Consumer motivation. Foundations for a theory of consumption

Understanding consumer problems is probably one of the most repeated expression in consumer behavior and marketing literature. Textbooks, trade books, journals, magazines, and other sources of knowledge in these fields stress the relevance of interpreting consumer problems for various marketing knowledge constituencies. How have marketing scholars dealt with this concept to date? Do they agree on how to define this concept? What role could consumer problems play in a theory of consumption? This research monograph tries to answer these questions through a literature review on consumer problems that covers the past 40 years. To gain a broader perspective on consumer problems, the review examines its relationship with offerings and outcomes of consumption experiences. This conceptual framework helps highlight both current drawbacks and solutions to address these weaknesses. Furthermore, the book sheds light on the knowledge development system in marketing and specifically on its social infrastructure as the main factor affecting the production of knowledge. This provides a context to assess how the concept of consumer problems has evolved. The monograph shows that consumer problems are a key element in a theory of consumption and the lack of such a theory requires a renewed interest in consumer motivation as a starting point to build it.