Neither wasted nor wanted: theorising the failure to dispossess objects of ambiguous value

Abstract

Consumer research has traditionally presented the consumption process in three stages – acquisition, consumption and disposition (de Coverly et al. 2008; Jacoby, Berning, and Dietvorst 1977) and it is assumed that consumers will naturally move through the process (Cross, Leizerovici, and Pirouz 2017). Whereas commodity acquisition and utilisation have been researched extensively, disposition has received scant attention – a curiosity given its ubiquity and significance in consumer’s lives (Arnould and Thompson 2005). Disposition is a significant issue. Whether it is a painful process, during which individuals endure an experience akin to the death of some piece of themselves or the joyful shedding of objects imbued with an unwanted self, disposition is an integral part of modern life (Lastovicka and Fernandez 2005; Price et al. 2000). There are exceptions to this process, for example, hoarders, collectors and particularly frugal consumers retain commodities beyond their expected life cycle (Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989; Coulter and Ligas 2003; Haws et al. 2012; Lastovicka et al. 1999). Indeed, there are certain categories of goods which are retained indefinitely either due to their emotional or financial value (Belk et al. 1989; Jacoby et al. 1977). Epp and Price (2010) ask why some valued items are banished to storage while others remain in active use. Items which are no longer useful may also be kept, living indefinitely in nooks and crannies around the home. These items are particularly interesting for consumer researchers because their retention in consumer homes reveal that assumptions regarding disposition processes need to be re-examined. As such, this paper asks what happens to things when they are neither wasted nor wanted, when the little meaning they initially held was tied to another, more valuable object or when they have been replaced. This paper stems from a larger project exploring technological waste disposition. Analysis revealed a kind of object which is retained indefinitely, which does not hold special meaning, is not particularly valuable or personal. These objects are of ambiguous value to the owner (including obsolete cell phones, laptops, unused cables, lockless keys, long paid bills) – objects that seem to hover between being wanted and wasted - they hold the ghost of meaning or the possibility of (re)use.