Journal of Macromarketing

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 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 system's 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 Etzel's (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).

In this study, the authors test a conceptual model that explains the subjective well-being (SWB) of nations. The authors include traditional predictors (e.g., human rights) and marketing variables (e.g., advertising expenditure, retailing indexes) in their model. They are especially interested to see to what extent marketing activities are associated with citizens' welfare or happiness. Using data from fifty-five countries, the authors find that one marketing variable (advertising expenditure per capita) strongly correlates with SWB, while another (number of retail outlet per capita) does not show a strong relationship with SWB. However, the strong relation fades away when other e fects are partialed out. The authors' model accounts for a large amount of variance in SWB. However, the e fect of marketing variables in a multivariate setting is not particularly strong.

This article represents an attempt to expand understanding of and dedication to global social justice through presentation and extension of the Rawlsian philosophical tenets regarding the definition and provision of basic commodities. The first section provides a literature review of Rawl's outlook on distributive justice, modifying his conceptual frame to avoid pitfalls regarding the duties of nations. Following a discussion of these obligations, the current status of the global community is described using data collected by the United Nations Development Program. The last section is designed to show how additional progress can be made, with an emphasis on solutions that must be implemented across nations. It is the authors' hope that macromarketing researchers will take a leadership role defining, disseminating, and evaluating the moral obligations that significantly impact the quality of people's consumer lives.

This article reports on findings of a study designed to develop and test measures suitable to assessing the perceived comparative contribution of Australian community banks and other more conventional banks to communities served, and the perceived impact of these banks on the well-being and quality of life of individuals who reside in those communities. Findings reveal that perceptions of the contribution of community banks to the sense of community and individual well being are significantly more favorable than those of more conventional banks.

The present research tests a series of predicted relationships regarding the e fects of household life-cycle variables, as well as other important consumer characteristics, on both wealth and perceived well-being among retired households. Toward that objective, separate samples of retired married households (n = 1,938) and retired single-person households (n = 855) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) of the University of Michigan were analyzed in an investigation of the e fects of household marital and parenthood characteristics on both accumulated wealth and perceived well-being. After controlling for education, race, gender, and health e fects, the results demonstrate significant life-cycle e fects of marital status and number of children on consumer wealth. In addition, wealth at retirement age is found to be a significant predictor of overall well-being. The implications of these findings, as well as a series of suggestions for future research regarding the study of important changes in life-cycle circumstances, are discussed.