This collection of innovative essays examines the effects of social influence on consumer behavior processes and outcomes. The research focus is on social and consumer theory in helping to understand the interface between these two domains, with chapters investigating this interface from multiple perspectives thus providing diverse theoretical contributions to the discussion. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Social Influence.

INTRODUCTION This study examines the family roles and social influence on purchase decision of household utility and lifestyle products. Family and family consumer behavior are, no doubt, complex areas compared to individual decision making. It may be that the reciprocal relationships among members of the family are far too complex to unravel into meaninglxil constructs. However, this does not mean that family behavior should forever remain out of the grasp of researchers. The biggest block to understanding families is a mindset that attempts to understand it from a perspective that has been developed for understanding individual behavior. The first step to overcoming the complexity of family decision making is to give up the individual and become concerned with only the family as the unit of analysis. Family has been anything but static. It has been witness to radical changes over the years and continues to surprise scholars in the discipline. It is a fertile domain offering researchers a continuous source of research. This study examines the family role and social influence in purchase decisions of household products.

This forward-looking volume examines the role of social influence--including social media--in creating and fostering sustainable consumer behavior. Using the concepts behind social influence theory as a launching point, it describes humans' need for social networks and identifies the core components of buying, such as consumer goals and the gathering of opinions. From here, chapters examine ways social influence can encourage and support sustainable consumption, from buying green products to recycling packaging materials to supporting environmentally responsible brands. Real-world examples, critical thinking questions, a breakdown of strategies for influencing behavior, and pertinent references give the book extra dimensions of value. Among the featured topics: Social influence: why it matters. Values, attitudes, opinions, goals, and motivation. What we buy and who we listen to: the science and art of consumption. Decision making and problem solving. Households: productivity and consumption. Sustainably managing resources in the built environment. Between its nuanced understanding of social connections and its up-to-date lens on technology, Social Influence and Sustainable Consumption is must reading for researchers in the fields of consumer psychology, consumer behavior, and consumer sustainability.

The Oxford Handbook of Social Influence restores this important field to its once preeminent position within social psychology. Editors Harkins, Williams, and Burger lead a team of leading scholars as they explore a variety of topics within social influence, seamlessly incorporating a range of analyses (including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intragroup), and examine critical theories and the role of social influence in applied settings today.

Over the course of the last four decades, Robert Cialdini's work has helped spark an intellectual revolution in which social psychological ideas have become increasingly influential. The concepts presented in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, have spread well beyond the geographic boundaries of North America and beyond the field of academic social psychology into the areas of business, health, and politics. In this book, leading authors, who represent many different countries and disciplines, explore new developments and the widespread impact of Cialdini's work in research areas ranging from persuasion strategy and social engineering to help-seeking and decision-making. Among the many topics covered, the authors discuss how people underestimate the influence of others, how a former computer hacker used social engineering to gain access to highly confidential computer codes, and how biology and evolution figure into the principles of influence. The authors break new ground in the study of influence.

Interdisciplinary approach, relevant to social psychology, economic psychology and decision making Innovative research methods, including, long-term diary study of forty couples Relevant to everyday life, so of interest not only to psychologists, but social scientists and those working in consumer research