Why do millions of consumers in the United States struggling with the consequences of overconsumption believe that membership in a support group is crucial to their well-being? We examine how Weight Watchers, the world's largest support group, aids its members' attempts at managing their...

This research examines how individuals’ relationship with others sharing the pursuit of the same individual goal may change from early to later stages of the pursuit. In one qualitative field study, one lab study, and a 7-day field experiment, consumers demonstrated a tendency to view others...

Purpose: Virtual gifts have emerged as a common feature of online communities, social gaming and social networks. This paper aims to examine how network-related variables and gift-seeding impact virtual gift sales. The network variables include gift-giver centrality and gift-giving dispersion,...