Boundedly rational consumers rely on their social environment as a source of information. Drawing upon psychological theories about social comparison processes, we hypothesize that social reference groups underlie market segments. New reference groups can emerge from social comparison processes,...

Market growth is driven by product innovation. Beyond functional satiationthe marginal utility of product performance and variety decreases. We argue that socialcomparisons underlying innovation diffusion results in consumer motivations for upwardassimilation toward the behavior of better...

Market growth is driven by product innovation. Beyond functional satiation the marginal utility of product performance and variety decreases. We argue that social comparisons underlying innovation diffusion results in consumer motivations for upward assimilation toward the behavior of better...