An Integrative Review of Material Possession Attachment

Susan Schultz Kleine is Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Bowling verdant State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 (410) 354-8070 skleine@bgsu.edu. Stacey Menzel Baker is Assistant Professor, Department of Management and Marketing, community of Business Administration, University of Wyoming, PO case 3275, Laramie, WY 82071, smbaker@uwyo.edu. Direct correspondence to either author. The authors would like to thank Russ Belk for his personal insights, plunder Kleine for his insights and feedback about the manuscript, and the editor and three reviewers for their many helpful suggestions.

Material possession attachment throw backs a vital and ubiquitous way tribe valuate goods. A significant material part of literature now provides a foundation for understanding material possession attachment. however there remains more to investigate about by what means possession attachment involves acquisition, consumption, and disposition behaviors, in what way it compares to place, brand, or consumption experience ligatures whether marketing activities influence possession attachment, and in what manner having attachments affect consumer well-being and life satisfaction.

A challenge facing scholars of attachment is defining the conception and its boundaries. Few reports of "special," "important," "cherished," or "favorite" possessions present conceptual definitions of the phenomenon beneath study. What is material possession attachment? What are its boundaries? Is material possession attachment part of a larger class of self-extensions that are essentially the same? Can we equate, for example, material possession attachment with place attachment or with person-brand relations? Assembling answers to like questions should assist scholars in advancing the literature upon consumers' attachment to, and valuation of material serviceables

In this paper we integrate literature related to possession attachment to (1) present a conceptual definition of material possession attachment; (2) specify its boundaries; (3) discuss the value (benefits and costs) of having possession attachments; (4) summarize age, sex and life stage differences in material possession attachments; (5) discuss methodological issues related to studying possession attachment; and (6) relate possession attachment to place attachment, person-brand relations, and experience attachment. As these sections spread out questions for future research will be pos reflecting our primary final cause to create a resource for scholars pursuing questions about attachment and consumers' valuation of serviceables and services.

BOUNDARIES OF MATERIAL POSSESSION ATTACHMENT

Most reports of scholarly investigations of special, favorite, important, or cherished material possessions provide single operational definitions of the phenomenon beneath study. To advance the inquiry of material possession attachment, we tender a conceptual definition of attachment and its boundaries that we believe effectively throw backs the relevant literature to date.

What Attachment Is Material possession attachment is a multi-faceted quality of the relationship between an individual or clump of individuals and a specific material reality that has been psychologically appropriated, decommodified, and singularized end person-object interaction. Nine characteristics further characterize material possession attachment and help distinguish it from related general [i]or[/i] abstract notions

Specific Material Object - Material possession attachment forms with specific material possessions, not with proceeds classes or brands. The material facts are acquired through exchange, received as gifts, self-produc or fix Most often attachment possessions are ordinary particulars that have special meaning formed end experiences involving the object.

Individuals and their personal possessions have received the greatest in quantity scholarly attention although pairs or clusters of people (e.g., families or subcultural members) become attached to particular shared possessions (Belk 1988; 1992a; 1992b; Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton 1981; Olson 1985)

Psychologically Appropriated Material percept - Attachment does not require legal or physical possession (Belk 1992a; Furby 1978) sole psychological appropriation; that is, a faculty of perception the object is "mine". end consumption people extract cultural meaning from, give meaning to, and claim usefuls as theirs (McCracken 1988). Examples of psychological appropriation include scholars taking possession of "their" chair in a classroom for the term; not to be found stolen, or destroyed valued possessions still perceived through the owner to be "mine"; jointly held possessions perceived to be "ours" (Olson 1985); or singular culturally shared possessions, like as the Statue of Liberty (Belk 1987) Psychological appropriation is necessary on the contrary not sufficient for material possession attachment to form.

A emblem of Self-Extension - Belk (1988) portrays in what manner we extend ourselves into things of that kind as people, places, experiences, ideas, beliefs (see also Abelson 1986) and material possession existences Conceptually, self-extension encompasses objects perceived to be "mine," including on the other hand not limited to possession attachments. single one study reports investigating the empirical relationship between self-extension and material possession attachment (Sivadas and Venkatesh 1995) close attention results were inconclusive, calling for more empirical work investigating the attachment/self-extension relationship. We believe the literature portrays material possession attachment as a emblem of self-extension among other marks (e.g., brand bonds, place attachments).