 “My plastic dreams”: Towards an extended understanding of materiality and the shaping of consumer identitiesMarcia Christina Ferreira and Daiane Scaraboto () Journal of Business Research, 2016, vol. 69, issue 1, 191-207 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 feedback into consumer culture. Keywords: Materiality; Object relations; Objectification; Consumer identity; Plastic shoes; Netnography (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:69:y:2016:i:1:p:191-207 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.032 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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