My body, your rules? Reflections on reference groups and sacrifice perceived by the fitness consumer

Abstract

In this article, we aim to understand the involvement of reference groups in the sacrifice perceived by the fitness consumer. We analyze the group typologies involved in this sacrificial process, their modes of influence, the impact exerted, the social identity offered, and the roles of social groups in the (re)construction and maintenance of the sacrificial perception of the fitness consumer. The study is based on two theories from Social Psychology: Social Impact Theory and Social Identity Theory. Data construction was carried out through personal episodic interviews, and the content was analyzed using Thematic Analysis. We identified that reference groups influence normatively and informatively the painful and congenial spheres of sacrifice performed by the consumer, exercising social roles that contribute to the sacrificial action to occur, remain, or not practiced, encouraging (the encourager) or inhibiting (the inhibitor), educating (the educator) or confronting (the confronter) the fitness subject, helping in the formation of social identity. We recognize that individuals can develop mobility and social creativity strategies in their communities, demonstrating that the social impact is changeable and that groups are permeable. Finally, we recognize that groups can be typified beyond the categories of affiliation, aspiration, and avoidance, identifying, in this research, a fourth unpublished grouping called the prescription group. Thus, the article contributes to the development of research that departs from the social to the individual sphere, aiming at understanding the consumer from their context and relationships.

Keywords:
Reference groups; Perceived sacrifice; Consumer fitness; Social identity; Social impact

Resumo

Neste artigo, objetivamos compreender o envolvimento dos grupos de referência no sacrifício percebido pelo consumidor fitness. Para isso, buscamos analisar as tipologias grupais envolvidas nesse processo sacrificante, seus modos de influência, o impacto exercido, a identidade social ofertada, bem como os papéis dos grupos sociais na (re)construção e manutenção da percepção de sacrifício pelo consumidor fitness. O estudo está alicerçado em duas teorias oriundas da Psicologia Social, são elas: a Teoria do Impacto Social e a Teoria da Identidade Social. A construção dos dados foi realizada por meio de entrevistas episódicas pessoais e o conteúdo foi analisado por meio da Análise Temática. Identificamos que os grupos de referência influenciam normativa e informativamente as esferas penosa e conchegativa do sacrifício realizado pelo consumidor e exercem papéis sociais que contribuem para que a ação sacrificante ocorra, permaneça ou não seja praticada: encorajam (encorajador) ou a inibem (inibidor), educam (educador) ou confrontam (confrontador) o sujeito fitness, auxiliando na formação da identidade social. Reconhecemos que os indivíduos podem desenvolver estratégias de mobilidade e criatividade social em suas coletividades, demonstrando que o impacto social é mutável e que os agrupamentos são permeáveis. Por fim, identificamos que os grupos podem ser tipificados para além das categorias de afiliação, aspiração e dissociação. Diante disso, observou-se, nesta pesquisa, um quarto agrupamento inédito, que foi intitulado grupo de prescrição. Assim, o artigo contribui para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas que partem do social para a esfera individual, visando ao entendimento do consumidor com base em seu contexto e relações.

Palavras-chave:
Grupos de referência; Sacrifício percebido; Consumidor fitness; Identidade social; Impacto social

Resumen

En este artículo pretendemos comprender la implicación de los grupos de referencia en el sacrificio percibido por el consumidor fitness. Para ello, buscamos analizar las tipologías grupales involucradas en este proceso sacrificial, sus modos de influencia, el impacto ejercido, la identidad social ofrecida, así como los roles de los grupos sociales en la (re)construcción y mantenimiento de la percepción de sacrificio del consumidor fitness. El estudio se basa en dos teorías de la Psicología Social, a saber: la teoría del impacto social y la teoría de la identidad social. La construcción de datos se llevó a cabo a través de entrevistas episódicas personales y el contenido se analizó mediante análisis temático. Identificamos que los grupos de referencia influyen normativa e informativamente en las dolorosas y agradables esferas de sacrificio que realiza el consumidor, ejerciendo roles sociales que contribuyen a que la acción sacrificial ocurra, permanezca o no sea practicada, alentándola (alentador) o inhibiéndola (inhibidor), educando (educador) o confrontando (confrontador) al sujeto fitness, ayudando en la formación de la identidad social. Reconocemos que los individuos pueden desarrollar estrategias de movilidad y creatividad social en sus comunidades, demostrando que el impacto social es cambiante y que los grupos son permeables. Finalmente, observamos que los grupos pueden tipificarse más allá de las categorías de afiliación, aspiración y disociación, identificando, en esta investigación, una cuarta agrupación inédita denominada grupo de prescripción. Así, el artículo contribuye al desarrollo de investigaciones que parten de lo social hacia lo individual, con el objetivo de comprender al consumidor desde su contexto y sus relaciones.

Palabras clave:
Grupos de referencia; Sacrificio percibido; Consumidor fitness; Identidad social; Impacto social

INTRODUCTION

Perceptions regarding sacrifice are present in different spheres of our daily life, including our consumption habits. As consumers, we believe that we must sacrifice something to consume more or less, to adopt sustainable or hedonic purchasing patterns and to adapt to a particular lifestyle (Achabou, Dekhili, & Codini, 2020; Chwialkowska & Flicinska-Turkiewicz, 2021). Our sacrifices make up an extensive list of more than the mere money spent during our journey as consumers: we sacrifice time, relationships and behaviors.

Specifically, many perceptions of sacrifice arise in individual searches for a good body image, for an idealized body that reflects social and contextual norms. This search guides individuals to establish a fitness lifestyle characterized by physical exercises, many of them taken to the extreme, diets and dietary restrictions and even cosmetic surgeries. The fitness lifestyle involves consumer actions that reinforce the “no pain, no gain” ideology (van Hooff, Benthem de Grave, & Geurts, 2019), requiring strong discipline and a series of sacrifices (perceived as such) involving painful practices. Therefore, such consumers engage in physical and emotional actions that may be associated with pain, self-denial and transformation to create a narrative associated with body shape and adjustment (Scott, Cayla, & Cova, 2017).

The social sphere induces individuals to search for an ideal body image that communicates beauty, health, sex appeal and success, standardizes gestures and sacrifice practices, and demarcates social positions (Thompson & Hirschman, 1995). Thus, although described as an individual element, the perception of sacrifice occurs within a collective and social universe that is represented by reference groups (Stafford, 1966). People change for their groups; they may even die for them (Whitehouse, 2018). For example, a rite of passage that includes some type of sacrifice may be necessary for an individual to enter or remain in a social group, involving painful atonement and cathartic action (Ferrero, 2014; Hubert & Mauss, 1968; Whitehouse, 2018).

