ABSTRACT

Innovation and Final Consumption: Social Practices, Instituted Modes of Provision and Intermediation

CRIC Discussion Paper No. 79

Andrew McMeekin & Dale Southerton

This article develops a conceptual framework, comprising three components, for exploring the relationship between innovation and final consumption. First, consumption is understood as the appropriation of goods and services in the course of engaging in social practices. Second, the relationship between innovation and consumption is shaped by different modes of provision and instituted forms of exchange. The third component looks at processes of intermediation, which involve the purposeful attempts by consumers to influence producer innovation and the strategic efforts by producers to understand final consumption to guide their innovation activities.

Keywords: consumption, practices, demand, modes of provision, intermediation.

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