The Social Construction of Consumer Literacy: Consumer Empowerment among Adult Literacy Learners

This study explores how adult literacy learners negotiate the consumer marketplace. Findings challenge the functional model of literacy and support the conceptualization of consumer literacy as a social practice

Assessing the Societal Impact of Research: The Relational Engagement Approach

Marketing and policy researchers aiming to increase the societal impact of their scholarship should engage directly with relevant stakeholders. For maximum societal effect, this engagement needs to occur both within the research process and throughout the complex process of knowledge transfer. The authors propose that a relational engagement approach to research impact complements and builds on traditional approaches. Traditional approaches to impact employ bibliometric measures and focus on the creation and use of journal articles by scholarly audiences, an important but incomplete part of the academic process. The authors recommend expanding the strategies and measures of impact to include process assessments for specific stakeholders across the entire course of impact, from the creation, awareness, and use of knowledge to societal impact. This relational engagement approach involves the cocreation of research with audiences beyond academia. The authors hope to begin a dialogue on the strategies researchers can use to increase the potential societal benefits of their research

Participatory Action Research

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 different from traditional consumer research. Exemplars of action research are analyzed to reveal applications for researchers who want to engage in transformative consumer research. The obstacles and opportunities for doing action research are examined. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..