Hence, reference groups are a possible means for understanding the development and modification of the perception of sacrifice in the search for a fit body image. Accordingly, in this article, we aim to describe the involvement of such groups in the fitness consumer’s perception of sacrifice. Specifically, we analyze the group typologies involved in this sacrificing process and their modes of influence, impacts, and social identity provision, as well as social groups’ role in the (re-)construction and maintenance of the fitness consumer’s perception of sacrifice.

By identifying reference groups as agents of interaction in the consumer’s perception of sacrifice, the article considers a subject-actor’s social ties inseparable from the construction of behaviors and thus the modification and maintenance of his or her body, mind and values; thus, cognition should not be defined as an individual activity but as a sociocognitive activity of social actors (Martins-Silva, Silva, Peroni, Medeiros, & Vitória, 2016). Therefore, a subject-actor is a thinking being and a processor of information generated in the social environment, which is influenced by external elements; these elements are the sources used by the individual to evaluate and transform everyday social interactions (Moscovici, 2012).

Applying this perspective, this research is based on two theories derived from social psychology: social impact theory (TIS), which addresses how individuals impact and are impacted in behavioral, sentimental and reflexive terms by actions or the presence (real, implicit or imagined) of others (Latané, 1981); and social identity theory [SIT], which is based on the idea that the definitions of self and other are established in a relational and comparative way through social categorizations (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Hogg, Terry, & White, 1995; Tajfel & Tuner, 1986).

Social impact theory is useful for this study because it addresses the social factors of group impact. It has been shown that individuals have several reference groups and that each one will have different impacts on the perceptions of the consumer who relies on them for decision-making based on their strength, immediacy and number of sources (Latané, 1981). Thus, TIS “[...] provides a useful framework for understanding how individuals are affected by their social environment” (Chang, Zhu, Wang, & Li, 2018, p. 284). On the other hand, the theory of social identity facilitates this study by enabling an exploration of the individual’s perceptions of self and others. Such perceptions are shaped in a relational and comparative way through the mechanisms of distinction and approximation that reference groups possess (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Tajfel & Tuner, 1986) and creates a social identity that encompasses not only benefits but also losses that are significant for subjects during their consumption actions and involves a (de)personalization of the individual to establish group membership. However, this does not necessarily entail a loss of personal identity but involves the acquisition of an additional identity, which, for Hogg and McGarty (1990), is more powerful, leading consumers to privilege the groups they identify with. Therefore, SIT can foster an evaluation of the (re)construction and maintenance of the perception of sacrifice by the fitness consumer that is based on membership in a reference group.

Despite the recognized role of the social in consumer behavior (Kamboj, Sarmah, Gupta, & Dwivedi, 2018), specifically, in a consumer’s perception of sacrifice for increasing consumption value (Beldona & Kher, 2014; Bradford & Boyd, 2020; Dodds & Monroe, 1985; Zeithaml, 1988), we were unable to locate any studies that directly address the involvement of social groups in the individual’s perception of sacrifice as a consumer in the databases we had access to (Association for Consumer Research and ProQuest). Hence, this research gap guided the development of this study. That is, focusing on reference groups as a research topic implies the adoption of a social perspective on sacrifice, contrary to the predominant marketing approach that considers only costs (Teas & Argawal, 2000), which opens the possibility for discoveries regarding the forms of group influence and configuration. Moreover, through the adoption of an inclusive perspective regarding context, it becomes possible to reflect on the contemporary relationships between consumption and sacrifice. Accordingly, to commence our investigation, we need to briefly clarify the concept of perceived sacrifice to firmly establish its connection with the social.

PERCEIVED SACRIFICE AND ITS CONNECTION WITH SOCIAL GROUPS

In the field of marketing, the word sacrifice began to attract attention in the 1980s through studies on the theory of value that defined the sacrifice perceived by the consumer as a constituent part of the trade-off model of purchase decision (Dodds & Monroe, 1985; Zeithaml, 1988). From this perspective, the perception of sacrifice is a synonym for the monetary or nonmonetary cost of buying something (Achabou et al., 2020; Beldona & Kher, 2014; Koch & Sauerbronn, 2018) and for the effort or risk associated with the acquisition of a good or service (Macias, 2015). This concept also encompasses the energy and time spent on a purchase (Chwialkowska & Flicinska-Turkiewicz, 2021; Murphy & Enis, 1986).

In contrast, other prominent studies consider sacrifice a behavior of transformation that entail a sense of personal loss in exchange for a benefit (Matear, 2014) that can also be perceived as an expression of love, e.g., a perfect gift for another person (Belk & Coon, 1993). For example, reflecting on the multiplicity of concepts in the field of marketing, Silva and Farias (2020) define central characteristics that qualify an action as a sacrifice for the consumer, which encompass the specific aspects of a sacrifice for the fitness lifestyle (Figure 1). According to these authors (Silva & Farias, 2020), a perceived sacrifice is an action and/or state of the self-denial of desires to achieve a rewarding goal, involving a voluntary decision to sacrifice by weighing the painful and cozy spheres. The painful sphere is composed of costs, risks and a feeling of loss; that is, it constitutes the negative elements, the perceived losses via the abnegating action. Conversely, the cozy sphere encompasses the gains generated by the abnegating action, comprising the achievement of a rewarding goal and the positive feelings, benefits and transformations that justify such a sacrifice.

Figure 1
Perceived sacrifice in the fitness lifestyle

Finally, Silva and Farias (2020, p. 392) identify pain and (dis)affection in both spheres when describing the fitness lifestyle: “These aspects show that the perceived sacrifice emerges from the contradiction that at once exalts and rejects the body, the result of the relationship of simultaneous love and hate for oneself”. Thus, we adopt this concept of Silva and Farias (2020) because it accounts for the constituent elements of a perceived sacrifice that develop within a given social context, facilitating the approach of this article, which focuses on the role of groups in the development of the perception of consumer sacrifice. Indeed, as Hubert and Mauss (1968) point out, the practice of sacrifice can be understood as a collective, totalizing ritual where each member of a group plays a role in social action.

