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The purpose of this paper is to note the growing significance of different family types in the west and explore the relationship between the complexity of family relationships typified in single parent, blended and intact families and the involvement of children in purchase decisions.

The quantitative research is a development based on earlier qualitative research on the three family types and large‐scale piloting of the questionnaire. A random sample of mothers with children aged 10‐16 were contacted from the TNS Postal Access Panel. Questionnaires were only used where there were responses from both the mother and child. A total of 524 fully completed questionnaires were used for the analysis.

The analysis supports the idea that where familial relationships are simpler such as in single parent homes (fewer relationships) then the involvement of the child is greater and in more complex relationships such as in blended homes (where there are step‐parents and step children present) a child's involvement may be less marked. Exceptions to the “rule” are discussed as are the theoretical and practical implications.

Whilst social trends indicate that the composition of the family will continue to change, little research has been conducted on the impact of changing family structures on consumption behaviour.

Practitioners in particular have noted that kids are growing older younger (KGOY) and academic research has in parallel shown that children are becoming more involved in the final stages of purchase decisions, albeit in a limited number of product categories studied. This paper aims to investigate this market.

This quantitative and qualitative study examines the relatively under‐researched, but increasingly important, tweenager market across a number of product categories and the extent to which ten to 12 year olds are involved in the final stages of purchase decision making. Further to this, the paper considers whether a liberal versus traditional approach to decisions made within the family (gender role orientation (GRO)) affects the degree of involvement.

The findings suggest that GRO is indeed a factor in family decision making but that the relationship is far from a simple one. The authors posit why perceptions of involvement are sometimes inconsistent and why some kids may not be growing older younger in the way previously thought, but may simply believe they are more involved in purchase decision making as a consequence of parental strategies as well as the influences of media, school and peers.

The paper describes the implications for marketing practitioners and academic researchers.

This paper aims to contribute to the special issue theme by exploring the perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistant practices of adolescents by their peer group in the context of high school prom attendance.

This paper employs a mixed methods approach involving 12 in‐depth interviews with those who had attended a high school prom in the last three years and open questions on a survey to adolescents.

Four main perceptions of non‐attendance were identified: non‐choice, risk aversion, passive disengagement and intentional disengagement. Perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistance will have social implications for the non‐attendee/s but the extent to which non‐attendance is viewed negatively will also be moderated by existing social status of the non‐attendee/s.

Possible causes for avoiding consumption have been previously considered, however, as yet unexplored are how those who do not consume are perceived by their peers and how this manifests itself in relation to group affiliation, attendees' perception of “self” and social norms.

Purpose – The current exploratory study is an attempt to discover the underlying areas of dissatisfaction associated with the banking experience in the UK, particularly as it relates to the implementation of new service delivery technology in the banking industry. Design/methodology/approach – The data for this study was collected in two stages. In stage one, three focus groups were conducted using bank customers from the southern part of the USA to generate items important to users of financial services in the USA. These items were then considered by a number of bank customers in the UK (Bristol and Bournemouth area) to insure equivalence of constructs and measurements. Stage two involved distributing 300 surveys to a convenience sample of electronic banking customers from the sampling area of interest in the UK. In order to qualify, respondents had to have used one of the available electronic banking services offered by the bank at least once during the previous month. Findings – The importance‐performance grid demonstrates that two of the factors and their underlying attributes fall into the “Keep up the good work” quadrant and the other two factors fall into the “Low priority” quadrant. The first two are areas the organization needs to allocate resources in order to maintain the level of service they provide their clients. From a strategic point of view, this grid provides a tool for strategy development as it gives a clear picture of the factors that are critical for resource allocation. Research limitations/implications – The primary limitation of this study is the scope and size of its sample. Nonetheless, the study does provide evidence for the development and use of the I‐P grid for preliminary identification and assessment of customer measures of service quality. Originality/value – By demonstrating the feasibility of the approach taken by the study, it should be possible for financial institutions to utilize similar procedures when evaluating the overall satisfaction levels of their customers’ banking experience. It also allows service providers to consider the changing needs and wants of customers’ in the financial sector.

