Understanding the evolution of consumer psychology research: A bibliometric and network analysis

Consumer psychology is an interdisciplinary subject that ties together theories and methods from psychology, marketing, advertising, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Since the 1960s, the field of consumer psychology has been the focus of hundreds of research contributions and has emerged as a major research field. However, no study has yet provided a unified perspective on the evolution of the field. This research provides a holistic, quantitative overview of 728 papers in consumer psychology from 1960 to 2016. Utilizing a bibliometric approach and networking methods, it maps out the evolution of the research, provides a comprehensive view of the dynamics of the field, and identifies the key authors and their collaboration networks. Results show that this field has grown dramatically, especially since 2006, with research focusing on psychology, business, and social science, with themes extending to cross culture and gender difference. The findings also indicate that the field of consumer psychology is still developing and many themes remain undeveloped.