Searching for identity-consistency after retirement: The meaning of consumption among elderly consumers

Abstract

This study intends to find out how retired consumers facing a turning point in their life, retirement, tries to maintain the consistency in their own identity through consumption. In-depth interview of 5 retirees revealed that retirement creates a new place for consumption. These retirees have been experiencing a change from production-centered life to consumption-centered life, and become interested either in activities that they wanted to do but couldn't before retirement or in totally new activities. They try to reveal their identity by consuming products or services associated with those activities. Furthermore, faced with a huge life change, retirement, they seem to pursue a desirable future by compensating losses caused by retirement and aging and putting their resources in an optimal way into activities fitting their environments, taking advantage of consumption as an adaptive strategy. In addition, they try to continue writing narratives of personal history while balancing between continuity and change. © 2015 International Information Institute.