Events

Professor Peggy Liu
Ben L. Fryrear Professor of Marketing
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration
University of Pittsburgh

ABSTRACT

Billions of consumers worldwide have caregiving responsibilities. In this talk, I will discuss my latest research on how caregiving affects choices for the self in key ways with well-being implications for caregivers. A central theme in my talk is the concept of “consumption sacrifice”—wherein caregiving prompts consumers to give up consumption choices that may best serve their own well-being. I will first briefly highlight our published research on whether, why, and when making healthy choices for one’s child leads parents to make different choices for themselves. Then, I will mainly present our latest in-progress research that examines whether, why, and when caregiving responsibilities, relative to other responsibilities, uniquely discourage leisure activities due to their perceived “time unboundedness.” Altogether, this work aims to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of how the prevalent act of caregiving shapes consumers’ choices for the self, with the aim of facilitating our understanding of theory-consistent interventions to support caregiver well-being.