We invite you to the 14th Brown Bag Seminar, which will be held on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at the Faculty of Economics & Business - Zagreb in Hall 51 beginning at 2 pm. The Brown Bag Seminar Cycles continues with the presentation of Prof. Katherine C. Sredl, PhD (University of Loyola, Chicago, Department of Marketing), who will present the work „Family Identity in Ritual Practice: the Case of Back-to-School Shopping“.
Summary of the Presentation:
Prior macromarketing research argues that family is a key macromarketing stakeholder, yet an understudied area of research (Carlson & Harrison, 2010). Macromarketing researchers also note that the family in the US is nuclear in its structure and is generally not the subject of public policy, leaving room for asking what can be learned from contexts in which state policy directly addresses family, and from contexts in which family structures are extended. Related consumer behavior literature on family identity frames family as a collective enterprise, with collective, relational, and individual identities, and calls for further research ritual as a constituting practice of family (Epp & Price, 2008; Wallendorf & Arnould, 1991). Consumer behavior scholarship on family has also noted the need for research that locates family in the “context of context,” emphasizing the market and cultural forces that influence family practices, which would further explain why families consume the way they do (Askegaard & Linnet, 2011). With few exceptions, neither macromarketing nor related consumer research has explored how families outside the US constitute identity through ritual, given the social norms and market structures that influence family life. Joining together these streams of research, our research question is: how do families in Zagreb, with children ages 6 to 12 years old, use the back-to-school shopping ritual to express collective, relational, and individual identities? What role do macro-level forces such as the socio-economic changes of privatization play in this identity practice? How does the extended family structure contribute to this identity practice?
This interpretive research is based on 28 interviews and participant-observation at four stores during the back-to-school shopping season in Zagreb, with a focus on shoe shopping; participants included 40 girls and 15 boys, aged 6 to 12 years, and 27 mothers and 6 fathers. Our findings demonstrate three outcomes of the ritual: family identity bundles are enacted through the practice of specific parent-child relational bundles as they decide what to buy, family character is enacted through choice of retailer and brand, and family structure is enacted through the process of limiting participation in the store visit to specific family relational bundles, while showing flexibility in consumption practices outside the ritual. Our findings have implications for future research on intergenerational influence (IGI) (Carlson, Laczniak, & Walsh, 2001, Moore, Wilkie, and Lutz 2002), family identity (Epp and Price 2008), and the relationship between marketing and society, focusing on families and public policy (Carlson and Harrison 2010).
Description of the Brown Bag Seminar concept :
The Brown Bag Seminar (BBS) is an informal one-hour workshop with aim of presenting research in different stages of design (ideas, rounded theoretical framework, conducted empirical research, etc.), promoting discussion and creating a stimulating environment focused on constructive discussion between exhibitors and the rest of participants of the seminar. The basic idea of the BBS is to create a platform where at least once a month, the FEB ZG employees will have the opportunity to present the ideas and articles they work on within their scientific-research work.We invite you to respond and help with your constructive comments to exhibitors, and expose by yourself the topics you are currently working on, unpublished works or present the research ideas you are thinking about.
Summary of the Presentation:
Prior macromarketing research argues that family is a key macromarketing stakeholder, yet an understudied area of research (Carlson & Harrison, 2010). Macromarketing researchers also note that the family in the US is nuclear in its structure and is generally not the subject of public policy, leaving room for asking what can be learned from contexts in which state policy directly addresses family, and from contexts in which family structures are extended. Related consumer behavior literature on family identity frames family as a collective enterprise, with collective, relational, and individual identities, and calls for further research ritual as a constituting practice of family (Epp & Price, 2008; Wallendorf & Arnould, 1991). Consumer behavior scholarship on family has also noted the need for research that locates family in the “context of context,” emphasizing the market and cultural forces that influence family practices, which would further explain why families consume the way they do (Askegaard & Linnet, 2011). With few exceptions, neither macromarketing nor related consumer research has explored how families outside the US constitute identity through ritual, given the social norms and market structures that influence family life. Joining together these streams of research, our research question is: how do families in Zagreb, with children ages 6 to 12 years old, use the back-to-school shopping ritual to express collective, relational, and individual identities? What role do macro-level forces such as the socio-economic changes of privatization play in this identity practice? How does the extended family structure contribute to this identity practice?
This interpretive research is based on 28 interviews and participant-observation at four stores during the back-to-school shopping season in Zagreb, with a focus on shoe shopping; participants included 40 girls and 15 boys, aged 6 to 12 years, and 27 mothers and 6 fathers. Our findings demonstrate three outcomes of the ritual: family identity bundles are enacted through the practice of specific parent-child relational bundles as they decide what to buy, family character is enacted through choice of retailer and brand, and family structure is enacted through the process of limiting participation in the store visit to specific family relational bundles, while showing flexibility in consumption practices outside the ritual. Our findings have implications for future research on intergenerational influence (IGI) (Carlson, Laczniak, & Walsh, 2001, Moore, Wilkie, and Lutz 2002), family identity (Epp and Price 2008), and the relationship between marketing and society, focusing on families and public policy (Carlson and Harrison 2010).
Description of the Brown Bag Seminar concept :
The Brown Bag Seminar (BBS) is an informal one-hour workshop with aim of presenting research in different stages of design (ideas, rounded theoretical framework, conducted empirical research, etc.), promoting discussion and creating a stimulating environment focused on constructive discussion between exhibitors and the rest of participants of the seminar. The basic idea of the BBS is to create a platform where at least once a month, the FEB ZG employees will have the opportunity to present the ideas and articles they work on within their scientific-research work.We invite you to respond and help with your constructive comments to exhibitors, and expose by yourself the topics you are currently working on, unpublished works or present the research ideas you are thinking about.
The idea is that presentations (in English or in Croatian - depending on the presenter's preference) last for 30-40 minutes, followed by a discussion. Since the BBS is informal and is usually taking place at lunch time, snacks and refreshing beverages will be served on the BBS.