Consumption acquisition practices

This conceptual paper aims to advance a theory of acquisition practices by integrating concepts and theories about resource circulation practices, such as buying, sharing, gifting, access based consumption, into a common framework. While acquisition, the process of obtaining consumption resources, is an essential aspect of consumer behavior, it has mainly been conceptualized in terms of buying. Recent research has begun to identify and conceptualize alternative acquisition practices and theoretical approaches. We build on these works and develop an organizing theoretical framework that integrates these concepts towards the advancement of a theory of acquisition process and aims to provide conceptual clarity in the current literature. We develop a typology of research acquisition practices on the basis of a) the level of market mediation, and b) ownership transfer based on a literature review and theories of exchange. The typology distinguishes six consumption acquisition practices: buying, bartering, gifting, renting, sharing, and borrowing. We conceptualize each practice, discuss associated consumption consequences, and discuss hybrid cases. Our model helps advance the theoretical account of consumer behavior and widen the scope of such theorization to enclose recent phenomena that arise from the sharing economy.