Consumers & Well-being

This theme includes research on how service and market systems can contribute to individual and societal well-being as well as reduce suffering in the world. It lies at the intersection of service research, consumer research, and macromarketing.

Responsible faculty member:

Associate Professor Pia Polsa

Specific topics

  • Sustainable consumption, degrowth, and circular economy  
  • Experiences of vulnerability  
  • Compulsive consumption  
  • Well-being, dignity, and quality of life 
  • Empowerment 
  • Misinformation and disinformation in service systems
  • Service systems
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Sustainability

Impact on SDGs

1: No poverty
2: Good health and well-being
10: Reduced inequalities
12: Responsible consumption and production

Faculty, postdoctoral and doctoral reseachers

Frig, M., Fougère, M., Liljander, V., & Polsa, P. Business Infomediary Representations of Corporate Responsibility. J Bus Ethics 151, 337–351 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3200-0

Anderson, L., von Koskull, C., Mende, M., & Gummerus, J. (2025). Immersive Service: Characteristics, Challenges, and Pathways to Consumer Agency. Journal of Marketing, 89(5), 152-174. Article 00222429251319312. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429251319312

Beikverdi, L., Sipilä, J., & Tarkiainen, A. (2024). Post-purchase effects of impulse buying: A review and research agenda. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 23(3), 1512-1527. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.2287

Gummerus, J. K., O’Loughlin, D. M., Kelleher, C., & von Koskull, C. (2024). All is not well: Value co­destruction and consumer ill­being in service systems. European Journal of Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-04-2024-0280

Bonsu, S. K., & Polsa, P. (2011). Governmentality at the 'Base-of-the-Pyramid'. Journal of Macromarketing, 31(3), 236-244. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276146711407506

Mickelsson, K-J., Särkikangas, U., Strandvik, T. and Heinonen, K., (2022). User-Defined Service Systems in Health- and Social Care, Journal of Services Marketing, 36 (9), 41-56

C Kelleher, D O’Loughlin, J Gummerus, L Peñaloza (2020) "Shifting arrays of a kaleidoscope: the orchestration of relational value cocreation in service systems," Journal of Service Research 23 (2), 211-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670519882495

Rahman, A. (2020). Sources and categories of well-being: a systematic review and research agenda. Journal of Service Theory and Practice. ahead-of-print. 10.1108/JSTP-01-2020-0024. 

O’Loughlin,D.,  Johanna Gummerus, J., and Kelleher, C., (2024), "It Never Ends: Vulnerable Consumers’ Experiences of Persistent Liminality and Resource (Mis)Integration", Journal of Service Research,  Vol. 27, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705231184610

Penz E. and Polsa P. (2018), Carbon footprint: How do companies reduce it and how do they communicate their reduction measures to stakeholders, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 195, pp. 1125-1138.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.263 

Tikkanen, H., Heinonen, K., & Ravald, A. (2023). Smart Wearable Technologies as Resources for Consumer Agency in Well-Being. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 58(2-3), 136-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/10949968221143351

Sipilä, J., Tarkiainen, A., & Levänen, J. (2024). Exploration of public discussion around sustainable consumption on social media. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 204, 107505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107505 

Peltomäki, S., Gummerus, J., & Kontu, E. (2026). Positive moments in residential settings for adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Disability & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2026.2667532
 

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