The Times of Their Lives: Phenomenological and Metaphorical Characteristics of Consumer Timestyles

Timestyles are the customary ways in which people perceive and use time. We propose that individuals’ timestyles can be categorized in terms of social, temporal, planning, and polychronic orientations. We examine timestyle in a phenomenological investigation of a sample of American women and identif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer research 2004-09, Vol.31 (2), p.333-345
Main Authors: Cotte, June, Ratneshwar, S., Mick, David Glen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Art galleries & museums
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Cultural heritage
Feasts
Interviews
Leisure time
Lifestyles
Metaphor
Metaphors
Mirrors
Recreation
Shopping
Spontaneity
Time management
Women
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Summary:Timestyles are the customary ways in which people perceive and use time. We propose that individuals’ timestyles can be categorized in terms of social, temporal, planning, and polychronic orientations. We examine timestyle in a phenomenological investigation of a sample of American women and identify five emergent symbolic metaphors for time (pressure cooker, map, mirror, river, and feast) that holistically encapsulate informants’ multidimensional timestyles. We discuss the theoretical and substantive implications of our findings for understanding the role of timestyles in consumer behavior and in the ongoing conflicts that consumers experience in deciding what they should do with their discretionary time.
ISSN:0093-5301
1537-5277
DOI:10.1086/422112