In fact, the concept of sacrifice is closely related to inter- and intragroup behaviors. Hirsch (1990), for example, observing a student social movement in the 1980s, stated that when they are recruited, students experience a group process that both assures their commitment and convinces them to surrender something for a greater cause. This is a self-sacrifice: the group member develops an altruistic behavior, disposing resources, energy or time to benefit another being. However, the level of this sacrifice and the predisposition to it depend on several conditions, such as the type and size of a group (Leung, Shek, & Ma, 2015), the degree of group identification (Brewer & Schneider, 1990), the trust in a group (Macias, 2015), the impact that an action will have on a group and for the social rank of the sacrificer, and the level of selfishness present in group members’ identities (Caporael, Dawes, Orbell, & Van De Kragt, 1989).

According to Owen, Fincham, and Polsen (2017), sacrifice for a group can generate benefits to the individual who sacrifices himself or herself, i.e., recognition, identification, appreciation and leadership, which also foster the satisfaction of the sacrificer for performing the sacrifice and observing its consequences. One of these benefits is the demarcation of the subject as a member of a given community. According to Ferrero (2014), for example, groups that pursue Christian ideals are involved in the costs of effectively teaching this doctrine. From this perspective, the group, based on the practice of sacrifice, helps individuals to remain in a movement and prevents desertion, i.e., the abandonment of the place the group frequents. When faced with a sacrifice that must be performed by all members, behaviors where an individual privileges a benefit created through the sacrifices of other members of the group are avoided. Clustering is thus a central element in the continuity of certain sacrifices and in the varying negative and positive perspectives of a sacrificing action (Ferrero, 2014).

Having articulated the social character of a sacrificing action, in the following section, we discuss reference groups and the theoretical lenses researchers have used to analyze their interactions with the sacrifice perceived by a consumer.

REFERENCE GROUPS: TYPES, INFLUENCES, SOCIAL ROLES, IDENTITIES AND SOCIAL IMPACT

To illustrate and connect the concepts and theories addressed by reference groups, we developed Figure 2. There are typologies for such groups and the roles that their members develop in society. Such groups have social impacts, which reflect the influence exerted by them on individuals and/or sources, creating a social identity that is offered to the subject. Such impact, influence and social identity will be related to an individual’s perception of the world, themselves and the sacrifice practices he or she experiences. To explore group impact, we use social impact theory; to explain influence and social identity, we adopt social identity theory. Each of these concepts and theories is described throughout this section.

Figure 2
Concepts and theories related to reference groups

Reference groups can be classified into groups of affiliation, aspiration and dissociation (Stafford, 1966). The first are considered groups to which a person belongs (affiliation), encompassing primary groups in constant interaction with the individual — family members — and secondary groups with more sporadic interactions, such as friends and coworkers (Decrop, Pecheux, & Bauvin, 2004; Pereira & Strehlau, 2012). Aspiration groups, in turn, are groups to which the individual desires to belong because they are constituted of people worthy of imitation, being followed, and admired constantly, typically via digital media (Centeno & Wang, 2017). Finally, dissociation or avoidance groups are considered those that the individual does not want to be associated with because he or she has negative associations with them (White & Dahl, 2006). It is also possible to subdivide reference groups into formal or informal groups according to the structure and organization of a group (Meurer, Medeiros, Dal’maso, & Holz, 2010).

These reference groups can influence the consumer in several ways. The study by Park and Lessing (1977), a stand out in the field of marketing, proposes three types of influence: informational, utilitarian and value-expressing. The first exerts influence through information derived from the consumer’s search for the opinions of leaders or a specialized group or through the observation of others’ behavior. Utilitarian influence involves the influence of a group on consumer behavior to receive rewards from the group or avoid punishment by it. Finally, value-expressing influence is exercised through the consumer’s perception of a group as a self-expression, i.e., worthy of affection from the subject (Upadhyaya, Shukla, & Upadhyaya, 2017). The influenced individual may be concerned, therefore, with norms, opinions and/or group feelings, thereby thinking, acting and consuming based on them. According to Leal, Hor-meyll, and Pessôa (2014), value-expressive and utilitarian influences can be grouped into so-called normative influence, which involves the search for belonging and approval by conforming to the standards and norms of a group. This search is reflected in the development of a social identity.

Thus, to deepen the understanding of the influence of reference groups on the perception of sacrifice by the consumer, we adopt social identity theory. A group offers the individual a collective identity through the perception of symbolically or actually belonging to it (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). This identity is a reflection of the group influence that establishes the mechanisms and principles of such power. Regarding the mechanisms, we cite four, following Nejad, Sherrell, and Babakus (2014). The contact of the individual with a group is a mechanism; influence occurs through the communication and observation expressed in such a relationship. The socialization that generates influence is also described as a mechanism, which functions through discussions that establish social norms. A third tool of influence is competition for status, rendering consumption a means of maintaining and acquiring social status through distinction. Finally, social norms themselves are mechanisms of influence, generating conformity and social identification (Nejad et al., 2014).

In addition to these mechanisms, there are principles that foster social identity and, consequently, the perception of the consumer about what and how to sacrifice. For example, Ashforth and Mael (1989) describe how social identification depends on the principles of categorization, distinction, congruence and prestige or group status. Trepte and Loy (2017), in turn, restructure these four principles into seven, organizing them in a chronological process with several feedback cycles:

1. Categorization: the individual creates prototypes (characteristics) of a group to be accessed via memory in a given context (Hogg, 2001), sharpening intergroup boundaries through stereotypes (Hogg et al., 1995);

2. Salience: the perception of how important a social category is for a given situation (Trepte & Loy, 2017);

3. Social comparisons: the comparative evaluations between the groups to which the individual belongs and relevant external groups, which increase the pressure for distinction (Hogg, 2001) when differences that reveal the superiority of his or her groups are observed (Mangum & Block, 2018);

4. Social distinction: individuals strongly desire an evaluation that generates a positive distinction of their group in relation to others (Jetten, Spears, & Postmes, 2004; Trepte & Loy, 2017);

5. Social identity: part of the individual self, derived from the real or imaginary belonging to a group. Social identity generates feelings of emotional attachment or commitment to a group, creating motivations to participate in it (Hackel, Coppin, Wohl, & Bavel, 2018), especially when the association allows the individual to perform important social roles (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017; Fombelle, Jarvis, Ward, & Ostrom, 2012);

6. Self-esteem: the individual strives to achieve or maintain a positive social identity, which contributes to increased self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Consequently, he or she will seek to improve his or her reputation by complying with collective norms (Bartikowski & Cleveland, 2017); and

7. Mobility, creativity and social competition: it is possible to experience an unsatisfactory social self, which leads to the development of strategies to reinterpret the world (Fujita, Harrigan, & Soutar, 2018), e.g., individual mobility, used to transform a group or abandon it to join a more positively distinct external group, transforming aspiration groups to affiliation groups (Hogg et al., 1995; Trepte & Loy, 2017). It is also possible to develop a social creativity strategy, seeking alternatives to improve social identity without leaving a group (Hogg et al., 1995; Trepte & Loy, 2017). Moreover, one may employ social competition, characterized by the search for distinction between groups through dimensions valued by social consensus that protect a group and express its uniqueness (Hogg, 2001; Reiche, Harzing, & Pudelko, 2015). According to Reid, Giles, and Abrams (2004), the choice of one of these actions depends on the status and permeability of a group and only occurs amid the perception of the possible improvement in one’s social identity. This implies that groups are mutable, through mobility, as are their influences.

