The Generative Consumer Can Make a Difference

The concept of generativity, that is the adults’ preoccupation for the well-being of the next generations, has recently generated interest in the field of marketing (e.g., Urien and Kilbourne 2011), with research having mainly focused on philanthropy and pro-social behaviors related to ethics and the environment. In the “real world,” however, generativity is nowadays used more and more as a positioning strategy for brands, products, and labels (e.g., Swiss luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe). In this regard, Lacroix and Ouellet (2008) found a positive relationship between an individual’s level of generativity and his/her Aad, Ap, and IB for products positioned as generative. Though, a main limitation of their exploratory work was the use of the Loyola Generativity Scale (McAdams and de St. Aubin 1992), which yielded poor reliability and applicability to a general consumer research context. Moreover, Van Hiel et al. (2006) considered that stagnation, an integral part of the Loyola Generativity Scale of McAdams and de St. Aubin (1992), should instead be treated as a distinct concept altogether. In order to better measure and assess generativity in a wider consumption context, we propose to develop a scale specifically dedicated to consumer generativity. We believe this measurement scale would help academics, marketers, governments, and scores of additional stakeholders understand further the potential power of generativity whenever targeting messages toward generative consumers.