انتقال بین‌نسلی در رفتار مصرف‌کننده، ابزاری برای مانایی و توسعه کسب‌وکارها تحلیلی بر شصت سال پژوهش در حوزه جامعه‌شناسی مصرف

Introduction

Consumer behavior has long been recognized as a core domain within marketing scholarship, with its formation traditionally explained through interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from psychology, economics, and sociology. While marketing research has primarily focused on individual decision-making processes at the micro level, sociological approaches emphasize consumption patterns at the macro level, addressing collective behaviors, cultural norms, and social structures. One of the most significant yet underexplored mechanisms linking these two levels of analysis is intergenerational transmission, which refers to the transfer of behaviors, values, attitudes, preferences, and consumption practices from one generation to another, predominantly within the family context. Intergenerational transmission plays a crucial role in shaping consumer socialization, long-term consumption habits, brand preferences, and lifestyle orientations. From a marketing perspective, understanding how consumption-related knowledge and practices are transmitted across generations enables firms to design more effective family-based targeting strategies, strengthen brand continuity, and enhance customer lifetime value. From a sociological standpoint, intergenerational transmission functions as a key mechanism for cultural continuity and social reproduction, influencing consumption values, symbolic meanings, and socio-economic mobility. Despite its importance, existing research on intergenerational transmission in consumer behavior remains fragmented and theoretically incoherent. Most studies have concentrated on isolated behavioral outcomes, specific generations, or narrow psychological and economic explanations, with limited attention to the sociology of consumption and its implications for marketing and business sustainability. Furthermore, empirical evidence from non-Western contexts, particularly Iran, is notably scarce. Addressing these gaps, the present study aims to systematically analyze sixty years of scientific production on intergenerational transmission in consumer behavior through a bibliometric lens, examining its intellectual, conceptual, and social structures and assessing its relevance for marketing and business development.



Methodology

This study adopts a bibliometric research design to provide a comprehensive and objective overview of the evolution of intergenerational transmission research within consumer behavior. Bibliometric analysis is a quantitative approach that evaluates scientific publications to identify influential authors, journals, themes, collaboration networks, and research trends. Compared to traditional systematic reviews, bibliometric methods enable the analysis of large datasets while ensuring transparency, replicability, and analytical rigor. Data were collected exclusively from the Web of Science (WoS) database due to its high-quality indexing standards, advanced keyword normalization, and widespread acceptance in bibliometric studies. Following an extensive review of the literature, the keyword “intergenerational transmission” was used as the primary search term and applied to titles, abstracts, author keywords, and Keywords Plus. The search was limited to articles published in English within the subject areas of sociology, business, and economics. Conference papers and non-peer-reviewed documents were excluded to ensure the quality and consistency of the dataset. The final sample consisted of 1,416 peer-reviewed articles published between 1965 and December 2025. Data analysis was conducted using the R programming language, specifically the Bibliometrix package, which facilitates performance analysis and science mapping. The study followed a five-stage bibliometric procedure, including data collection, screening, selection, analysis, and interpretation. Analytical techniques included descriptive performance indicators, co-word analysis, conceptual structure mapping, co-authorship network analysis, and intellectual structure analysis through citation patterns.



Discussion and Results

The performance analysis reveals a substantial growth in publications on intergenerational transmission in consumer behavior, particularly over the past two decades, indicating increasing scholarly interest in the topic. However, citation analysis shows that intellectual influence remains concentrated among a limited number of authors and seminal works, suggesting an unequal distribution of academic impact. Conceptual structure analysis identified five dominant thematic clusters within the literature. The first cluster centers on intergenerational transmission as a core construct, focusing on the mechanisms through which behaviors and values are transferred across generations. The second cluster emphasizes consumer socialization, highlighting the role of family communication, parental influence, and early-life experiences in shaping consumption patterns. The third cluster addresses attitudes and decision-making processes, examining how inherited beliefs affect preferences, brand loyalty, and purchasing behavior. The fourth cluster focuses on age and consumer behavior, exploring generational differences and lifecycle effects. The fifth cluster examines intergenerational influences, including cultural identity, socio-economic status, and contextual factors. Social structure analysis indicates limited collaboration among scholars, with fragmented co-authorship networks and weak interdisciplinary integration. Intellectual structure mapping further reveals theoretical dispersion, with studies drawing inconsistently from sociology, psychology, and economics, resulting in a lack of cumulative theory development.



Conclusions

The findings demonstrate that although research on intergenerational transmission in consumer behavior has expanded quantitatively, it remains theoretically fragmented and methodologically uneven. The dominance of individual-level and economically driven explanations has constrained deeper engagement with the sociology of consumption, limiting the field’s ability to explain long-term consumption continuity and change. This study contributes to the literature by systematically mapping the intellectual landscape of intergenerational transmission research and highlighting critical gaps, particularly the need for integrative theoretical frameworks and context-specific studies. From a managerial perspective, the results underscore the strategic importance of understanding family-based consumption dynamics for enhancing brand sustainability and business continuity. Future research should prioritize interdisciplinary approaches, incorporate sociological theories of consumption, and expand empirical investigations in underrepresented cultural contexts such as Iran. By doing so, intergenerational transmission research can offer richer theoretical insights and more actionable implications for marketing and business development.