The evolution of consumer well-being

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical origins of consumer well-being as well as the factors that shaped its evolution. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a review of original publications that highlight classic views of consumer well-being, including schools of thought on functionalism, management, buyer-behavior, macromarketing, and consumer activism. Findings - There has been a tendency to understand consumer well-being as a function of economic-based choice, where a "more-is-better" ideology has motivated much of the extant literature on the topic. Originality/value - Integrating literature from the twentieth century demonstrates that perspectives on consumer well-being have been influenced by forces beyond the classic economic model. The paper speculates that incorporating more community-oriented and contextually-bound criteria into the understanding of consumer well-being may yield new research insights.