Social identity generates associations between an individual and groups, establishing the individual’s social roles and defining them through the community in which he or she lives. A social role is described as

[...] a combination of behaviors, functions, relationships, privileges, duties and responsibilities that is socially defined, is highly understood within a society (or, at least, within one of its subsystems) and is characteristic or expected of a person who occupies a particular position within a social system (Wolfensberger, 2000, p. 110).

When considering sacrifice a ritualistic action (Hubert & Mauss, 1968), social roles will be assigned to encourage or discourage the practice of sacrifice.

The abovementioned influences of groups on the individual are responsible for the generation of identity and, consequently, of the social roles that result from the impacts that these groups have on the individual. Thus, when dealing with influence, we should also highlight TIS, developed by Bibb Latané (1981), according to which the impact of any source on a target is a function of three factors, also called social forces: force, immediacy and number. The first, also called importance or relevance (Kwon, Ha, & Im, 2016), corresponds to the prestige and persuasion of the source (Latané, Liu, Nowak, Bonevento, & Zheng, 1995), i.e., the force, the authority that one social being has to influence another. Immediacy, in turn, reflects the spatial or temporal distance between the source and target and is equivalent to the degree of proximity or distance of the presence of other people in relation to the individual who perceives them (Aguiar, 2016). Finally, number refers to the number of sources of influence, including the self (Latané et al., 1995). Based on these social forces, the impact of a group will increase as these factors increase — the effect of the increase in the number of sources for a target individual will therefore be a power function and not a linear function—and each person that is added to a social environment will have a decreasing incremental effect on their group’s influence on the individual (Dewall, Twenge, Bushman, Im, & Williams, 2010; Latané et al., 1995). Accordingly, such impact is divided among the members of the group.

METHODS

The research we conducted was of a basic qualitative nature, operationalized through the selection of a consumer profile that possessed the fitness lifestyle, characterized by the search for an altered body, involving consumption activities such as diets, physical exercises, and even cosmetic surgeries. A lifestyle reflects patterns generated by the interaction between subject and environment, which demonstrates certain values, attitudes and behaviors of the individual who adopts it. By observing a lifestyle, researchers can perform a broad analysis of the opinions, interests and spending patterns of the different consumption practices that form such a mode of living (Edey & Knight, 2018).

Twenty-four consumers were selected using the snowball strategy, which was motivated by the researchers’ accessibility criteria. All study subjects were exercise practitioners and take some care with their diet; only four of them received invasive cosmetic procedures (interviewee 1 [abdominoplasty], interviewees 2 and 12 [silicone prosthesis], and interviewee 15 [striort]). Thirteen of the interviewees were male, and eleven were female, ranging from 16 to 42 years old (mean age of 30 years). They mostly practiced more than one physical activity, e.g., weight training, crossfit and its subcategories (kettlebells), running, swimming, soccer, pilates, gymnastics, kung fu, yoga, abseiling and functional training. Among them, we highlight weight training, a modality of physical training, practiced by 17 of the 24 informants, which contributes to muscle growth. The frequency with which the interviewed individuals performed their physical activities was high, predominantly between five and seven days a week.

We used the episodic interview as a data construction technique. This typology adheres to the subjective and social sense of the topic addressed to focus on the report of an episode, on the narrative of the subject about a specific, remembered situation (Flick, 2008). The interviews were conducted virtually by the researchers and recorded by digital devices with the support of a semistructured guide that listed issues related to lifestyle, sacrifice and social groups. Throughout the interviewees’ presentation of their episodes, other questions emerged, highlighting the flexibility of our script to foster fluid conversation and meet the research objectives. The 24 interviews had a total recording duration of 1,131 minutes and 25 seconds and an average duration of 47 minutes and 14 seconds. The informants authorized, through our recording, the use of their statements for the purposes of this research as well as their analysis and publication.

The analysis occurred concurrently with our data construction, and a search for data was performed when new research findings were not found, according to the principle of saturation in qualitative research (Patton, 2014). The texts that emerged with the interviews were investigated through thematic analysis, as proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006), with data coding and searching, the grouping of themes, and an interpretation of the results, to generate theoretical and practical contributions. The developed analysis was an inductive and latent thematic analysis because it encoded the data without fitting them into a preexisting framework of coding or analytical prejudices and established themes at the interpretive level through six steps: familiarity with the data, generation of initial codes, search for themes, review of themes, definition and nomenclature of themes, and production of the final text (Braun & Clarke, 2006). During the familiarity phase, we transcribed all the interviews, reading and rereading the set of texts we generated, reviewing previous notes to find meanings and initial patterns and to understand the depth and breadth of the content, based on the theoretical framework we constructed a priori. Subsequently, after reading the transcripts of the interviews, we established codes to identify the data characteristics. Thus, this codification emerged through the research subjects’ statements without a priori conceptions, according to the theoretical framework.

In total, 32 codes were generated. With the data coded and grouped, we began the coding analysis. For communicative validation, we sent our spreadsheets to three informants to obtain their statements and affirm the codes to attest to the reliability of the results. We identified combinations of different codes in the formation of a comprehensive theme. Initially, seven themes were developed to group the analyzed codes to capture an important aspect of the data in relation to the research question. We created, through codes and themes, a thematic map. In the review phase of the themes, we performed an initial review of the extracts of the coded data, reading them and reflecting on whether they seemed to form a coherent pattern within the theme (internal homogeneity) (Patton, 2014). Subsequently, we assessed the individual themes in relation to the entire dataset, observing whether the thematic map reflected the meanings generated from the material (external heterogeneity) (Patton, 2014). This step elucidated three themes: 1) fitness lifestyle (subtopics: trajectory, body, disposition and consumption); 2) elements of perceived sacrifice (subtopics: painful sphere, cozy sphere, fitness as sacrifice, examples of sacrifice and definition of sacrifice); 3) social groups (subtopics: group types and their impacts and types of group influence). The last phase thus involved the production of the final text, whose analysis we describe in the following section.

