Connoisseurship Consumption Community and Its Dynamics

Abstract

Purpose – What is the dynamics of the connoisseurship consumptioncommunity? What are the forces that drive this serious leisureconsumption community?Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a naturalistic inquiryapproach, we immersed ourselves in the field, visiting and observingconsumers and professionals in independent coffee shops in NorthAmerica: Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, and New York from August 2013to July 2014.Findings – The research describes the connoisseurship consumptioncommunity and explains its forces, which are education, emulationand tensions between the members of the community.Originality/value – Our findings explain the amateur consumer’sbehavior and the relationship of these amateurs with professionalsand with the public during their consumption practices. We help toadvance the study of heterogeneous consumption communities byrevealing the tensions between the members of the community and theproduction of subcultural and social capital. Our research contributesto the consumer culture field by increasing knowledge of this socialconsumption phenomenon.