Maladaptive Consumer Behavior: Theory, Research, and Intervention

This edited volume provides a marketing perspective on maladaptive consumer behavior, especially behavior with dysfunctional consequences that does not have its origins in physical addiction. It brings together contributions of leading scholars who have expertise in various forms of maladaptive consumption. The chapters address specific manifestations of maladaptive consumption, such as those related to food, alcoholic beverages, online gaming, and media consumption, among others, with an emphasis on behaviors that are not traditionally regarded as arising from physical addiction.
Further, the book includes chapters that focus more broadly of definitional and conceptual issues, methodological approaches, implications for intervention and regulation, and the value judgments inherent in the identification and classification of behaviors as “maladaptive." It examines numerous alternative theories of maladaptive consumption and places such behavior in a larger market context.
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