The Consciousness of Addiction: Toward a General Theory of Compulsive Consumption

Abstract

This article reviews and integrates recent theories of addiction drawn from a diverse set of disciplines-consumer behavior, medicine, sociology, psychiatry, and psychology-to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the etiology of addiction and other compulsive consumer behaviors. Interpretive material from personal interviews with addicted and nonaddicted drug users is then used to illustrate the consciousness of addictive consumption. Two a priori themes-serial/simultaneous addictions and personal crises/role transitions-and five emergent themesrelapse, deception, dysfunctional families, suicide, and boundaries-are discussed. *Elizabeth C. Hirschman is professor of marketing at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. She wishes to acknowledge the very constructive inputs to this research provided by the editor, the reviewers, Ron Hill, Steve Gould, and Ted Smith. She also wishes to thank the anonymous informants whose knowledge of addiction and willingness to share it made this article possible.

Normative Moderators of Impulse Buying Behavior

“…On the other hand, evidence shows that a considerable number of consumers think of themselves as "impulse buyers. " Between 1975 and1992, an average of 38 percent of the adults in an annual national survey responded affirmatively to the statement: "I am an impulse buyer" (DDB Needham Annual Lifestyle Survey 1974. There are also several studies that have indicated the significant and growing trend toward unplanned purchasing.…”

Creating the futuristic retail experience through experiential marketing: Is it possible? An exploratory study

“…This has happened because the majority of players are doing broadly the same things more intensively. Forming a relationship with the consumer creates an exponentially profi table business model that is sustainable in the long term, across many business domains and customer types ( Hirschman, 1992 ). Holbrook (2000) believes that when we enter the era of experiential marketing, the focus will shift from product performance and benefi t to experiences entertainment.…”

Ganho, Logo Gasto? Aplicação de Modelagem Estrutural na Investigação dos Efeitos da Renda na Compulsão por Compras

“…As pesquisas do comportamento do consumidor de Hassay e Smith (1996) sugerem que uma série de formas de consumo são motivadas pelo impulso compulsivo. Esses pesquisadores relatam que os comportamentos de consumo, tais como a compra por impulso (Rook & Hoch, 1985;Rook, 1987), compra compulsiva (Faber & O'guinn, 1988;(Burns, Gillett, Rubinstein, & Gentry, 1990Faber & O'Guinn, 1992), a cleptomania (McElroy, Keck, Pope, & Hudson, 1989) e consumo compulsivo (Hirschman, 1992) são diversamente motivados por fatores como sentimentos de ansiedade, tensão, desejos, anseios que geram necessidade de preenchimento emocional por meio da compra.…”

“…As consequências do consumo compulsivo muitas vezes levam a um aumento das dívidas de cartão de crédito (Ruvio, Somer, & Rindfleisch, 2014), maior conflito conjugal, e diminuição da auto-estima, que é susceptível de produzir maior estresse e menor bem-estar (Hirschman, 1992).…”

“…A busca desenfreada por aceitação social por meio das compras pode desencadear um comportamento de compra compulsivo, definido como "uma forma crônica, anormal de compras e gastos caracterizado, em casos extremos, por um desejo avassalador, incontrolável e repetitivo para comprar, com desprezo pelas consequências" Edwards (1992, p. 54, 1994a, p. 1 apud Desarbo & Edwards, 1996, caracterizado por Hirschman (1992) e Moschis (2007) como um traço comportamental que muitas vezes está além do controle do indivíduo.…”