THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER MARKET INTERACTIONS AS A FORM OF SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR ELDERLY CONSUMERS

Elderly consumers are often without adequate social support. Shopping habits may have significant implications for these consumers' mental a nd physical welfare. When shopping is seen, at least partly, as a soci al activity, consumer-market interactions become a widely available su bstitute for true or traditional social support. By introducing the ce ntury-old social support literature and integrating it with more recen t consumer behavior and relationship marketing literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework that delineates the consumer health im plications of shopping behavior. On the basis of this diverse literatu re, they propose several testable propositions. Additionally, they dis cuss public policy implications and future research directions.