Consumer well-being: a systematic literature review and future research directions

Abstract

Purpose – Consumer well-being (CWB) is a flourishing area of research. It is an important field of study for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-3 (Good Health and Well-Being). However, despite some recent reviews, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview of the broad themes emerging in the CWB literature. The study aims to thoroughly integrate and organize the fragmented existing literature on CWB by uncovering its emergent themes and their impact. Design/methodology/approach – To address this gap, this study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 166 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2013–2023 following the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Findings – This study’s SLR uncovered seven themes: subjective well-being; psychological well-being; food well-being; financial well-being; environmental well-being; social well-being; and societal well-being. Further, this study identifies that these themes impact consumers on three levels: micro, meso and macro. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the emergent themes along the levels of impact. Research limitations/implications – This paper anticipates that the study, which is a thorough overview of the CWB literature, will provide managers, academics and students with an introduction to the topic. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first articles that shows the themes of the CWB literature along the respective levels of impact and draws avenues for future research.