Although the analysis of decision-making process is an important research topic, prior studies have largely focused on rational decision-making. However, it is becoming clear that consumers make a decision not only consciously but also unconsciously. If unconscious thought theory is applied, we can understand consumers' decision-making process as both the conscious and unconscious. The psychological theory assumes that two modes of thinking, conscious thought and unconscious thought, play a major role in purchase decisions. Nevertheless, no measurement scale for the thinking modes has been established. Taking this respect as an issue, we attempted to develop a consumer thinking modes scale by examining the reliability and construct validity, known-group validity, and nomological validity of our scale through questionnaire surveys and experiments. As it is easy to use the new scale, this study has a great significance in consumer behavior research and marketing practice.

Compensatory control theory states that when a situational factor causes a reduction in a sense of control, there is a drive to return it to baseline. This results in a temporary increase in a desire for control. However, previous research has shown that Japanese have a naturally low desire for control. Thus, this drive to restore a sense of control may remain weak among Japanese individuals even when it is low. Accordingly, in Study 1, we manipulated the sense of control (high, low) in a sample of Japanese to investigate whether the desire for control temporarily increased and succeeded in reproducing that result. In Study 2, we focused on customization as a strategy for restoring a lowered sense of control. We based our investigation on the prediction that psychological ownership of customized products would rise when the desire for control was temporarily increased because of a low sense of control; however, no difference was found due to the sense of control manipulation. In addition, psychological ownership was high in the high sense of the control condition (vs. the low sense of control condition) regardless of whether there was customization.

The spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has brought drastic changes in our lives and transformed our lifestyles. Under the transformed lifestyle, new segmentation that responds to these changes in consumer behavior is essential since it is expected that we will be forced to coexist with COVID-19 based on the concept of “with corona” in the future. Therefore, in this study, we conducted research on market segmentation under COVID-19. Since it is difficult to directly estimate the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior, we firstly classified consumers' lifestyles and clarified their attitudes toward COVID-19 by lifestyles. Then, by market segmentation using latent class analysis, we verified the orientation of brand choice for each consumer goods classification (durable goods, non-durable goods, services) of each class. In view of the fact that COVID-19 is a global event, it is necessary to consider whether the above-mentioned event is universal not only in Japan but also in other regions. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed and considered trends in South Korea and Taiwan at the same time.

By developing a model that adds social network quality, an assessment of the quality of social networks in brand communities, to the framework of people's need for affiliation and social identity theory, this study aims to clarify the impact of brand communities on consumers' overall life-related well-being, which is not limited to consumption or brands. The results revealed the following two findings: (1) social network quality is an antecedent of brand community identification, and (2) brand community identification is a leading factor in consumers' overall life-related well-being, which is not limited to consumption or brands. Furthermore, mediation analysis using the bootstrap method revealed that the impact of social network quality on consumers' overall life-related well-being, which is not limited to consumption or brands, is mediated by brand community identification.