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From consumer interpretivism to consumer empiricism: Consumers’ quasi-scientific strategies to evaluate consumption products.
Type
conference speech
Date Issued
2022-07
Abstract
Prior literature shows how consumers use information processing strategies to evaluate experience products before establishing consumption routines. For instance, consumers interpret brands, aesthetics, brand names, or prices to guide their evaluations. We suggest that consumers also pursue a complementary evaluation strategy that we call empiricist evaluation. Using in-depth interviews and netnographic data collection, we study consumers who aim to evaluate experience products rationally, analytically, and evidence-based. We conceptualize this quasi-scientific evaluation strategy as consumer empiricism. Our literature review identifies prior research that alludes to this phenomenon. However, we miss a holistic understanding of consumers’ empiricist evaluation strategies. Therefore, we ask: How and under what conditions do consumers use empiricist strategies to evaluate consumption routines? We find that consumers use empiricist evaluation strategies in high-involvement consumption fields as they are driven by three interlocking cultural discourses: Institutional mistrust, an urge for optimization, and hyper-individualization. Further, our findings show how consumers use empiricist methods of observation, quantification, triangulation, and sensation to evaluate experience products in their individual contexts.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Event Title
Consumer Culture Theory Conference 2022
Event Location
Oregon State University, Oregon, USA
Event Date
07.07.2022 - 09.07.2022
Subject(s)
Contact Email Address
jan-hendrik.bucher@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
266874
File(s)
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open access
Name
Bucher, Gollnhofer - From consumer interpretivism to consumer empiricism_Consumers’ quasi-scientific strategies to evaluate consumption products..pdf
Size
248.6 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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