RESULTS E DISCUSSION

To explore the involvement of reference groups in the sacrifice perceived by the fitness consumer, we analyzed 1) the group typologies involved in this sacrificing process, 2) their modes of influence and the social identity they offer, 3) the impact they exert, and 4) the roles of social groups in the (re)construction and maintenance of the perception of sacrifice by the consumer. The results are presented below, following this logic of analysis.

Types of reference groups

Emphasizing that the level of sacrifice and the predisposition to it will depend on the type and size of a group (Leung et al., 2015), we sought to identify the group typologies that composed the episodes described by the research subjects. Through the interviews, we found that the groups to which an individual belongs, wants to belong or avoids act as a reference for identity formation (Park & Lessig, 1977; Stafford, 1966; White & Dahl, 2006). These three types of groups are part of the context experienced by the analyzed subjects, influencing their lifestyles and their perception of sacrifice.

The affiliation groups, also called associations, were represented by family members, friends and coworkers (Pereira & Strehlau, 2012). Aspirational groups comprised athletes, models and digital fitness influencers, i.e., references and inspirations for an adopted lifestyle (Centeno & Wang, 2017). Finally, avoidance groups were formed by people who exhibited negative attitudes and behaviors in relation to the lifestyle analyzed. That is, those who do not seek a healthy life, eat poorly, do not exercise and are predisposed to the hedonic actions of nonconformists are not necessarily described as existing groups but as imaginary groups, as stereotypes (Hogg et al., 1995), as described by Informant 15:

[Which groups would you not like to be considered part of?] People who have nocturnal habits that we [interviewee and partner] no longer have, like, we sleep early. For example, people who drink, who smoke, who overeat, who do not have the same style as us (Informant 15).

Despite the abovementioned group typologies, we recognize that such groups have permeability (Reid et al., 2004), i.e., they allow the transition of the individual between one group and another, making them dynamic. For example, family members (members of the affiliation group) who do not share fitness practices can be included in avoidance groups. Moreover, the individual who admires a certain digital influencer can approach the social role played by him or her (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017; Fombelle et al., 2012) when seeking to achieve individual mobility, leading the influencer’s group to become affiliated (Hogg et al., 1995; Trepte & Loy, 2017), as detailed by Informant 4:

We [interviewee and wife] have become a reference here in the city, to the point that people are changing their lifestyle, changing their diet, starting to train only because they follow Instagram and see that they can do it in a happy way (Informant 4).

In fact, the interviewees exposed their need to inspire other people, approaching the social role played by their aspiration groups. This permeability indicates that it is possible to delimit the groups identified in this study through other characteristics beyond, for example, the attributes of blood ties and friendship, indicating that the emphasis on a given group quality will determine its reference designation. Hence, it was plausible to consider the groups according to their adopted or desired lifestyle, i.e., identifying them as fitness or not fitness. The first is formed by groups of association and aspiration that practice or admire this mode of living; the second consists of association and avoidance groups that are distanced from the first’s premises, requirements and fitness practices.

In addition to the affiliation, aspiration and avoidance groups, another reference group was detected, which we call the prescription group. This includes any external group that guides the actions of the subjects, teaching what (not) to consume, stimulating the achievement of the rewarding goals described by the informants, i.e., a desired body shape, health level, status type or specific self-expression; prescription groups are therefore similar to an elder who instructs a tribe in the performance of a sacrificing ritual (Hubert & Mauss, 1968). The prescription groups in the present study are therefore represented by coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists and psychologists who initially establish a formal relationship (Meurer et al., 2010) with the individual through service provision as part of the fitness group category. They are deemed trustworthy due to their technical knowledge on the subject (Macias, 2015) and can be inserted, over time, into aspiration or affiliation groups, as described by Informant 11:

[Who is an inspiration to you?] My nutritionist, because in addition to being a nutritionist, he is my friend. When I need and want, I get tips from him. His life motivates me a lot (Informant 11).

To summarize the typologies that we identified in the study, we developed Box 1. In it, we present the primary typologies, characterized as a broad division of the groups according to adopted lifestyle. The secondary typologies follow Stafford’s categorization (1966), and the tertiary typologies reflect the social and cultural conceptions that are attributed to the groups. Such categorizations are common to our daily lives.

Box 1
Typology of groups

Among the findings highlighted in Box 1, we emphasize that in contrast to those of Decrop et al. (2004), a group of friends in the fitness category was understood by the informants to be a group of primary and nonsecondary affiliation. Therefore, the attributes related to family groups are also found in the fitness friendship group. In other words, the interaction with this group is constant, and it has rigid norms of training and muscle reference in addition to its strong influence on the consumption of specific services and foods. This distances the group from the secondary qualification and shifts it to the level of primary.

The types of group we have described will have different influences on the individual, as they play different roles in the (de)construction and/or maintenance of the perceived sacrifice. We discuss this process in the following sections.

Influences and social identity

Corroborating the studies by Park and Lessig (1977) and Leal et al. (2014), the influences of the groups on the informants developed in an informational and normative (utilitarian and value-expressing) manner.

The informational influence was exerted especially by fitness groups through social mechanisms of contact and socialization (Nejad et al., 2014). In this process, the aspiration and prescription groups were praised as groups that were perceived to be highly credible; offering tips, opinions and advice deemed reliable by the informants (Macias, 2015). Their members merited following, as described by Informant 1:

The professionals in the field of physical education showed me information about how to work out the right way. In addition, other health professionals, such as a nutritionist, recommended me to do something beneficial, not to worry only about my physical appearance itself, but to think about my health itself. They were instrumental in this (Informant 1).

The behavior of such groups can also informatively influence the individuals who observe it (Centeno & Wang, 2017; Park & Lessig, 1977), as described by Informant 5:

I follow Graciane Barbosa [...] [you usually look at what? Training, food, some clothes?]. It is everything (laughs), food and training. I always check, especially the training, to see if there is a different training and to try to do it (Informant 5).

Normative influence was exercised by fitness and non-fitness groups via mechanisms of competition for status and social norms (Nejad et al., 2014). In utilitarian terms, the fitness groups were considered the greatest influencers, since they were perceived to offer rewards and punishments associated with the visible behaviors of the subject. Therefore, the informants sought to comply with the norms established by such groups to make decisions based on their expectations to achieve rewards and avoid punishment (Upadhyaya et al., 2017). This is what Informant 9 describes:

I was invited to an event and in this event, people had a certain size standard, after 17, 18 years. Therefore, since then, I have been changing my body in relation to this, always trying to fit the standards of the measures that the work requires (Informant 9).

