Browsing by Author "Weijo, Henri, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Marketing, Finland"
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- The Changing Meaning of Ownership
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2023) Rosenberg, LauraThe rise of the sharing economy and access-based consumption has challenged traditional ownership-based forms of consumption. More and more consumers are favoring renting, sharing, and borrowing options over buying and owning, and this trend has been evident across product categories. While past research has identified drivers of this change – such as consumers' search for convenience, utility, sustainability, and variety – less is known about the relationship between access-based forms and traditional ownership-based forms of consumption. Furthermore, research lacks insights on whether access is indeed more convenient for consumers than ownership, and how the meaning of ownership is culturally constructed in today's liquid world. By drawing from Bardhi and Eckhardt's (2017) conceptualization of liquid (access-based) and solid (ownership-based) consumption as existing on a spectrum, this dissertation sheds light on the co-existence of liquid and solid consumption – in other words, how consumers form relationships with their solid and liquid possessions and move from one consumption form to the other. Furthermore, the dissertation draws attention to the solid end of the spectrum and illuminates the cultural construction of the value of solid possessions. The dissertation is rooted in the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) tradition and consists of three interlinked essays. The first and third essay are comprised of a phenomenological inquiry, and the second essay is a literature review. The findings of the essays make several theoretical contributions to literature on access-based consumption, the co-existence of liquid and solid consumption, and the socio-cultural meaning of solid, ownership-based possessions. - Consumers in the Circular Economy - Essays on Extending Product Lifecycles
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2019) Salminen, EmmaThis dissertation sheds light on how a better understanding of consumer practices during product use can help us make consumption more sustainable. The role of consumers in circular economy models has been underexplored and marginalized. The discussion on product circularity is often framed around production and design, where consumers are treated as passive users of circular offerings. Instead, this dissertation elaborates on how consumers can have active roles in the circular economy by extending product lifecycles through maintenance. In this dissertation, I build on the cyclical view of consumption that looks at consumption through acquisition, usage, and disposal. The dissertation focuses on the usage phase of the cycle. To escape the traps of the previous attitude-behavior studies focusing on the individual consumer's attitudes and behavior, this dissertation draws from a more holistic view taking macro, meso, and micro perspectives into account. The research draws on practice theory and analyzes the different practice elements and their configurations. By taking a macro perspective, the findings of the dissertation elaborate on institutional regulations, market resources and social structures shaping practices during product use. Through a more micro and meso perspective, the findings bring new understanding to how consumers participate in lengthening product life spans and how they keep products part of their practices through product maintenance. The dissertation is comprised of three interlinked essays that draw from a longitudinal ethnographic study exploring consumption practices through a sustainable perspective. The study context focuses on leisure boating in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The context of leisure boating around the Baltic Sea provided an excellent context to study sustainable consumption practices due to the extensive use of unsustainable, environmentally destructive boat hull paints during maintenance practices.