IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jconrs/v45y2018i1p21-48..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Fresh Start Mindset: Transforming Consumers’ Lives

Author

Listed:
  • Linda L Price
  • Robin A Coulter
  • Yuliya Strizhakova
  • Ainslie E Schultz
  • Eileen FischerEditor
  • Sharon ShavittAssociate Editor

Abstract

This article introduces the fresh start mindset, defined as a belief that people can make a new start, get a new beginning, and chart a new course in life, regardless of their past or present circumstances. With historical roots in American culture and neoliberalism, and with contemporary links to liquid modernity and global consumer culture, this mindset structures reasoning, experience, and everyday language, and guides behavior across self- and other-transformative consumption domains. We develop a six-item scale (FSM) to measure the fresh start mindset and situate it within a broader nomological network, including growth mindset, personal capacity for change, optimism, future temporal focus, internal locus of control, self-efficacy, perseverance, resilience, and consumer variety seeking. Individuals with a stronger (vs. weaker) fresh start mindset invest in transformative change through changing their circumstances, including their own consumption choices (e.g., buying a new pair of sunglasses and getting a new self); they also are more supportive of transformative programs that assist those who are challenged to get a fresh start (i.e., disadvantaged youth, at-risk teens, veterans, and tax-burdened adults). Our work significantly contributes to transformative consumer research with attention to self-activities and programs for vulnerable populations that enable new beginnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda L Price & Robin A Coulter & Yuliya Strizhakova & Ainslie E Schultz & Eileen FischerEditor & Sharon ShavittAssociate Editor, 2018. "The Fresh Start Mindset: Transforming Consumers’ Lives," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 45(1), pages 21-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:45:y:2018:i:1:p:21-48.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jcr/ucx115
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Conor M. Henderson & Lena Steinhoff & Colleen M. Harmeling & Robert W. Palmatier, 2021. "Customer inertia marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 350-373, March.
    2. R. Bret Leary & Rhiannon MacDonnell Mesler & Bonnie Simpson & Matthew D. Meng & William Montford, 2022. "Effects of perceived scarcity on COVID‐19 consumer stimulus spending: The roles of ontological insecurity and mutability in predicting prosocial outcomes," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1046-1061, September.
    3. Debasis Pradhan, 2022. "Pandemics and consumer well‐being: Provenance and research priorities," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 28-33, March.
    4. Shalini Bahl & George R. Milne & Elizabeth G. Miller, 2023. "Expanding consumer mindfulness for collective sustainable well‐being: Overview of the special issue and future research directions," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 699-720, April.
    5. Kliger, Doron & Levy, Meira & Rachevski, Israel, 2024. "Wellbeing: Decision making and behavior during COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Siyun Chen & Haiying Wei, 2023. "Linking Temporal Landmarks to Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Roles of Self-Transcendence and Self-Enhancement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(4), pages 693-708, December.
    7. Sarah Fischbach & Brielle Yauney, 2023. "Social Cognitive Theory and Reciprocal Relationship: A Guide to Single-Use Plastic Education for Policymakers, Business Leaders and Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Septianto, Felix, 2021. "Every ending is a new beginning: Poignancy increases consumer preferences for self-made products," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 732-748.
    9. Jessica Strübel & Saheli Goswami & Ji Hye Kang & Rosemary Leger, 2023. "Improving Society and the Planet: Sustainability and Fashion Post-Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, August.
    10. Asseraf, Yoel & Gnizy, Itzhak, 2022. "Translating strategy into action: The importance of an agile mindset and agile slack in international business," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:45:y:2018:i:1:p:21-48.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jcr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.