Purpose Time banking is a form of alternative consumer market where members trade services, non-reciprocally creating a local marketplace for services. Time Banks facilitate dyadic exchanges, meeting members’ practical needs and building diverse skills. The purpose of this research was to...

Almost half of all consumers read below a sixth-grade level, yet we know little about how these consumers get their needs met in the marketplace. The goal of this qualitative study was to examine the intersection of literacy skills and consumption activities and identify the coping strategies...

The goal of improving consumer welfare can subtly or dramatically shape the research process, the methods used, and the theories developed. This article introduces the participatory action research paradigm, which is based upon the goal of helping people and employs methodologies that are...

Corporate practices often affect poor communities in subsistence markets yet these consumers are not always consulted as legitimate stakeholders. Both subsistence communities and firms can benefit from more inclusive and democratic corporate engagement with stakeholders. Toward this end, a...

Examinations of the moral and ethical dimensions in identity construction are scant in consumer research. This ethnography of a trailer-park neighborhood investigates how different moral dispositions shape low-income, working-class residents’ consumption practices and status negotiations....

Transformative consumer researchers seek to enhance consumer well-being by tackling some of the more difficult and intractable social problems and getting the results into the hands of stakeholders who can apply the research findings. Although traditional research approaches offer a viable path...

Rural communities require means for obtaining access to affordable broadband infrastructure and services to meet their economic development, education, and quality of life objectives. Due to the comparatively low potential for return on investment in serving isolated rural communities, the...