Toward an improved conceptual understanding of consumer ambivalence

Jenni Sipilä (), Anssi Tarkiainen () and Sanna Sundqvist
Additional contact information
Jenni Sipilä: Lappeenranta University of Technology, School of Business and Management
Anssi Tarkiainen: Lappeenranta University of Technology, School of Business and Management

AMS Review, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, No 4, 147-162

Abstract: Abstract Despite the significance of ambivalence in consumer research, the concept suffers from a lack of clarity. This study thus aims to develop an improved conceptual understanding of consumer ambivalence based on the analysis of existing definitions. A number of challenges are observed and addressed through key premises that characterize the concept of consumer ambivalence. Furthermore, the presented conceptualization is contextualized into the area of consumption. The result of this process is an enhanced view of consumer ambivalence that builds on and extends earlier conceptualizations in 1) recognizing a wide variety of concepts that can be studied under the umbrella of consumer ambivalence, 2) specifying the multitude of objects of consumer ambivalence, and 3) specifying the temporal scope of consumer ambivalence through the concept of consumption episodes. The proposed conceptualization accommodates the richness of different approaches to consumer ambivalence and thus contributes to a wide range of consumer research.

Keywords: Ambivalence; Mixed emotions; Consumer; Conceptual development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13162-017-0098-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:amsrev:v:8:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s13162-017-0098-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... gement/journal/13162

DOI: 10.1007/s13162-017-0098-3

Access Statistics for this article

AMS Review is currently edited by Manjit S. Yadav

More articles in AMS Review from Springer, Academy of Marketing Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().