Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior

This book offers a theoretically grounded and empirically rich examination of how nostalgia shapes consumption behavior through memory, identity, and social interaction. Moving beyond treatments of nostalgia as an individual emotion or marketing cue, it conceptualizes nostalgic consumption as a socially embedded process in which autobiographical memories are formed, retrieved, reconstructed, and validated through relationships with family, peers, and communities.

Drawing on an original mixed‑methods design that combines netnography, in‑depth interviews, and survey‑based structural equation modeling, this book provides rare insight into the psychosocial mechanisms linking childhood memories to adult purchase decisions. The analysis demonstrates how nostalgia operates through gradual memory retrieval, symbolic meaning, self‑image congruence, and social endorsement, producing consumption behaviors that are both individual and relational, including purchasing for others and intergenerational transmission of brands and experiences.

Situated in a Latin American context, this book expands a literature dominated by Western settings and offers a coherent framework that integrates theories of memory, nostalgia, perception, and social cognitivism. It is of strong interest to scholars in consumer research, marketing, psychology, and sociology seeking a deeper understanding of memory‑driven consumption as a social phenomenon.