community is essentially the converse. We then describe a systemic framework that captures the conditions within that interact to produce community well-being. These conditions involve marketing practices, consumption/demand, catalytic institutions (government, business, and NGOs), characteristics of the marketplace or citizen-stakeholders of it (location/access, income/wealth capital, social/cultural capital, situational commonalities, transparency/accountability, motivation, and market literacy/access), and macro factors (geo/environment, population, political/legal, economic, social/cultural, education, administration, infrastructure, and technology).