Search results

In the set of commentaries on liquidity entitled "The continuing significance of social structure in liquid modernity," three sets of authors set out to examine the relationship between liquidity and structure, value, and distinction. In doing so, they attempt to marry theories which argue against sociologist Zygmunt Bauman's central thesis that societal structures are shifting with his seminal construct of liquidity, an exercise that has mixed results. All three sets of authors have engaged with Bauman's conceptualization of liquid modernity as well as our conceptualization of liquid consumption and its consequences. In this response to the commentaries, we clarify how we understand Bauman and how we have used his ideas in our theorizing, engage with the three sets of author's advocacy for emphasizing the continuing relevance of structure within liquidity, and, finally, sum up how de-emphasizing structure has and can continue to lead to important new insights in marketing theory.

We explore emerging dynamics of social status and distinction in liquid consumption. The new logic of distinction is having the flexibility to embrace and adopt new identity positions, projects, and possibilities and the ability to attract attention. The importance of flexibility and attention as resources emerged from the social sciences literature in the domains of digital, access based, and urban consumption as being the most important for achieving distinction in the contemporary marketplace. We then conceptually reexamine conspicuous consumption and taste and show that status signaling now relies upon inconspicuousness, non-ownership including experiences, and authenticity based on knowledge and craftsmanship, all of which are difficult to emulate. Our contribution lies in integrating disparate literature on social status and consumption within one conceptual space. We also build upon the concept of liquid consumption by outlining exactly how liquidity affects status and distinction, an area which has not been explored to date.

AbstractThrough an ethnography of shopping that takes place in five thrift stores in a US midwestern town, the authors examine the role of thrift in a shopping process that is both economic and hedonic—'thrift shopping'. Taking a dialectical perspective on the study of shopping (Sherry, 1990), Miller's (1998) findings on the role of thrift are extended by showing that in the thrift shopping context thrift coexists with treat, and the pursuit of thrift can itself become a hedonic experience. In addition, the authors identify six ways in which consumers practise thrift in thrift shopping and the hedonic benefits that they derive from this money‐saving activity. The findings challenge the traditional frugality perspective of dichotomising thrift and hedonic desire being opposite and contradictory orientations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding how globalization affects consumers is a key concern of international marketing research. Consumer culture theory (CCT) studies contribute to this stream of research by critically examining how globalization affects consumers under different cultural conditions. We offer a systematic narrative synthesis of 30 years of CCT globalization research to gain perspective on this important stream of research. We identify three theoretical perspectives – that is, homogenization, glocalization and deterritorialization – that have shaped the ways in which CCT scholars have approached globalization phenomena. We discuss each perspective with regard to its underlying notion of culture, its assumptions of power relations between countries and the role that it ascribes to individuals in globalization processes. We problematize these perspectives and show how CCT research has challenged and extended each perspective, focusing specifically on consumer empowerment, consumer identity and the symbolic meaning of global brands as substantial domains. Lastly, we discuss avenues for future consumer cultural globalization research.

