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J. Jacoby1, G. V. Johar2, M. Morrin3
ABSTRACT
Consumer behavior continued to attract additional researchers and publication outlets from 1993 through 1996. Both general interest and domainspecific scholarly contributions are discussed, along with limitations and suggested areas for future research. A concluding section observes that the integrity of consumer research is unnecessarily compromised by the failure of the major scholarly association in the field to develop and adopt a code of researcher ethics.
KEY WORDS: marketing, buyer behavior, consumer psychology, information processing, attitude formation
INTRODUCTION
Consumer behavior has been defined as the "acquisition, consumption and disposition of products, services, time and ideas by decision making units" (Jacoby 1975, 1976). While the number of disciplines, researchers, and publishing outlets now studying consumer behavior continues to increase, of necessity attention in this review is confined primarily to work published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Psychology from 1993 through 1996. The first three journals have traditionally published the most rigorous research in the field. The contributors and content of the latter two journals, of more recent origin, suggest that they are approaching the former in repute. Because of space constraints, the works cited in this review are representative rather than comprehensive. Not covered but worthy of attention are papers appearing in Advances in Consumer Research, the annual proceedings of the Association for Consumer Research.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF BROAD RELEVANCE
Philosophy of Science
GENERAL Several papers possess relevance well beyond consumer research. Particularly noteworthy are the very readable philosophy of science papers that constitute an extended debate between Hunt (1992,1993,1994) in defense of scientific realism and others (e.g. Peter 1992) propounding a social reconstructionist perspective. Because these papers rely on general examples, which for the most part are not tied to marketing, they make excellent reading for PhD students and scholars across the social sciences.
POSTMODERNISM Sherry (1991) recognized a certain "tension animating the conduct of inquiry in recent years" among consumer researchers. This tension, which continues to be evident, revolves around differences in philosophical and methodological approaches to the field. Historically, the disciplines of psychology (especially cognitive and social) and economics provided the theoretical foundation for most consumer...