Business Commons^™

Filling In The Gaps: A Service Ecosystem Perspective On Purchase Groups As Interstitial Markets, Aditya Gupta, Sheila Roy, Renuka Kamath

Faculty Publications – Marketing

Purpose

Given the continuing need to study service marketing adaptations that emerged in the wake of Covid-19, this paper looks at the formation and evolution of purchase groups (PGs) that arose in Indian gated communities during the pandemic and have continued functioning in the post-pandemic marketplace. Not only did these groups act as much-needed interstitial markets during a time of significant external disruption, but they also served as sites of value co-creation with consumers collaborating with each other and with service providers.

Methodology

Using a phenomenological research approach, we conduct 22 in-depth interviews with Indian consumers and small service providers …

Meaningful Consumption, Aditya Gupta, Meike Eilert, James W. Gentry

Faculty Publications – Marketing

While consumers frequently seek meaning through their marketplace interactions, a comprehensive understanding of meaningful consumption is conspicuously absent from marketing literature. Such insight would notably benefit macromarketing scholars who aim to evaluate the implications of consumer purchasing decisions on quality of life. Addressing this gap, our study employs 40 in-depth interviews to arrive at the phenomenological essence of meaningful consumption. We discover that meaningful consumption comprises three key themes—rejuvenation, expansion, and consolidation—accompanied by seven related sub-themes: repair and reconnection; intellectual, pragmatic, and relational expansion; and crystallization and contextualization. Our overarching framework enriches macromarketing theory by virtue of its ability to …