 “I want to break free!” How experiences of freedom foster consumer happinessCharlotte Gaston-Breton, Elin Brandi Sørensen and Thyra Uth Thomsen Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 121, issue C, 22-32 Abstract: This research investigates the relevance, characteristics, and influence of experiences of freedom as a source of consumer happiness. A qualitative study (Study 1) underscores the existence of two types of experiences of freedom in consumption that bring happiness to consumers: “freedom from” worries, stress, or everyday life and “freedom to” explore, decide, and enact who they are or want to become. A content analysis (Study 2) and an experiment (Study 3) show how these two types of experiences of freedom have different characteristics and are related to happiness in different ways: “freedom from” experiences are related to low positive emotional arousal (calm) and are more likely to foster hedonic, pleasure-based happiness, while “freedom to” experiences are more frequently associated with high positive emotional arousal (excitement) and are more likely to foster eudaimonic, meaning-based happiness. The results are discussed in terms of research, consumer and managerial implications. Keywords: Consumption; Experience; Freedom; Happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:121:y:2020:i:c:p:22-32 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.035 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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