A Resource Exchange Theory Analysis of Consumer Behavior

Abstract

Marketing has been described as an exchange between two or more social units. A psychological exchange theory developed by Foa and Foa (1974) was used to examine: (a) the structure underlying six different resource categories—i.e., love, status, information, money, goods, and services—and (b) the functional relations among these six resource categories—i.e., the patterns of exchange. The economic concept of resource constraint (scarcity) was also incorporated into the exchange process. The results were basically consistent with both the structural and functional relations derived from Foa's theory. Moreover, resource scarcity was found to affect the types of resources an individual was likely to give in an exchange.