The Self-Manipulation of My Pervasive, Perceived Vital Energy through Product Use: An Introspective-Praxis Perspective

Consumer researchers as well as others, have overlooked the perceived vital energy dimension of consumer behavior. To deal with this issue, this article uses an introspective-praxis approach to explore as "thickly" as possible the pervasive role perceived vital energy plays in one consumer's everyday use of products namely The author's own. In doing so, it introduces an energy-based model of product use that encompasses the characteristics/states of that vital energy and the product-related operation's employed by the consumer to manipulate those states. After these aspects of energy are considered, several thematic examples concerning its role and significance in his own consumption are discussed. Finally, implications for future research are considered. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.