Chronic Consumer Liminality: Being Flexible in Precarious Times.
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| Title: | Chronic Consumer Liminality: Being Flexible in Precarious Times. |
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| Authors: | Mimoun, Laetitia (AUTHOR) lmimoun@escp.eu, Bardhi, Fleura (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Consumer Research. Oct2022, Vol. 49 Issue 3, p496-519. 24p. 1 Diagram, 4 Charts. |
| Subject Terms: | *Liminality, *Consumer behavior, *Consumption (Economics), *Adaptability (Personality), *Psychological resilience, *Precarity, *Life change events |
| 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 FROM AUTHOR] |
| Database: | Energy & Power Source |
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| 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 FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00935301 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/jcr/ucab073 |
