부산대학교 도서관

In this study, we explore how personal domain consumption contributes to consumers’ quality of life and its preconditions. Life mostly consists of three domains – work domain, family domain, and personal domain – and the importance and the responsibilities associated with each domain vary as an individual enters different stages of life. Further, the changes in the relative significance of each domain of life can determine the quantity and the quality of consumption for that specific domain. The findings from 16 in-depth interviews with Korean consumers in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s revealed that consumers’ quality of life is closely connected with consumption in the personal domain. Individuals were engaged in forming their authentic self in their 20’s and early 30’s. The interviewees in their early ages were focusing on establishing consumption patterns in the personal domain that help them with confirming their authentic selves, and their consumption satisfaction and life satisfaction seem to be affected by the extent to which the consumption solidifies and maintains their authentic self. Those in their mid and late-30’s and in their 40’s were experiencing steep reduction in personal domainrelevant consumption due to newly acquired family responsibilities and work life related duties, and this reduction negatively affected these consumers’ quality of life. However, some interviewees learned to allocate resources such as time, money and energy in consuming for their personal domains and they were able to maintain relatively high level of quality of life. Specifically, they utilized their resources through integrating consumptions in multiple domains of life, i.e., integrating work domain and personal domain, integrating family domain and personal domain, or integrating all three domains. For instance, a consumer in her 30’s who is taking Chinese language class was able to fulfill her personal need to grow, strengthen her competency for work, and educate her child thereby integrating consumptions in personal domain, family domain and work domain all together. This is an example of overcoming resource deficiency through integrative consumption stratigies. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining sustainable consumption in the personal domain in order to serve authentic self and thus to enhance consumers’ quality of life.