In terms of value, the emotional aspects that link the individual to the group are present in fitness and non-fitness communities, primarily in the fitness and avoidance groups. For the first group, there is the fondness, the satisfaction of being part of, being a member of the group, which also acts as an opinion leader. For example, Informant 18’s practices are imposed by and influence the fitness group; as a result, he or she is no longer a member of the non-fitness group, as described by Informant 17:

I like to be a reference for my friends, a reference for motivation, everyone says, “Y [name of interviewee], when are we going to train? Will you take me to the gym to train with you? Y, give me some tips” [...] (Informant 18).

I don’t see myself eating fast food every day, like those McDonald’s hamburgers, those McDonald’s hamburger combos with fries and a Coke, I haven’t drank soda for 5 years and I can’t sit and see myself eating a hamburger with potato chips and soft drinks (Informant 17).

In general, the fitness groups increase the cozy sphere of perceived sacrifice by reinforcing the resulting gains for those who sacrifice; that is, such groups, based on the sacrifice of the subject, offer benefits to the sacrificed, such as recognition, appreciation and identification (Owen et al., 2017). Therefore, the fitness groups offer a social identity that generates pleasure, esteem and satisfaction, improving the reputation of the subject through compliance with communal norms of consumption (Bartikowski & Cleveland, 2017) and collectively sharing the same abnegations, which help prevent the abandonment of the adopted lifestyle (Ferrero, 2014). Social identity is thus shaped according to the positive distinction that this group has for the subject and its context, with shared benefits that generate feelings of emotional attachment and commitment justify participation in the group, stimulating the desire for inclusion and/or recognition (Hackel et al., 2018; Jetten et al., 2004; Trepte & Loy, 2017).

The avoidance groups also construct the social identity of the subject. When the informants observe family members, friends and coworkers who are distant from the lifestyle they have adopted, they initially seek to transform them, mimicking certain values and behaviors of their group members (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). In the case of family members, fitness individuals may seek to convert them into supporters of this lifestyle, generating conflicts and contributing to the painful perception of sacrifice that leads to the feeling of social loss and emotional cost (Informant 2). On the other hand, they may choose the social creativity strategy, seeking alternatives to improve their group identity by making comparisons with their family and other external groups via new dimensions (Hogg et al., 1995; Trepte & Loy, 2017).

My mother, in fact, is the opposite. She started, but she never thought I would stay. For her, I’m always exaggerating. She wants to make pasta and I say, “no, mom, we are not going to make pasta today. Shall we make a salad, a grilled chicken?” She was like, “I’m going to learn how to make a husband-fattening cake”. “Mother, no, we will learn to make a whole banana cake” (Informant 2).

As the statements presented in this section indicate, the practices performed by non-fitness groups do not generate prestige or admiration for the target and can even be considered dissociative actions of the lifestyle in question. Therefore, in such a group, the subject perceives characteristics that render his or her social self unsatisfactory, reducing self-esteem and requiring the development of strategies to reinterpret the world (Fujita et al., 2018). The primary strategy, in regard to friends and coworkers, is individual mobility, where the person will endeavor to move away, to leave an existing group, as described by Informant 13 below, and to join an external group in a more positively distinct fashion (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Such an attempt to withdraw from a group justifies the distance from it and the reduced importance attributed to it:

People who were not so close to me are kind of judging: “Oh, you have changed now, you do not want to leave, you just want to diet, and do physical activity” — kind of like, the people who were more distant became even more distant (Informant 13).

Due to their lack of identification, the interviewees experience negative emotions (Hackel et al., 2018) and strive to remain distance to ensure that the group that they belong to and admire is perceived to be positively distinct from the dissociative comparison group to improve their social identities and generate self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). For this withdrawal to occur, it is necessary for them to continue performing the sacrifices that the fitness routine imposes.

Social Impact

The thematic analysis we performed in this study also allowed us to investigate each of the factors (strength, immediacy and number of sources) that characterized the reference groups of the interviewees, offering social clues about the impact of groups on the perception of sacrifice by the consumer. Notably, social impact is a dynamic element that occurs in a complex system with mutual interactions between subjects (Latané, 1996). Therefore, this influence on the target is mutable and related to the group attributes and status, as well as to the permeability of this group. Any definition of the social impact exerted by a group on a given target thus represents a simplification that while valid for clarifying certain edges of a complex phenomenon, is not exhaustive or definitive, opening the possibility for adjustment and reformulation. In this context, we present Box 2.

Box 2
Factors of reference groups

Box 2 demonstrates that the fitness groups have, in general, greater strength and immediacy than the groups that do not adopt this lifestyle. The high urgency reflects the greater proximity between source and target (Aguiar, 2016) and makes them more similar to one another, leading the individual (target) to want to be part of the group or, at least, to admire it through perceived positive aspects (Mangum & Block, 2018). Due to the proximity of certain values, thoughts and behaviors that are guided by the same mode of experience, the subject acquires a physical, psychological and/or sentimental immediacy with the group to establish cognitive evaluations (Fujita et al., 2018) about him or her, as well as emotional attachment or commitment; he or she attributes motivational meaning to participation in this group (Hackel et al., 2018) or to the relationship with its members. Accordingly, the individual recognizes the prestige, persuasion and importance and/or relevance of these groups (Latané et al., 1995; Kwon et al., 2016), which reflect the strength of their influence on the target. The opinions, attitudes and behavior of the members will therefore serve as an element of learning and correlation, resulting in the formation of a collective thought (Latané, 1996) that will consolidate the differences and similarities to be assimilated and interpreted by the target. Such groups also increase their strength by allowing the subject to reinforce his or her identity with group attributes and strengthen his or her ego and status by acquiring important social roles in them (Fombelle et al., 2012).

