The interplay of emotions and consumption in the relational identity trajectories of grandmothers with their grandchildren
Résumé
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the interplay of emotions and consumption within intergenerational
exchanges. It shows how emotions pervade the trajectories of grandmothers’ relational identities with their
grandchildren through consumption practices.
Design/methodology/approach – This study analyses qualitative data gathered via 28 long
interviews with French grandmothers and 27 semi-structured interviews with their grandchildren. This
study draws on attachment theory to interpret the voices of both grandmothers and their grandchildren
within these dyads.
Findings – This study uncovers distinct relational identities of grandmothers linked to emotions and the
age of the grandchild, as embedded in consumption. It identifies the defining characteristics of the trajectory
of social/relational identities and finds these to be linked to grandchildren’s ages.
Research limitations/implications – This study elicits the emotion profiles, which influence
grandmothers’ patterns of consumption in their relationships with their grandchildren. It further
uncovers distinct attachment styles (embedded in emotions) between grandmothers and grandchildren
in the context of their consumption experiences. Finally, it provides evidence that emotions occur at the
interpersonal level. This observation is an addition to existing literature in consumer research, which
has often conceived of consumer emotions as being only a private matter and as an intrapersonal
phenomenon.
Practical implications – The findings offer avenues for the development of strategies for
intergenerational marketing, particularly promotion campaigns which link either the reinforcement or the
suppression of emotion profiles in advertising messages with the consumption of products or services by
different generations.
Social implications – This study suggests that public institutions might multiply opportunities for
family and consumer experiences to combat specific societal issues related to elderly people’s isolation.
Originality/value – In contrast to earlier work, which has examined emotions within the ebb and flow of
individual and multiple social identities, this study examines how emotions and consumption play out in
social/relational identity trajectories.