Consumer wellbeing in Asia: Introduction to the special issue

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Jing Jian Xiao,Eunju Ko,May O. Lwin
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12420

COMMENTARY

Consumer wellbeing in Asia: Introduction

to the special issue

Jing Jian Xiao

1

| Eunju Ko

2

| May O. Lwin

3

1

Department of Human Development and Family Science, College of Health Sciences, University of Rhode Island,

Kingston, USA

2

Department of Clothing and Textiles, College of Human Ecology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

3

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Correspondence

Jing Jian Xiao, Department of Human Development and Family Science, College of Health Sciences, University of

Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.

Email: xiao@uri.edu

1|INTRODUCTION

Consumer wellbeing refers to safety, fairness, satisfaction, sustainability, emotional positivity,

security, freedom, and healthfulness which may be sought through consumer products and ser-

vices obtained from marketplaces. Consumer wellbeing can be measured in various dimensions

such as economic, financial, physical, psychological, social, and culture. This special issue

focuses on consumer issues in fast changing Asia where many important consumer issues are

under-studied in comparison to the West. With Asia having a large 60% of the world popula-

tion, and Asian countries being highly diverse in terms of economic developments, social sys-

tems, and cultural traditions, many important issues related to consumer spending, health, and

finance need be investigated and studied. Such research will enrich the global literature of con-

sumer affairs and inform public policies to advance consumer interests.

For this special issue, 47 submissions were received and 19 were accepted [Correction added

on 4 December 2021, after first online publication: 20 was changed to 19.]. Articles are broadly

divided to three sets: health, sustainability, and finance. Following are brief introductions of

these articles.

2|HEALTH

On the health front, the papers in this issue spanned an array of health concerns, including

topics which are indigenous to Asia. Gao,Mei,Yang,Zhao and Li examined the issue of food

waste using empirical data from China. The authors found the important role of psychological

Received: 15 October 2021 Accepted: 22 October 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12420

© 2021 American Council on Consumer Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2021;55:1205–1210. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 1205