Abstract

While commercial media are increasingly attended to in multitasking contexts, advertising research is dominated by sequential marketing communication models where the consumer is a passive receiver of one type of media at a time. This study examine's media multitasking behaviors and experiences among young consumers. Media multitasking is the practice of participating in multiple exposures to two or more commercial media forms at a single point in time, including traditional, online, social, and entertainment media. Prior research argues that multitasking results in diminished comprehension and performance. Through a qualitative approach with a sample of 64 young consumers involving interviews and collages, this study highlights the paradoxical experiences of media multitasking. The authors develop a conceptual model that explains the personal benefits and costs associated with media multitasking, and proposes its impact on consumers' motivation, ability and opportunity (the MAO model) to process commercial media content. Further, the study suggests an inverted‐U relationship between media multitasking and the MAO model and proposes four behavioral coping moderators to this relationship.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Contents: The paradox of the sharing economy, introductory chapter / Russell Belk, Giana Eckhardt and Fleura Bardhi -- The nature of sharing and the sharing economy 1. Situating the sharing economy: Between markets, commons and capital / Adam Arvidsson -- 2. Sharing as an alternative economy activity / Thomas Widlok -- 3. The who and what of sharing: A phenomenological view / Wolfgang Suetzl -- 4. The sharing economy and lifestyle movements / Mikko Laamanen and Stefan Wahlen -- Ownership, access, and collaborative modalities 5. To own or to access: An exploration of sharing and access practices by Arab millennials / Maha Baz Radwan, Georgios Patsiaouras and Michael Saren -- 6. Object history value in the sharing economy / Claris X. Li and Richard J. Lutz -- 7. Guest, friend or colleague? Unpacking relationship norms in collaborative workplaces / Adèle Gruen and Laetitia Mimoun -- 8. Designing the economics of the sharing economy: Towards sustainable management / Ann Light -- Exchange practices in the sharing economy -- 9. The new face of bartering in collaborative networks: The case of Italy's most popular bartering website / Daniele Dalli and Fulvio Fortezza -- 10. Sharing economy to the rescue? The case of timebanking / Carmen Valor and Elani Papaoikonomou -- 11. Crowdfunding: Sharing the entrepreneurial journey / Anirban Mukherjee, Hannah H. Chang, and Amitava Chattopadhyay -- 12. Crowdfunding the development of new products and services / Natalia Drozdova, Seidali Kurtmollaiev and Ingeborg Kleppe -- Hybridity, institutional logics and institutional theory 13. Tracking the institutional logics of the sharing economy / Andrea Gessinger, Christopher Laurell, Christina Oberg and Christian Sandstrom -- 14. Airbnb and hybridized logics of commerce and hospitality / Georg von Richthofen and Eileen Fischer -- 15. The hybrid nature on online facilitated offline sharing / Konstanty Strzyczkowski -- 16. Decentralization as a new framework for the sharing economy / Marc Rocas-Royo -- Legal, regulatory, and public policy considerations 17. Urban mobilities and local regulation: Transportation challenges and promise of the sharing economy / Hugh Bartling -- 18. Should Europe regulate labour platforms in the sharing economy? / Adrian J. Hawley -- 19. Creating value to mitigate disaster harm: How the sharing economy can support consumers and policy makers / Lucie K. Ozanne -- 20. How sharing economy organizations and city governments engage in institutional work and how this shapes sustainability / Oksana Mont, Yulia Voytenko Palgen, and Lucie Zvolska -- Trust, satisfaction, and reputation in the sharing economy 21. Social dilemmas in the sharing economy / Rense Corten -- 22. Leveraging trust on sharing economy platforms: Reputation systems, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies / Mareike Möhlmann, Timm Teubner, and Antje Graul -- 23. Revisiting satisfaction with collaborative exchanges in the sharing economy / Jérôme Mallargé, Alain DeCrop, and Pietro, Zidda -- 24. Customer goodwill: How perceived competence and rapport influence ewom's diagnosticity of peer-to-peer and professional access-based services / Christine Pitt, Theresa Eriksson, and Kirk Plangger -- Critical perspectives on the sharing economy 25. Constructing the collaborative consumer: The role of digital platforms / Annmarie Ryan and Gabriela Avram -- 26. Performing (in) the community: Accounting, biopower and the sharing economy / Penelope van den Bussche and Jeremy Morales -- 27. The rhetoric of sharing: Managerial literature on the sharing economy / Karolina Mikołajewska-Zając -- 28. Reputation: The 'fictitious commodity' of the sharing economy? / Alessandro Gandini -- Index.

Abstract
This article introduces a new dimension of consumption as liquid or solid. Liquid consumption is defined as ephemeral, access based, and dematerialized, while solid consumption is defined as enduring, ownership based, and material. Liquid and solid consumption are conceptualized as existing on a spectrum, with four conditions leading to consumption being liquid, solid, or a combination of the two: relevance to the self, the nature of social relationships, accessibility to mobility networks, and type of precarity experienced. Liquid consumption is needed to explain behavior within digital contexts, in access-based consumption, and in conditions of global mobility. It highlights a consumption orientation around values of flexibility, adaptability, fluidity, lightness, detachment, and speed. Implications of liquid consumption are discussed for the domains of attachment and appropriation; the importance of use value; materialism; brand relationships and communities; identity; prosumption and the prosumer; and big data, quantification of the self, and surveillance. Lastly, managing the challenges of liquid consumption and its effect on consumer welfare are explored.

Abstract
This study introduces the notion of chronic consumer liminality (CCL) defined as a recurrently activated state of transition experienced when engaging in frequent, multiple, and nonlinear consumer life transitions. CCL is characterized by (1) reoccurring transitions, (2) ongoing self-transformation, and (3) the embracing of precarity. We find evidence of CCL in a multimethod qualitative study of the flexible consumer lifestyle. CCL emerges as a response to the liquidification of society and the rise of a marketplace ideology of flexibility. CCL is manifested and managed through three CCL navigation processes: destabilizing consumption routines, liquidifying consumption, and asserting control over time and money. Thus, consumers experiencing CCL tend to prefer variety seeking and serendipity over routine even for mundane choices, access-based consumption across domains, and a productivity orientation toward free time. Three skills also facilitate CCL: resilient optimism, adaptability, and self-preservation. This study contributes to research on liminality, consumption in liminality, liquid consumption, and precarity. We conclude with the managerial implications of our framework.

Abstract
Prior research has investigated global mobility through the lenses of consumer acculturation, identity, and possessions with a focus on consumers' socialization and identity management in the host consumer culture. It has neglected, however, the ways that globally mobile consumers simultaneously navigate the multiple, cross-border markets in which they are embedded. We adopt the social network perspective to investigate the transnational consumer lifestyles of people who live and consume simultaneously in two or more countries and sustain multiple relationships of a diverse nature (e.g., market, social, financial, professional) across borders. Through a qualitative study, we dimensionalize the transnational social space inhabited by transnational consumers and demonstrate how it shapes their consumption. We introduce the concept of transnational market navigation, defined as the process of strategically and pragmatically selecting and leveraging social networks to engage simultaneously with multiple cross-border markets. We identify three transnational market navigation strategies: clustering consumption, embracing commercial lock-ins, and developing cluster-based competency. By mobilizing a network perspective to examine consumption in global mobility, we show that globally mobile consumers are also motivated by ways of being (the actual social and commercial relationships and consumption practices with which consumers engage), in addition to the identities associated with their consumption.