Paying Back to Good Deeds: A Text Mining Approach to Explore Don-jjul as Pro-consumption Behavior

Abstract

More consumers are choosing pro-consumption for social change, but scholars know little about why and how consumers engage in pro-consumption behaviors. A newly emerged pro-consumption behavior called "Don-jjul,'' which appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, refers to compensating businesses that have engaged in altruistic actions by boosting their sales. This study used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) of topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and in-depth interviews to investigate the perceptions, motivations, and emotions regarding Don-jjul. As a result, the study revealed pro-consumers' perceptions of Don-jjul as "collective pro-consumption for contributing to social well-being.'' Don-jjul has two main motives: "supporting underdogs with difficulties'' and "compensating good businesses economically.'' We also found two ambivalent emotions evoked by Don-jjul: "respect for good business owners'' and "concerns regarding the misuse of Don-jjul.'' The results contribute to pro-consumption research for social well-being, providing business opportunities for retailers and CSR managers with a deep understanding of pro-consumers.