Abstract
PurposeThis study explores the potential for personal transformation resulting from reflective learning that occurs during the extended consumption of life experiences. Extended consumption refers to activities that consist in re-experiencing a life experience, for instance sharing stories/photographs or blogging. MethodologyUsing a directed qualitative content analysis, Hubbs and Brand's (2010) framework is applied to analyze the content of 19 travel blogs and develop an understanding of different forms of consumer learning occurring during the extended consumption experience. FindingsThe analysis of the travel blogs provides evidence of three forms of reflective leaning during extended consumption: emotional, critical and personal reflection learning. Although a high proportion of the blog narratives do not go beyond surface learning, most bloggers use a combination of the three forms of reflective learning, signifying different levels of reflection. Experiences that produce emotions of high valence and situations that point to differences between the bloggers' home culture and the destinations' characteristics appear to trigger reflective learning, in some instances providing evidence of personal transformation. Originality/valueThis research contributes to the experiential consumption literature, providing evidence of consumers' development and transformation during extended consumption, and showing how even negative experiences lead to self-learning.
Highlights
Consumption experiences range from the mundane to the extraordinary
This study explores the potential for personal transformation resulting from reflective learning that occurs during the extended consumption of life experiences
A sample of 19 blogs written by British bloggers comes from a group of 1214 bloggers who took part in a survey on travel blogging, as part of a wider study. 285 of those bloggers gave consent to use their blogs for the study
Summary
Consumption experiences range from the mundane to the extraordinary. Besides satisfying utilitarian needs, they provide consumers with opportunities for fantasy, feelings and fun (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982) and personal growth (Arnould & Price, 1993). Recent models of consumption experience (Payne, Storbacka, & Frow, 2008; Tynan & McKechnie, 2009) call for the consideration of outcomes such as customer learning, enjoyment, entertainment, skills, nostalgia, fantasizing and evangelizing as part of the post-experience stage. Such outcomes influence consumers' decisions, future actions and self-development (Caru & Cova, 2003; Cova & Dalli, 2009), yet the focus on the pre-consumption stages, and, at the post-consumption stage, on the dominance of managerial concerns, sidelines them
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