Consumer Wisdom



The overall purpose of this proposed track is to develop a network of researchers who will identify and pursue new research collaborations addressing the topic of “consumer wisdom.”  Although consumer wisdom has not been a research topic at previous TCR conferences, it does naturally follow from a variety of prior conference topics including sustainability, life satisfaction, materialism, and mindfulness.  Research on wisdom in psychology and elsewhere has blossomed over the last two decades (e.g., see the growing list of publications listed by the University of Chicago’s Center for Practical Wisdom).  Meanwhile, research on consumer wisdom in particular has been scant (for an exception see Mick, Spiller, and Baglioni 2012).  However, Luchs and Mick (2018, Journal of Consumer Psychology) recently provided an empirically derived theoretical framework of consumer wisdom which may serve as a catalyst for new research.  We believe that this topic has great research potential, similar in ways to consumer research that has addressed a variety of “dark side” issues (materialism, addiction, obesity, etc.) yet instead focused on explicitly promoting behaviors that simultaneously promote the welfare of the individual consumer, of society, and of the environment.  Further, we believe that consumer wisdom research may serve as an important counterweight to research that presumes consumers cannot escape their typically automatic and foolish biases.


Track Leaders

Michael G. Luchs
Michael G. Luchs (Ph.D., UT Austin) is the Henry and Phyllis Shook Term Associate Professor of Business at William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business, and Founding Director of the Jim and Bobbie Ukrop Innovation & Design Studio (www.wmidstudio.com). Prior to earning his Ph.D., Michael worked as a consultant and executive in industry focused on new product development.  His research interests include consumer wisdom, sustainable consumption, and product design and has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics and others. 
David Glen Mick
David Glen Mick is the R. H. Carter Professor in Marketing at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. David has authored over 70 publications and has edited four related books.  Topics have included semiotics, technology in everyday life, consumer satisfaction, religion in consumer behavior, the moralism of materialism, among others.  His scholarship has won several national awards, including Best Article at the Journal of Consumer Research and the Maynard Award for best theory contribution at the Journal of Marketing.  He is a Fellow in the Society for Consumer Psychology, a former Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research (1997-2003), and past President of ACR (2005). In this latter role, David spearheaded the TCR movement and he is co-editor ofTransformative Consumer Research for Personal and Collective Well-Being (2012, Taylor & Francis/Routledge).