Consumers' disposition of meaningful possessions through storage

30 years after Jacoby (1976) defined consumer behaviour to include disposition, researchers still comment on the lack of research in this area. Whilst disposition in general has received scant attention, especially storage as an alternative means of disposition has been efficiently ignored. This work seeks to contribute to filling a part of the big knowledge void by exploring storage of meaningful possessions in particular. In doing this, the work offers a review of the related literature, namely on disposition, self-concept, and meaning. 12 middle-aged and elderly Norwegian consumers were interviewed, providing valuable insight into their relevant storing behaviour. The study illustrates the consumers attaching sacred-, social-, and hedonic meanings to their possessions, which together constitutes the main determining factor for the decision to store. There are provided evidence suggesting that storage can function both as an individual means of disposition and as a divestment ritual. This is due to the fact that the possessions meanings were affected by the prolonged storage to different extents and in different directions.