Eudaimonic consumption careers

Abstract

While consumers increasingly turn to the marketplace seeking meaning and happiness, others search for experiential opportunities to escape the dull existence of everyday life. Yet these experiences are often temporary, and consumers return to their “everyday” after engaging in the transformative experience. We know little about those who decide to escape more permanently by turning their pursuit of deeper meanings and fulfillment (eudaimonia) through consumption into a career. We conceptualize this pursuit as eudaimonic consumption careers (ECCs). In a 10.5-year ethnographic study of snowsports instructors across Canada and New Zealand, we examine the key stages and experiences of ECCs over time. We conceptualize ECCs by first noting the integrative triggers that encourage people to embark on the career. We discuss two aspects of the ECC stage that begins with undergoing a eudaimonic transition followed by developing capabilities and skills to manage the career demands of an ECC. Finally, we discuss the disintegrative triggers that lead to people’s exit. We contribute to literature on extraordinary consumption, consumer work and serious leisure, and critical research on the limits of modern life and work. We achieve this by explaining a corpus of consumption careers and extraordinary consumer experiences that has been overlooked and undertheorized. This research offers implications for managing consumers and employees in multiple ECCs to understand how to best support people in ECCs, and promote service jobs with the promise of fulfillment, personal growth, and greater life purpose.