Conceptualizing consumer resistance in global consumer culture : framework and research agenda

Małecka, Agnieszka (author), Pfajfar, Gregor (author)

Purpose – The research article aims to delineate and place into context consumer resistance within the realm of global consumer culture (GCC). It delves into exploring its fundamental forms, establishing a conceptual foundation and outlining implications for future inquiry. Design/methodology/approach – The article adopts a comprehensive conceptual outlook by amalgamating existing insights from a systematic analysis of 110 articles spanning diverse fields like sociology, psychology, marketing and economics. It devises an innovative framework that encapsulates the varying manifestations of consumer resistance based on intensity and target, while proposing an integrative antecedents-decisions-outcomes (ADO) model to elucidate the stimuli, forms and repercussions of resistance within the GCC landscape. Findings – The article categorizes and delineates different consumer dispositions that underpin resistance, showcasing a spectrum of consumer resistance at micro, meso and macro levels and distinguishing between passive and active behaviors. The ADO framework uncovers identity-based, culture-based and socio-economic motivations as pivotal triggers of resistance, various resistance actions as decisions, and multifaceted outcomes that influence consumers, brands, businesses, markets and the GCC itself. Additionally, the study acknowledges notable research gaps and sets forth a comprehensive research agenda for future exploration. Originality/value – This research offers a distinctive theoretical contribution by furnishing an exhaustive and unified framework for comprehending consumer resistance within the realm of GCC. It establishes connections between diverse disciplinary perspectives, introduces crucial new conceptualizations of resistance manifestations and delineates a research roadmap to enhance the comprehension of this increasingly salient phenomenon in the domain of international marketing.

• Language: English
• Keywords: international trade, globalization, marketing, literature review, consumer resistance, global consumer culture, anticonsumption, market shaping behavior, consumer dispositions, glocalization, cultural resistance, consumer culture theory, boycotts, international marketing, systematic literature review, ADO framework
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 1-46
• Numbering: Vol. 42, no. 7
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-169424
• UDC: 339.138
• ISSN on article: 0265-1335
• DOI: 10.1108/IMR-03-2025-0143
• COBISS.SI-ID: 237142787
• Publication date in RUL: 28.05.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International marketing review
• Shortened title: Int. mark. rev.
• Publisher: Emerald
• ISSN: 0265-1335
• COBISS.SI-ID: 141084

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: mednarodna trgovina, globalizacija, trženje, pregled literature

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0177
• Name: Slovenija in njeni akterji v mednarodnih odnosih in evropskih integracijah