Orchestrating Consumer Sacrifice in the Marketplace
Scholars find sacrifice to be inherent in consumer behavior. Consumer research tends to depict sacrifice as a trade-off of monetary resources for offerings and related benefits accrued through such acquisitions. However, some scholars acknowledge that beyond monetary resources, a broader range of resources (e.g., time, effort, energy) may reflect sacrifices individuals employ as consumers. The sacrifice of resources is central to consumption, however more attention is required to theorize what it is and how it is orchestrated by marketers to more fully understand and further examine consumer behavior. In an ethnographic study of living organ donors, the speakers theorize sacrifice as a multidimensional resource employed by consumers, and articulate how sacrifice, as a complex, is orchestrated by market participants. They find evidence of five complementary categories of sacrifice: self-sacrifice which reflects investment of the physical body; substitute sacrifice which encompasses possessions, money, or time; symbolic sacrifice which reflects the mental release of thoughts, feelings, or possessions; behavioral sacrifice which includes alterations to a pattern of preferred actions; and perspectival sacrifice which reflects changes in attitudes. And, they articulate how the marketplace strives to orchestrate varying combinations of sacrifice in support of consumption. We conclude identifying additional research opportunities.
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