More specific consideration should be given to the analysis of the tertiary typologies of the fitness groups. Through conversation with the interviewees, we find that the number of sources of friendship is possibly greater than that found in the family nucleus. This generates the expectation that fitness friends have a high social impact, since they have a greater number of sources of influence, although this amount will be a power function and not a linear function (Dewall et al., 2010; Latané et al., 1995). Another expectation is that the group will be perceived as important and close to the target. The aspiration groups were also perceived as having high urgency. Traditionally, they have been treated in the literature as socially distant references from individuals (Cocanougher & Bruce, 1971). However, with the internet and social media, such distance has decreased; today, the subject follows the daily life of celebrities, interacts with their posts and compares himself or herself to them in a virtual context that overcomes the limitations of space and time (Silva, Farias, Grigg, & Barbosa, 2020). This process modifies the social impact generated by such a relationship through immediate action and the expansion of strength by proximity. In addition, the number of sources of this aspiration group is variable; according to the research subjects, three, five or even dozens of athletes and fitness models that compose it are cited, indicating the mutability of this factor. Finally, the prescription groups showed greater variability in immediacy and the number of sources. For example, such groups may be composed of not only a nutritionist who periodically interacts with his or her patient but also one or several instructors who guide the interviewees during their almost daily activities in their gyms.

Thus, we demonstrate that the number of sources in the fitness group is variable. In contrast, for the non-fitness group, this amount seems to be larger and better defined, implying an increase in its social impact. This increase, due to the number of people in the cluster, however, is marginal; each additional source will produce less impact than the previous source via a decreasing incremental effect on the influence of the added limb (Dewall et al., 2010).

Furthermore, we emphasize that the groups of non-fitness friends have a temporal distance from the research subjects, i.e., they are more distant from the interviewees than the groups we have already analyzed. Nor do the practices performed by them generate prestige or admiration for the target; these are even considered dissociative actions of the lifestyle in question. This is described by Informant 6:

These days, I saw a friend of mine who I had not seen for a long time, and he was very fat. When he ties his shoe, he is panting. I said, “you’re going to die”. Now, because of this, he does not perform physical activity [...], does not practice physical activity or regulate his diet. He dies, little by little. I classify this as a calculated death (Informant 6).

The same discredit is attributed to a group of coworkers who are dissociated from the fitness lifestyle. The impact, however, is increased, especially through immediacy, represented by the weekly frequency of contact (Latané, 1981) with the target. Finally, we observe that the imaginary avoidance group does not have sufficient prestige or persuasion to guarantee its strength for generating the desertion of the fitness subject from his or her group. Meanwhile, its influence occurs precisely by discrediting, by acting as an inverse force, which leads the individual to further distance himself or herself from dissociative individuals to remain firm in the purposes he she has previously established. Thus, the degree of immediacy is low, precisely because of the distance sought, although the number of imaginary sources tends to be high. These elements therefore form the social impact of the imaginary dissociative group: inverse force, low temporality and a higher number of sources.

Accordingly, we argue that in general, fitness groups have their social impact increased due to their strength and immediate nature, while non-fitness groups amplify this influence through a high number of members.

Social roles of reference groups

Since reference groups, due to the power of their impact, influence in an informative and normative way the sacrifice perceived by the consumer, we suggest that they play one or more roles in this perception, making the individual more or less willing to perform and perceive sacrifices in their actions. Hence, we discerned four social roles among the reference groups of the interviewees: encourager, educator, inhibitor and confronter. They are not mutually exclusive and in some way shape the formation and/or continuity of the perceived sacrifice, as shown in Box 3.

Box 3
Social roles in consumer perception of sacrifice

The encourager is an individual or collective that encourages the performance and continuity of sacrifices; it contributes to the non-desertion of the subject (Ferrero, 2014) during the performance of abnegating actions that are perceived as necessary by stimulating such actions, highlighting the gains achieved thereby. That is, the encourager contributes to the increase in the compensatory perception of sacrifice, emphasizing its cozy sphere. In this research, the encourager is represented by the members of fitness groups, especially those of association and aspiration, which shape the adoption of the subject’s sacrifice (a role played especially by the family) (Informant 16) and its continuity (a role played especially by friends) (Informant 11):

My family, my father and my mother, were always athletes. They always participated in physical activities. They always said that a lot in my house and I grew up with it in my head (Informant 16).

Most people here [in the studio] and I created a bond, because we see each other every day, we end up practicing the same modality that is crossfit. So, you end up having a sisterhood here (Informant 11).

The second defined social role is that of an educator, understood to be a kind of encourager of sacrifice but whose central function is to guide it, to describe the abnegating actions necessary to achieve the compensatory objectives. The educator is a guide (Hubert & Mauss, 1968) and usually exerts leadership by being recognized as a bearer of technical knowledge that generates trust (Macias, 2015), which justifies the fulfillment of what was indicated by him or her. The relationship between the educator and the educated is usually established in a formal manner through contracts (written or verbal) that regulate the learning process. In the present study, prescriptive group members mainly played this role, although the instructional character exercised by family and friends should not be disregarded. These latter groups, however, carry out such teaching through an informal relationship and usually have the knowledge derived from experience, not formal education and professional experience, components that characterize the role of educator that we propose.

The inhibitor, in turn, is represented by groups that somewhat intimidate the individual so that the abnegating action is not performed by emphasizing the painful sphere of sacrifice and that do not present a social identity valued by the subject (Brewer & Schneider, 1990). The strategy of the inhibitor is to highlight the attributes that distinguish the collective and the target, indicating that the attitudes or behaviors of the latter are distant from those practiced by the group and considered negative for the group by denigrating or diminishing the subject who performs them (Reiche et al., 2015).

Such pressure results in embarrassment (Murphy & Enis, 1986), driving the abandonment of sacrifice at the expense of the social inclusion that such abnegation will entail. Therefore, the possible results of the role played by the inhibitors are i) the individual abandons a sacrifice because of a group influence that amplifies the superiority of the painful sphere over the cozy, bringing the subject closer to the inhibiting members who seek to mimic values and behaviors (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and restore group communion, or ii) the individual continues to perform the abnegating action, seeking to move away from the inhibiting group or redefine the relationship with it through social creativity strategies (Hogg et al., 1995; Trepte & Loy, 2017).

The inhibition groups we identified were formed by members of non-fitness groups. Within this category, it is possible to identify another social role, especially among the groups of imaginary avoidance. We defined this role as the confronter because such a group is used by the individual for a comparative balance of the losses and benefits involved in the lifestyle practiced by the subject and in the lifestyle experienced by the avoidance member. The confronter acts, therefore, as a stereotype for comparison (Hogg et al., 1995), which leads the sacrificer to reflect on the penalties suffered and the validity of the rewards acquired. Generally, this coping process reinforces the continuity of sacrifice, since the person tends to potentiate the attributes, values and practices of their association and aspiration groups and decrease his or her valuation of the avoidance group (Reiche et al., 2015). This generates the perception that an abnegating action produces compensatory elements that allow (greater) separation from the dissociation group.

