Val Larsen

Developing a Subjective Measure of Consumer Well-Being:

This study develops a macro measure of consumer well-being based on the notion that consumer well-being is determined by satisfaction with the acquisition, possession, consumption, maintenance, and disposition of consumer goods and services. In a survey of 298 university students, the proposed measure was found to have predictive (nomological) validity in relation to life satisfaction for three out of its five dimensions—acquisition, possession, and consumption. In sum, satisfaction in the consumer life domain was demonstrated to be an important component of life satisfaction.

Improving Marketing Students’ Writing Skills using A One-Page Paper

Employers of marketing graduates view good writing as a core marketing skill, but many marketing students are weak writers. The improvement of student writing should therefore be an important objective in a well-designed marketing curriculum. One-page papers combine the effective teaching of marketing concepts with writing instruction while keeping demands on instructor time manageable. This innovation most improves the writing of weaker writers in a class. Combined with a more challenging group writing assignment, it provides a mechanism for improving the writing skill of all class members while fostering an ability to thoughtfully apply marketing concepts to solve unstructured problems.

A Model of Life Satisfaction: Similarities and Differences Between the 50+ and the 18–29-Year-Old Consumers in Germany (An Abstract)

Webster and Lusch (2013) have pointed to the need to redefine the marketing discipline, specifically to shift the focus from short-term well-being of companies to long-term well-being of people and societies. In many Western societies, the 50+ population represents the fastest-growing population group and one of the most promising consumer demographics. At the same time, the younger generations (Generations Y and Z) gain market attention as they represent the well-educated and constantly connected consumers of tomorrow—even though they represent only a small group in some Western European countries. This research focuses on the life satisfaction of those two groups because extant marketing research has not extensively modeled the drivers of life satisfaction, especially not in a cross-generational context.

An intergenerational perspective on life satisfaction and its drivers: a comparison between 18–29-year-old and 50+ consumers in Germany

Abstract Based on self-determination theory, this study develops a life satisfaction model which was tested among younger (18–29) and older (50+) consumers in Germany. Results show that the young and old cohorts do not differ in their degree of life satisfaction or in the main drivers of satisfaction. However, the extent to which specific drivers affect life satisfaction does differ between and within cohorts. These differences have important implications for marketing strategy. Improvements in the health of older consumers increase life satisfaction more than comparable improvements in the health of young consumers. Likewise, increased sociability yields greater life satisfaction returns for older than for younger consumers. Conversely, life satisfaction returns on financial services are higher for younger than for older consumers. This study also provides a rationale for the finding in previous research that people feel particular nostalgia for age 23 and tend to form some lifetime product preferences at that age.