Ferreira, MC and Scaraboto, D (2015) “My plastic dreams”: Towards an extended understanding of materiality and the shaping of consumer identities. Journal of Business Research. ISSN 0148-2963

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Abstract

Individuals relate to consumption objects as a means to develop, reinforce, transform, or align their fragmented individual identities. Prior research has mainly focused on understanding the identity-shaping potential of finished consumer products, such as branded shoes. Less attention has been dedicated to understanding how material substances, designer intentions, and marketing efforts jointly influence materiality and the shaping of consumers’ identities. Drawing from a netnographic investigation of an online community of plastic shoe aficionados, we extend current understandings of object–consumer relations to include pre-objectification – a process whereby cultural forms are translated into material objects. This expanded view allows us to examine the outcomes of consumer interaction with material elements inscribed in consumption objects. Our study uncovers a collective materialization process where culturally situated material interactions give shape to consumer identities and feed back into consumer culture.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	MD Multidisciplinary
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Divisions:	Liverpool Business School
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2015 11:17
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 13:52
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.032
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2198

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