Individuals consume products and services as a means of symbolic self-expression in private and public contexts (Ahuvia, 2005; Belk, 1988; Harmon-Kizer et al., 2013). The body should be seen as the continuation of the individual, as the self is exhibited to others via its embodiment (Borelli and Casotti, 2012). Thus, the body functions as object that can serve self-expressive purposes and consumption behaviors (Schouten, 1991). Meanwhile, cosmetic surgery is described as a “fashion object” (Venkatesh et al., 2010, p. 468) and a form of extreme symbolic consumption that uses the body as an object to express the self (Schouten, 1991). Research indicates that individuals use of cosmetic surgery as a means of self-identity reconstruction (Askegard et al., 2002) and that motivational antecedents such as sociocultural influences, competition with others, media influence, body appreciation, and a materialist orientation are drivers of cosmetic surgery (Henderson-King and Brooks, 2009; Markley-Roundtree and Davis, 2011; Swami et al., 2009). Contrary to prior evidence, we argue that besides being a consequence, cosmetic surgery acts also as an antecedent that influences materialist consumption practices through changes to a consumers’ self. Surprisingly, despite the growing number of cosmetic surgery procedures around the globe and the self as a key driver of consumer behavior, no study to date has explored how cosmetic surgery acts as an antecedent of materialistic consumption practices through potential alterations of an individual’s self. We carried out semi-structured in-depth interviews with 10 South Korean participants. Our participants were 22 to 57 years old, representing a range of income and professional roles. They had previously undergone plastic surgery procedures such as double eyelid surgery, breast enhancementt and nose surgery. First, our findings suggest that materialism is not just an antecedent of cosmetic surgery propensity (Henderson-King and Brooks, 2009), but also that cosmetic surgery influences materialist consumption practices (e.g. cosmetics, beach vacations) through changes to the self. Second, our findings indicate that individuals need to control influences how cosmetic surgery shapes the self. Specifically, consumers seek cosmetic surgery to bridge the discrepancy between the physical self (provided by nature) and their “sought” psychological self. Third, our findings illustrate the role of marketplace cultures and, in particular, socio-cultural driven factors that interact with the self in a cosmetic surgery context (Arnoud and Thompson, 2005). Fourth, our findings show that cosmetic surgery leads to various emotional outcomes through changes to the self (i.e. pride, self-satisfaction, subjective happiness, and increased guilt). We contribute to discourses of embodied practices (e.g. cosmetic surgery) related to the self and materialism (e.g., Richins, 2012; Schouten, 1991; Venkatesh et al., 2010).

Individuals use material possessions such as clothes as a means to express their individual predispositions, values and position in their social environment (Kaiser et al., 2001). Evidence indicates that various individual differences such as hormone levels, body image perception and a cosmopolitan orientation influence clothing choices (Eisenbruch et al., 2015, Frith and Gleeson, 2004, Gonzalez-Jimenez, 2016). Moreover, body satisfaction, body mass index and trait self-objectification determine if individuals choose clothes for specific purposes such as fashion, comfort or camouflage (Tiggemann and Andrew, 2012). However, while these studies have made an important step towards understanding the influence of individual characteristics on clothing choices, there is a lack of studies that investigate the role of individuals’ materialist tendencies and propensity to engage in social comparison. We extend prior research on clothing choices by examining the associations between individuals’ materialist tendencies and social comparison propensity with sought clothing functions (i.e., fashion, comfort, etc.). Findings show that materialist individuals seek clothing for specific functions such as fashion, individuality and assurance, while avoiding clothes designed for comfort. Individuals’ propensity to engage in social comparison is linked with choosing clothes for fashion, individuality and assurance, but not for camouflage and comfort. Our study confirms that materialism and social comparison drive individuals to seek very specific clothing functions. Specifically, findings suggest that individuals use specific clothing types as a medium to establish their position in a social environment and to express their materialistic tendencies. Gender influences the tested relationships.

This article investigates how failure severity and attribution influence the level of satisfaction in men and women. In an experimental study, we find women’s satisfaction declines more than men’s satisfaction as failure severity increases, but only for consumer-caused failure not for company-caused failure. We also suggest the process underlying these differences by testing the mediation effect. The mediation analysis suggests that women have lower satisfaction than men when the service failure is caused by consumers because as outcome severity increases women have a higher tendency than men to avoid self-blame out of a defensive motivation.