Customer Imagination—An Integrative Review

Abstract

Imagination is a fundamental cognitive function in every human's mind. However, in consumer research, the elusive concept of customer imagination was neglected for a long time and has only gained greater attention in the last few years. Based on the bibliometric analysis of 217 articles guided by the PRISMA protocol, this review maps the evolution and intellectual structure of the concept using performance analysis, co-word analysis, and science mapping. The findings reveal that the literature is concentrated in three distinct research streams: a foundational cognitive stream focused on mental imagery; an experiential and technology-driven stream centered on immersive technologies such as AR, VR, and metaverse; and an emerging stream focused on new frontiers like AI. In most of these studies, customer imagination is viewed as a natural capacity to transform external marketing information into mental representations for envisioning future happenings, leading to customer decisions. The review also indicates a paucity of studies on domain-specific conceptualization and the roles of customer imagination before, during, and after their consumption experience. It then proposes a future research agenda organized around four key themes: (1) advancing the conceptualization and measurement of the construct in the marketing domain; (2) examining its antecedents, consequences, and relationships with other marketing concepts; (3) exploring its dynamic role across the entire consumption journey; and (4) developing appropriate methodological approaches for studying customer imagination.