Introduction to consumer value

Abstract

This chapter introduces a volume that brings together scholars from diverse areas to address the nature and types of consumer value. Specifically, the Introduction proposes a framework to distinguish among eight key types of consumer value that appear to deserve consideration in the analysis of consumption-related behavior. These eight types refer to different aspects of consumption that have attracted the attention of various scholars in the field. Subsequently, distinguished researchers in these areas of inquiry will discuss whether and how their concerns fit into the proposed framework, offering further insights into the applicability of the Typology of Consumer Value across a broad range of research topics. In sum, this Introduction presents a systematic consideration of the proposed framework and thereby provides the basis for a subsequent critical evaluation of the framework’s usefulness as an integrative scheme and for a further development in succeeding chapters of its relevance to issues concerning more specific types of consumer value.