Rosa Llamas - The Routledge Handbook of Digital Consumption

Llamas and Belk have brought together an assemblage of cutting-edge academic essays that examine virtually every aspect of the modern digital consumer. Much has changed in the past few years and its all here. The volume is a wide-ranging conceptual and topical feast of how the latest advances and future developments in the digital world impact todays consumer. The menu includes AI-robot-consumer interactions, Tinder, digital fandom, non-human influencers, digital spirituality, the technoculture of Zoom and anti-vaxxers, and so much more. Researchers, teachers, and practitioners alike will come away updated, challenged, and inspired.

Tom Novak, George Washington University, USA

Worldwide, the dominance of the digital economy represents the most significant paradigm shift of the 21st century. This book provides the vital knowledge to help academics, practitioners, pundits, and the public grasp the core concepts, contradictions, and contributions of this commercial sphere. Containing scholarly riches produced by over 60 authors, it traverses the gamut of digital consumption topics exploring how bits, bytes, and bots shape consumer behavior and consumer culture in the digital arena.

Cele Otnes, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, USA

We are all living in a digital world, but how does that change the people living in it? The Routledge Handbook of Digital Consumption takes an intellectually critical look into the digital world. With an emphasis on qualitative approaches, this volume contains thoughtful chapters from deep digital thinkers. Taken as a whole, the book steps back to view the digital domain in a broad, multidisciplinary way, taking into account the philosophical, sociological, and psychological impact of the digital environment, and considering the broad, societal implications as well. Truly understanding the digital world demands an eclectic viewpoint, and this volume provides a wide-ranging view of the digital forces that are changing our lives.

Roland T. Rust, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, USA

Such is the transformative power of the digital revolution on both consumer behaviour and more broadly consumer culture that hot on the heels of the first edition comes this second edition of The Routledge Handbook of Digital Consumption. The editors have again assembled a super collection of essays from leading academics in their fields, arranged into seven broad themes, from how to research digital consumers, through to more critical perspectives on how digitalization is transforming consumer practices, societies, and cultures. For students and their teachers who are trying to keep pace with the profound changes of the digital revolution on consumer behaviour this is a very timely and welcome additional resource. Ask your library to stock this book now!

Avi Shankar, University of Bath, UK

Thought provoking, cutting edge, and comprehensive coverage by global experts! A must read for anyone interested in digital consumption!

Jochen Wirtz, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore

Llamas and Belk, acknowledged experts on the digital transformation, have assembled an extraordinary group of scholars. There simply is no other handbook that portrays our digital world in such detail. In my view, a must read for any researcher in the social sciences and any business practitioner looking for consumer insight to drive business growth.

Bernd Schmitt, Columbia Business School, USA

As companies from Facebook to Microsoft rebrand and reconstitute to align with the metaverse, a fulsome foundation in the consumer behaviors constituting not just a life engaged online, but a digital life lived entirely within a digital world, becomes paramount. Enter this handbook and its expert guide to the complexities and conundrums of digital consumption 3.0.

Susan Fournier, Boston University, USA

Since the publication of the ground-breaking first edition, there has been an exponential growth in research and literature about the digital world and its enormous potential benefits and threats. Fully revised and updated, this new edition brings together an expertly curated and authoritative overview of the impact and emerging horizons of digital consumption.

Divided into sections, it addresses key topics including digital entertainment, self-representation, communication, Big Data, digital spirituality, online surveillance, and algorithmic advertising. It explores developments such as consumer data collection techniques, peer-to-peer payment systems, augmented reality, and AI-enhanced consumer well-being, as well as digital transgression, secrecy, crypto-currencies, NFTs, and cultural concerns such as the spread of conspiracy theories and fake news. From digital influencers, digital nomads, and digital neo-tribalism to robots and cyborgs, it explores existences that blur boundaries between humans and machines, reality and the metaverse, and the emerging technoculture a state of all-encompassing digital being.

This unique volume is an essential resource for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers, and will continue to provide a new generation of readers with a deep understanding of the universe of digital consumption.

Rosa Llamas is a lecturer in marketing at several business schools across Europe. She is also a mentor and consultant. Her work is based on qualitative methods, has a global approach, and aims at igniting individual and societal transformations.

Russell Belk is York University Distinguished Research Professor, Royal Society of Canada Fellow, and Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing at the Schulich School of Business in York University, Canada.

Cover image: Jorm Sangsorn

Second edition published 2023

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2023 selection and editorial matter, Rosa Llamas and Russell Belk; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Rosa Llamas and Russell Belk to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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First edition published by Routledge 2012 (as The Routledge Companion to Digital Consumption)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Llamas, Rosa, editor. | Belk, Russell W., editor.

Title: The Routledge handbook of digital consumption / edited by Rosa Llamas and Russell Belk.

Other titles: Routledge companion to digital consumption.

Description: 2nd edition. | Abingdon, Oxon;

New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge international handbooks | Earlier edition