Generation Z Consumption Behavior in Emerging Markets : A Bibliometric Review of Trends, Themes, and Research Gaps
Abstract
This study examines the global research landscape on Generation Z consumption behavior in emerging markets through a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Scopus database. Using VOSviewer as the primary analytical tool, the study constructs and interprets keyword co-occurrence networks to identify dominant research themes, thematic clusters, temporal evolution patterns, and research density distributions. The analysis shows that consumption behavior is firmly anchored at the intersection of sustainability, perception, and emerging-market retail contexts, with China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and the Russian Federation forming the most prominent country-level clusters. The findings reveal that scholarship has grown around sustainability, willingness to pay, purchase intention, and electronic commerce, while overlay visualization indicates a recent shift toward electric vehicles, environmental values, and digitally mediated consumption. Density analysis confirms that consumption behavior and emerging markets constitute the most intensively researched constructs in the literature. This study offers a structured map of the field and identifies promising directions for future research on Generation Z consumers in developing economies.
Keywords
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