In search of well‐being: Factors influencing the movement toward and away from maladaptive consumption

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12324
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Marlys J. Mason,Wendy Attaya Boland,Ingrid M. Martin
• Published date: 01 December 2020

ARTICLE

In search of well-being: Factors influencing the

movement toward and away from maladaptive

consumption

Wendy Attaya Boland

1

| Ingrid M. Martin

2

| Marlys J. Mason

3

1

Kogod School of Business, American

University, Washington, District of

Columbia

2

College of Business, California State

University –Long Beach, Long Beach,

California

3

Spears School of Business, Oklahoma

State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma

Correspondence

Wendy Attaya Boland, Kogod School of

Business, American University,

Washington, DC 20016, USA.

Email: boland@american.edu

Abstract

Common consumption behaviors may become harmful

to consumers. Maladaptive consumption is the result of

an increase in frequency or amount of everyday, normal

consumption (adaptive) behaviors, which may cause

significant harm to consumers and society. The authors

explore maladaptive behavior and investigate how

important insights about maladaptive consumption

may lie at the intersection of harm. Consequently, the

discussion focuses on how marketers and policymakers,

through their strategic approach, can both encourage

and mitigate maladaptive behavior. Understanding the

transition from adaptive to maladaptive behaviors,

and the return to adaptive consumption patterns, is crit-

ical for marketers, consumer advocates, and policy

researchers, focused on dampening overconsumption

with its corresponding harm. A discussion of the impli-

cations of maladaptive consumption on consumer

health and well-being sets the foundation for rethinking

marketing practice and public policy. Finally, a set of

research propositions are offered for future research.

KEYWORDS

consumer well-being, harm, maladaptive behavior

All authors contributed equally to this work.

Received: 6 September 2019 Revised: 6 April 2020 Accepted: 17 June 2020

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12324

© 2020 American Council on Consumer Interests

1178 J Consum Aff. 2020;54:1178–1194.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca

1|INTRODUCTION

Many of today's pressing societal problems often have at their root some excessive consumption.

For example, consumers struggle with obesity and diet-related illnesses (Royne and Levy, 2011;

Wilson, 2016), and incidents of text-related traffic fatalities rise as social media usage climbs

(Olsen et al., 2013; Kareklas and Muehling, 2014). For anyone who has experienced or

witnessed the painful and debilitating effects of excessive consumption, a lack of self-control

can be a key predictor of increased indulgence (Myrseth and Fishbach, 2009; Harnish and

Roster, 2018; Nam and Hwang, 2018). In some cases, a seemingly innocent initial engagement

in the consumption of a product or activity can result in an increased and potentially obsessive

behavior. Over time, such behaviors can lead to damaging consequences.

For many consumers, a specific consumption act may remain limited and in the range of

normal, adaptive consumption behaviors, causing no real harm (Martin et al., 2013). However,

for others, an increased consumption rate of ordinary, and often necessary, consumption behav-

iors (e.g., ongoing social media use, unhealthy eating) can creep more deeply into their lives,

eventually moving the individual toward increasing levels of maladaptive behavior resulting in

harm. This path can result in illness, isolation, destitution, and at the extreme, even death. Such

outcomes extol a heavy price not only on the individual and the family but also on communities

and society at large (Pettigrew et al., 2014). In response, dedicated programs of research within

marketing and consumer science are beginning to generate transformative insights that could

mitigate the harmful outcomes of maladaptive consumption behaviors (Mick et al., 2012;

Stewart, 2015).

For decades, scholars in marketing policy and consumer studies have examined excessive

consumption within specific contexts. Studies of products considered to be harmful

(e.g., tobacco, drugs) commonly focus on the resulting physical harm that accompanies the use

of these products. However, research in this area has also noted that harm from product usage

not only includes physical harm but also may involve economic, social, and psychological harm

(Smith and Cooper-Martin, 1997). Furthermore, scholars have argued that product harm exists

on a continuum of degrees of harm (e.g., Jones and Middleton, 2007). With such a continuum

in mind, a gap exists in understanding the process of how people move from seemingly harm-

less everyday consumption to more harmful levels of the behavior (Martin et al., 2013).

The focus of this research is to draw attention to and generate discussion on how to recog-

nize maladaptive consumption patterns and the accompanying harm that can result from such

excessive behavior. Specifically, this research provides important transformative insights by

(a) distinguishing maladaptive consumption leading to behavioral addictions from prior studies

focused on physical addictions, (b) conceptualizing the emergence of maladaptive behavior

given the ensuing harm both to the individual and society, and (c) identifying research areas

rich for further exploration of maladaptive behavior and potential resolutions. An integral part

of this discussion is the type of normal, everyday behavior/consumption patterns that we expe-

rience and their impact on consumer well-being and society. We ask basic questions such as:

“What is harm?,”“Who defines maladaptive behavior?,”and “Under what circumstances are

maladaptive behaviors harmful at one point in time but not at another point in time?.”This

study begins by discussing why maladaptive behaviors are important to understand, drawing

distinctions and comparisons between behavioral addictions and maladaptive behavior. The

authors seek to demonstrate that maladaptive consumption precedes behavioral addictions.

Next, the construct of harm is explored to help consumers, marketers, and policy makers under-

stand how consumption levels move to the point where everyday behaviors become

BOLAND ET AL.1179