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Article
The Roles of Extraordinary Beliefs in Consumption Rituals
Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
  • Cele C. Otnes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Linda Tuncay Zayer, Loyola University Chicago
  • Robert Alfonso Arias, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Arun Sreekumar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-10-2018
Pages
566-581
Disciplines
Abstract

People often ascribe to extraordinary beliefs (EBs), or those that laws of science cannot explain, or those that may even contradict science. Both the foundational literature in anthropology and recent work in consumer behavior affirm the assumption that rituals—structured, repeated, symbolic, and expressive activities—might be one context where extraordinary beliefs shape consumer experiences. To date, however, little understanding exists regarding the types of EBs that emerge in consumption-ritual contexts, and how they influence ritual participation. We examine over 30 years of articles in top-tier journals to address two questions: (1) Which EBs emerge as salient to consumer rituals? (2) How do EBs shape consumer ritual participation? In doing so, we illuminate the role of 15 EBs organized by four key functions. We reveal important gaps in understanding the interplay between EBs and consumer rituals and offer future research recommendations to address these gaps.

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Author Posting. © The Association for Consumer Research 2018. This article is posted here by permission of the Association for Consumer Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1086/699674

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Citation Information
Cele C. Otnes, Linda Tuncay Zayer, Robert Alfonso Arias and Arun Sreekumar. "The Roles of Extraordinary Beliefs in Consumption Rituals" Journal of the Association for Consumer Research Vol. 3 Iss. 4 (2018)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/linda_tuncay_zayer/35/