Abstract This article explores the idea that consumer influencers can shape reference group meanings in social media. Through a survey which over 5,000 participants provided open-ended associations for 25 major brands, authors find media either strengthen or change brand associations. Specifically, typicality of influencer (relative to brand’s stereotypical consumer) ideas about perceived homog...

The Easterlin paradox questions the way income can enter a utility function. Individuals are said to be sensitive not to the level of their income, but to their relative income as measured by the ratio between their income and the mean income of their reference group. We propose a reference group based on human capital and relate well-being to income dynamics using panel data with income variat...

I consider how the saving behavior of consumers is affected by incomes in their reference group. Although standard life cycle models with interdependent preferences provide no clear cut prediction of how incomes in one’s reference group should influence savings, the empirical analysis points to an unambiguously negative effect: If incomes in the reference group are higher, savings are lower. Th...

this study has been designed to answer the following fundamental questions: what are the opinions of the students of mazandaran university about the significance of reference groups? what groups constitute the reference groups of the students of mazandaran university? do the students of mazandaran university select those groups of which they are a member or those groups of which they are not a ...