Metaconsumer: beyond the traditional role of the consumer

The current macroenvironmental context, characterized by mass conventional consumption (of new products and professional services) and the consumer-producer divide, is increasingly challenged for its persistent anchorage in the ‘linear extract – produce – consume – discard paradigm,’ which has detrimental social, economic, and environmental impacts. These rising concerns have led to calls for a new paradigm based on sustainability, circularity, consumption sobriety (understood as moderation and reduction in resource use), and resilience, yet it remains ill-defined. This research proposes a comprehensive conceptualization grounded in an integrative review of the literature on sustainable, collaborative, and circular consumption, shifting the narrow focus on the ‘consumer’ toward a renewed, integrative conceptualization of the ‘metaconsumer’. Unlike the creative consumer, the collaborative consumer, the prosumer, or the co-creator, the metaconsumer is a transitional figure between the current linear paradigm and the new one, articulating five essential roles for sustainable, circular, sober, and resilient consumption: (1) redistribution, (2) mutualization, (3) citizen movements, (4) self-production, and (5) production. This new figure of individuals reframes contemporary practices and goes beyond existing conceptualizations, offering a comprehensive, in-depth interpretation of consumer behavior.