The importance of understanding the consumers’ extended self and how it changes under the influence of digital technologies

Abstract

Extended self is an important psychological-marketing construct that explains the relation between a consumer?s self-concept and possessions, i.e. the importance consumers ascribe to possessions in their lives. Extended self does not comprise of material goods solely, but rather an individual?s body, their internal processes, ideas, locations, experiences, and other persons. Although this topic is of high importance for understanding the consumers? behaviour, it has not been covered in the domestic scientific literature. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse the concept of extended self and to unite the newer studies with studies that had been carried out before digital technologies were used intensively. Meta-analysis was used as a main method of research, for the purpose of integrating the findings of a large number of individual studies and making an objective synthesis of the results. The analysis has shown that the extended self consists of several layers, hierarchy of which differing between individuals, depending on the importance ascribed to certain forms of possessions. During a lifetime, the construct of extended self changes. Besides the individual self-concept, it is important to observe the group extended self. The introduction of digital technologies has significantly modified the construct of consumers? extended self. It has been influenced by dematerialisation of goods, mass communication and information sharing with many people, and with the possibility of completely masking one?s personal identity online. A good knowledge of the extended self can significantly help marketing researchers to conduct more detailed quantitative and qualitative research of the consumer?s behavior, which is the core value of this paper.