Re-enchantment of consumption through craft products: an analysis of the homemade cosmetics context

• Autor(a) principal: Morais, Isabela Carvalho de
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do FGV (FGV Repositório Digital)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/27277
• topic: Enchantment; Craft; Market dynamics; Institutional logics perspective; Beauty; Homemade cosmetics; Encantamento; Artesanal; Dinâmica de mercado; Perspectiva da lógica institucional; Beleza; Cosméticos caseiros; Administração de empresas; Cosméticos - Indústria; Artesanato - Aspectos econômicos; Comportamento do consumidor

The pursuit of beauty, especially through the use of cosmetics, is part of the essence of human beings. Consumers that discredit the institutionalized marketplace but want to maintain their grooming activities search for new ways of self-care. Existing literature shows that consumers’ engagement in projects of enchantment and craft is a specific type of enchantment with indicia of growth in the marketplace, and that craft consumption is a possible agent of change or market creation. Consumer research shows market system dynamics by examining how consumers create new markets, promote changes to existing markets or critique the prevalent market logic. Previous literature also shows the development and change in markets, with a focus on consumer’s initiatives due to institutional logics dynamics. However, in what way the daily craft activities affect markets remains underexplored. Therefore, in this thesis, I ask what logics are manipulated by consumers to re-enchant consumption? How craft consumers relate to the market and how craft act as a trigger for re-enchanting consumption? And why do craft consumption re-enchant the market? Understanding the cosmetics market is especially important for comprehending market dynamics because it is replete with cyclical movements that challenge the conventional established market for various reasons. Moreover, craft products have gained space in the market in the last 15 years, prompting its use as the context of this research. Using a multimethod approach for over three years, I collected data using netnography and from participant observation, introspection, and in-depth interviews to understand the context of homemade natural beauty products (HNBP). In the HNBP context, consumers make their own cosmetics, through homemade craft production, utilizing simple ingredients that are not directly associated with the mainstream cosmetics market, such as bicarbonate of sodium, coconut oil, and vinegar—raw natural materials. Through the lens of the institutional logics perspective, this study contributes to the literature of market dynamics and shows the active participation of consumers drawing on multiple logics to re-enchant their consumption away from the mainstream market. The new products, which are different from those commercialized by the mainstream cosmetics industry, lead to the development of new companies and brands due to the intense involvement of the consumers. Many logics compete in the cosmetics market, and consumers use these logics differently, leading to distinctive consumption practices among them. I highlight the four main logics on which the consumers draw to achieve benefits similar to those of the cosmetics industry: (1) technology, (2) tradition, (3) craft, and (4) non-consumption. The HNBP consumers draw on many institutional logics by making and developing their products in craft production practices, or choosing not to use any beauty products, and disrupting or reinforcing established market logic. Some consumers prefer to disregard the technology and justify their consumption as safer, more reliable, and inclusive. These consumers lead the creation of an enchanted market through (1) reflexivity, (2) authenticity, (3) mimesis, and (4) incantation.