Abstract:

Because of improvements in living standards and the expansion of psychological needs, increasing numbers of consumers are no longer satisfied with mere material consumption or passive forms of entertainment. Instead, they want to participate in production, which leads to a more spiritual experience. Our project focuses on productive consumption through hobbies such as DIY, crafting, or fishing, during which a person uses any number of mass-produced products as raw materials or tools for the creation of a new self-consumed product. Using happiness theory, which originated from positive psychology (eudaimonia vs. hedonic enjoyment), and multiple other methods such as experiments, surveys and neomarketing, we seek to explain why consumers feel happy during such consumption despite the hard work it requires. We are also interested in how consumers’ perceived happiness during productive consumption can be exaggerated by improving product or service design, and how this perceived happiness influences their buying behavior. Our findings are expected to help companies better understand customers’ experiences during productive consumption, so that they can effectively develop and manage their experiential products.

Key words: eudaimonia, hedonic enjoyment, productive consumption, customer participation, customer experience