Research Progress of Peer Effects in Consumption Based on CiteSpace Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have incorporated peer effects into the research framework of consumption, providing a new perspective for studying residents’ consumer behavior. However, the common themes of thethese two terms are relatively under-researched, and a more detailed synthesis is needed. This study presents a visual bibliometric analysis of the knowledge structure and evolution of the peer effect in the field of consumption using CiteSpace (v.6.3. R1). The results show that the peer effect in the consumer domain has received increasing attention from the academic community and has broad research prospects. This study also provides a theoretical summary based on analysis of the literature. The mechanism of generating consumer behavioral peer effects, identification methods, and reference group categories are comprehensively discussed. Finally, this study proposes future research priorities based on the shortcomings of current research.