When Consumption Fails the Self: Perceived Consumption Failure and the Deterioration of Consumer-Brand Relationships

Consumers may use products and brands not only for their functional benefits but also as symbolic resources for approaching desired versions of themselves. This preliminary study introduces Perceived Consumption Failure (PCF), defined as the subjective perception that consumption failed to facilitate an anticipated identity-related change despite the product potentially performing as intended. Using cross-sectional survey data from 255 emerging adult consumers aged 18 to 29, the study followed this experience from the perceived distance between the current and desired self, through the expectations attached to symbolic consumption and the recognition that change did not occur, to evaluation, emotion, blame, and distancing from the brand. The constructs were used as different lenses on the same consumption problem. Confirmatory Factor Analysis provided initial support for the reliability and convergent validity of the PCF measure, while Structural Equation Modeling was used to explore the proposed relationships. Overall, the findings suggest that identity-oriented consumption failure involves connected psychological stages without following one fixed sequence. The study extends consumption-failure research beyond functional performance by examining what happens when consumption succeeds as a product experience but fails as an attempted movement of the self.This is Version 1.0 of a preliminary working paper. The manuscript has not undergone peer review.