The involvement of reference groups in the sacrifice perceived by the fitness consumer

Based on the results we presented above, we can describe the connection between reference groups and the perception of sacrifice by the fitness consumer. In Figure 3, we illustrate this link.

Figure 3
Reference groups and the perception of sacrifice by the consumer

In summary, we conclude that reference groups (affiliation, aspiration, avoidance and prescription groups), which have characteristics of permeability and mobility in terms of their impact, normatively and informatively influence the painful and cozy spheres of an abnegating action that is driven by a compensatory objective to establish the perception of sacrifice. In fact, these groups play certain social roles that contribute to whether a sacrificing action occurs, continues or is abandoned by encouraging or inhibiting it, educating or confronting the subject about his or her choices and consumption behaviors while shaping his or her social identity.

Regarding the fitness lifestyle, we demonstrate that the changes in consumption behavior that are adopted by individuals are capable of generating bodily and mental transformations, reconfiguring the identity of the subject by his or her selection of a form of experience based on health and well-being to embody the premise of an adaptation. Thus, we observed that individuals seek adjustments and even identity conversions through consumption, affecting themselves and their relationships with their social groups. Acquiring, using or avoiding certain goods and services reflect, therefore, the search for a social demarcation that facilitates the reformulation of identity.

In this process, the need of the analyzed subjects to be recognized and admired by other people was highlighted. This implies that consumers seek to be part of the aspiration groups of individuals around them, generating social comparisons that place them in higher and desired positions. They yearn for others to want to reproduce their actions, e.g., consumption behaviors, to mimic their behaviors as they establish trends and standards. Hence, being an inspiring member enables the individual to strengthen his or her social identity via the positive distinction it establishes.

Furthermore, the perception of sacrifice we have analyzed is contextualized in a given lifestyle. Thus, while the contributions of this study reflect the particularities of its context, the possibility that these results can be observed in different circumstances is not disregarded. Figure 2 therefore mainly shows the connection between the theoretical lenses of our approach and our elements of analysis, while Figure 3 illustrates the reflections on social groups and consumer perception that we establish. In the next and final section of the study, we expand our discussion of the potential for additional observations.

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

In this study, we contribute to the advancement of the knowledge regarding groups in the context of consumer behavior by analyzing the involvement of reference groups in the perception of individual sacrifice. We have identified the types of groups that shape this perception, as well as the impact and influence of each type on this perception, to explore the role played by consumer reference groups in the formation and/or maintenance of perceived sacrifice. In this context, some of our findings with academic implications should be highlighted.

First, a new typology of reference group in addition to the affiliation, aspiration and avoidance groups indicated in the literature was identified. These are the prescription groups, external groups whose members act as advisors via the technical knowledge they possess, influencing consumers, specifically, in an informational way, establishing a relationship by offering guidelines, shaping behavior and guiding choices. By identifying this group typology, the study thus deepens discussions about the numerous agents of influence that interact with the individual in the journey of consumption, encouraging marketing research to seek new social categories that are related to subjects and their roles in the market.

The dynamic nature of social groups amid the insertions and desertions of individuals in these collectives was also discussed through our exploration of value judgments concerning identification, status and recognition. This element reflects the changes in the configurations of society, establishing opportunities and challenges for scholars to identify and understand existing social groups. The permeability and mobility present in such groups have theoretical implications because they indicate that an emphasis on a given group quality will determine its reference designation, highlighting that the dynamics existing in these groups should be identified by researchers. This mutable characteristic also applies to the impact of a group and its members on the target, whereby the factors of strength, immediacy and number of sources can be changed, leading the individual to reclassify a group and his or her relationship with it, which establishes different configurations of influence and social roles. Accordingly, consumer choices change along the path for the (re)construction of social identity. The mutability of the impact and the role of the group, since they alter this identification, thus contribute to the transformation of the perception of the self, the other and the products and brands that represent these.

Our elaboration of the social actors in the perception of sacrifice, i.e., the encourager, educator, inhibitor, and confronter, which reflect the influential role of groups in consumer decision-making, constitutes an original insight and a noteworthy theoretical contribution to the field of study. Finally, we have demonstrated the possibility of using social impact and social identity theories to evaluate the group aspects of consumer behavior. These theories are constituents of social psychology, but they can be used to enrich analyses of consumption, providing bases for the investigation of social cues in the context of the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. By adopting such theories, the article contributes to the development of research that shifts from the social to the individual sphere (from the macro to the micro) to increase the understanding of the consumer by considering the social context of consumption.

Our interaction with our subjects was based on online voice and video calls, presenting the advantages of broad geographic access and of the possibility to contact difficult-to-reach populations (Opdenakker, 2006). This mode of data construction, however, created certain limitations for the research. First, there was a decrease in social cues, since it was not possible to see the interviewees (in full) and their body expressions, which could be used as extra information. However, it was possible to evaluate each informant’s voice and intonation as social cues. Second, we did not experience the immediate surroundings of each interviewee, making it difficult to create a good environment for the interviews (Opdenakker, 2006). Therefore, some interruptions were experienced during the conversations, for example, the arrival of other people to the place where a subject was, which could influence the spontaneity of the informants in relation to their responses.

During our analyses, we observed how the inaccuracy of the number of members in certain social groups and the shifts of this number were articulated by the interviewees. However, we considered this factor limiting but not impeding for our establishment of the level of influence of reference groups; in addition, the identification of two other factors (strength and immediacy) contributed to our overview of the social impact of the individuals who were cited by the informants.

Finally, our suggestions for future studies indicate a research agenda that can direct possible analyses in the field of consumer behavior. These feasible paths are capable of strengthening the themes have proposed in this study. For example, we suggest that future studies focus on the typology of prescription, analyzing the specificities of this group in the context of consumption. For instance, a character who is increasingly active in the fitness market is the life coach, an individual who guides clients to follow a way of life that is based on certain goals, influencing their routines, consumption habits and social relationships. We also suggest that additional studies seek to understand the links between sacrifice and identity by analyzing the level of selfishness present in the consumer’s self and the associated greater or lesser predisposition to sacrifice his or her forms of consumption for social groups.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq) under scholarship number [140806/2019-9] and by the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES) through a Notice of Support for Researchers Linked to Graduate Programs at UFPE (PROPG n° 02/2021 - process: 23076.109626/2021-20). Both funds were received by Marianny Jessica de Brito Silva.

• [Translated version] Note: All quotes in English translated by this article’s translator.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  28 Nov 2022
• Date of issue
  Sep-Oct 2022

History

• Received
  19 Oct 2021
• Accepted
  09 Feb 2022