Research by David Glen Mick, Robert Hill Carter Eminent Professor of Commerce at the UVA McIntire School of Commerce, is featured in a timely article in The Conversation by Michael Luchs, J.S. Mack Professor of Business at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Luchs’s piece, “Turn Shopping Stress into Purposeful Gift Giving by Cultivating ‘Consumer Wisdom’ During the Holidays,” explores how mindful, values-driven choices can make gift giving more meaningful and less stressful. The article draws on the two professors’ longstanding collaboration on the idea of “consumer wisdom,” a concept Mick first helped to define in his early research on wiser consumer behavior.
Reflecting on this partnership, Mick notes, “Michael Luchs is one of the most creative, wise, and caring consumer researchers I know, and I am very fortunate to have had him as a longtime collaborator and friend.”
Founder of the movement known as transformative consumer research, Mick is recognized as one of the earliest scholars to examine how consumers can act with greater purpose, long-term orientation, and values alignment in their decisions. His partnership with Luchs has shaped the broader research conversation around “wiser consumption,” focusing on how individuals can move beyond impulse or status-driven purchases toward choices that enhance connection and well-being. In Luchs’s Nov. 12 Conversation article, their work on consumer wisdom provides practical insights on the gift-giving process, rejecting “the manufactured sense of urgency around gift giving” and “asking what will genuinely contribute to the recipient’s life.”
At McIntire, Mick’s scholarship bridges marketing, psychology, and ethics, emphasizing how mindfulness and reflection can improve consumer and societal well-being. He teaches innovative courses such as Wisdom and Well-Being, encouraging students to consider how commerce can contribute to a more purposeful life. Mick’s work has appeared in leading journals, and his contributions to the field of consumer research have been recognized with numerous honors, including designation as a Fellow in Consumer Behavior, the Association for Consumer Research’s highest distinction, as well as the Thomas C. Kinnear Award for his paper, “Mindfulness: Its Transformative Potential for Consumer, Societal, and Environmental Well-Being.”
