EXPRESS: The Marketplace Happiness Framework for Transformative Consumer Research: Managing the Hedonic-Eudaimonic Happiness Tension

Markets excel at producing short-term, individual happiness, yet they are structurally ill-equipped to ensure that such happiness translates into long-term, collective well-being. This tension reflects market incentives that reward short-term pleasure while diffusing long-term well-being and simultaneously undermine equity, sustainability, or social connections over time. In response, the World Happiness Foundation introduced the concept of happytalism to acknowledge the connection between personal and community well-being. Drawing on this concept, we introduce the Marketplace Happiness (MH) framework to understand, evaluate, and manage this tension by examining how consumers, brands and organizations, and policymakers can better align short-term pleasure with sustainable collective well-being. We further describe the operationalization of MH in empirically tractable ways, accounting for cultural differences and existing political realities worldwide, providing pathways for future research and implementation.