Once the domain of theologians, sociologists and (religion) anthropologists, we have seen more recently how consumer researchers have enriched the study of spirituality and religion. Researching the sacred can be fraught with challenges, in and out of the field. Russell Belk, Samuelson Appau and Diego Rinallo address key questions, issues and conceptualisations in the scholarship on sacred consumption, contemplating the past and mapping future research avenues. A reading list is also included for those interested in joining the authors in this collective discovery of the sacred.

Contributors answered the following four questions: How has the study of sacred consumption evolved since you started researching the field? What would be the critical methodological issues that researchers need to consider when approaching the “sacred”? What are some of the key authors that have influenced your thinking? What do you think will be the key questions that researchers will need to focus on?

Rinallo, Belk and Appau’s reflections on studying the sacred provide food for thought for both novice and weathered researchers alike. Researching the sacred both shapes and is shaped by our positionality: by our insider/outsider status, our gender and race and our cosmovisions as believers or sceptics. Researchers should be mindful and reflective of their subject positionings as they approach, enter and leave the field. Researching the sacred requires an open mind as we broaden our vision of what constitutes the sacred. Such research calls for scholarly as well as phenomenological curiosity. Reading widely and across disciplines to better familiarise ourselves with our sacred context helps to craft novel and meaningful research.

This paper provides a multivocal genealogy of consumer culture work on religion and spirituality, methodological advice and reading resources for researchers.

Wellness tourism offers opportunities for consumers to explore the self. This paper aims to explore how identity transitions occur in a liminal tourism space – a holistic wellness retreat.

The authors adopt a qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews supplemented by various projective techniques. Following an interpretivist approach, eight consumers were interviewed at the commencement and the completion of a holistic wellness retreat stay. Participant observation was also undertaken during the retreat programme.

The paper shows an identity transition is facilitated by the liminal space of the holistic wellness retreat and further shaped by self-work during the retreat. As participants gain new knowledge on the self and start living “consciously”, they gain a sense of vision, clarity and direction to a new self, wherein identity transition is a starting point and a process of change rather than an end goal.

While much past research views tourism activities as mainly “play”, the findings reveal the holistic wellness retreat experiences as both identity play and identity work. This paper provides theoretical insights into the process from identity play to identity work and what makes this process effective for identity transition.

This paper aims to propose and test a theoretical framework in which attitude towards COVID-19 cause-related campaigns mediates the effects of identification with the cause, donation size, emotional arousal and subjective norms on consumer purchase intention. The authors also explore the moderating effect of religiosity in an emerging nation marked by the dominance of the Islamic doctrine.

Survey data from a sample of 561 consumers from Morocco were analyzed to test the hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

First, attitude toward COVID-19 cause-related campaigns has a significant effect on consumer purchase intention; at the same time, it is influenced by identification with the cause, donation size, emotional arousal and subjective norms. Second, the results confirm the mediating effect of attitude toward COVID-19 cause-related campaigns, e.g. higher emotional arousal triggers positive attitude towards COVID-19 cause campaigns, which shapes consumer purchase intention. Third, Islamic religiosity acts as a moderator, e.g. individuals who feel themselves as highly religious are more likely to develop favorable attitude towards cause brands and therefore form stronger purchase intentions when exposed to COVID-19 cause campaigns.

The findings of this research suggest a number of practical and social implications for both academics and practitioners. Successful cause-related marketing (CrM) campaigns should include facets inducing emotional arousal, superior donation size, identification with the cause and subjective norms, which, in turn, enhances consumers’ attitude toward the campaign, their attitude towards the brand and purchase intentions. Practitioners interested in expanding into majority-Muslim markets should also consider the use of faith-based messages and religious morals when planning CrM campaigns.

While preliminary studies have already attempted to provide knowledge about the impact of COVID-19 on individuals’ health and well-being, potential effects on consumers’ decisions and behavior have not been considered much and are yet to be empirically investigated. This original research is among the first to provide insights about the potential use of COVID-19 cause to shape consumer purchase intention and behavior. This will strengthen our cross-cultural appreciation of the disparities in consumer perception of CrM among Muslim and non-Muslim communities.