Consumer Attachment and Disposition Behaviors

Consumer attachment and disposition behaviours describe the emotional ties that individuals form with both physical and digital possessions, and the subsequent decisions they make to retain, modify or relinquish those assets. Attachment arises from factors such as personal identity, sentimental value and perceived utility, and can lead to reluctance to discard even outdated or redundant items. Disposition behaviours encompass a spectrum of actions—ranging from donation and resale to recycling and deletion—and are shaped by cognitive evaluations of utility, social norms and technological affordances. Recent theoretical advances have integrated psychological constructs (such as the endowment effect and regulatory focus) with sociotechnical frameworks for digital curation, highlighting the interplay between affective bonds and rational decision processes. The global significance of this research is underscored by its implications for sustainable consumption, circular-economy initiatives and the design of digital platforms that support identity management. Practical applications include the development of user-centred interfaces for data pruning, marketing strategies that address upgrade and upgrade-avoidance decisions, and policy interventions aimed at reducing waste through enhanced consumer engagement.

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Consumer Attachment and Disposition Behaviors publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in consumer attachment and disposition behaviors across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Consumer attachment: the emotional bond a consumer forms with a product or digital asset that influences preferences and retention behaviours.

Disposition behaviour: actions taken to relinquish, discard or exchange owned goods or digital content, including selling, donation, recycling or deletion.

Archivist vs revisionist: two distinct approaches to digital content management after relationship dissolution, where archivists preserve historical data and revisionists selectively remove or edit it.

Value-in-disposal: the perceived benefit or utility consumers derive from disposing of an item, which can be social, economic or psychological in nature.

References

1. I'm Working on Erasing You, Just Don't Have the Proper Tools: Supporting Online Identity Management After the End of Romantic Relationships. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (2024).
2. Deriving Value-in Digital Disposal: Exploring Closet Cleaning on Instagram. Journal of Creating Value (2024).
3. Psychological Barriers to Sustainability: Understanding Consumer Demandfor Products with Redundant Functionalities. Journal of Sustainable Marketing (2022).