ABSTRACT
A considerable portion of consumer behavior throughout our day-to-day lives is goal-driven. Whether it is the decision to act versus procrastinate, exercise versus socialize with friends, or save money versus spend it impulsively, such behaviors are oftentimes determined by what goals are salient to consumers. As a consequence, a substantial amount of consumer research in the last 15 years has been geared towards understanding the determinants and consequences of consumer goal pursuit. A recent review article by Wang, Bendle, Mai, and Cotte (2015) found that the phrase “goal pursuit” was among the six most commonly used terms from 2004–2014 in the Journal of Consumer Research. Thus, consumer research has made significant progress in understanding how consumer goals are activated and assessed.
