A review of Savary, J., & Dhar, R. (2020). The Uncertain Self: How Self-Concept Structure Affects Subscription Choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(5), 887-903.
I. An U.S.-based SCC Construct
The authors argue Self-Concept Clarity is related to subscription choice, where people of lower SCC tend to keep current subscription (which they don’t use) in order to maintain a certainty that stabilizes their self-concept. Such an argument, though, is very cultural-specific. According to the six studies present by the article, subscribing means adhering to a specific ideology in the U.S. For instance, per Study 4 in the article, the ideology between a magazine subscription to the Economist and People distinguishes.
Subscribing means making a commitment of what one adheres to, such as that one will continue reading (the magazine), doing exercise (with the health App), or cooking the food been delivered through a subscription plan. The commitment provides a reference point for the subscriber in organizing his daily routine, which eventually shapes his self-concept. Yet, the subscription begins in an earlier point of time where the dominant logic was based on growth and certainty. Hence, people tend to make plan and stick to it. Subscription is a useful tool to establish a feeling of certainty in daily life. For example, with the subscription, you no longer have to choose a magazine from a roadside stall, neither have to worry about empty refrigerator because the food you subscribed would be delivered weekly. However, growth and certainty are not universal phenomenon outside the U.S. as the case from Asia demonstrates later in section IV.
Two ambiguities are identified in the article. On the one hand, categorizing a service as “identity relevant” is too subjective to be a clear definition. Everything can, literally, be relevant (or irreverent) to an identity. The process is up to person and may change from time to time. Thus, I suggest the authors to revise the concerned hypothesis 2A. On the other hand, given some services are only available through subscription e.g. membership, subscribing may simply be a façade of one-shot purchase, rather than an act of adherence. I would suggest the authors to further narrow down its choice of studies.
II. Alternatives for Future Research
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III. Confucianism and SCC in Asia
In order to illustrate how SCC is cultural-specific, I offer my own account of experience growing up in a Confucianism culture. The ideology was created for people living under uncertainty and seeking non-linear growth. It encompasses a wide range of identities, and was taught from pre-school to university for two thousand years, with an enormous influence in Asia. Shall the authors want to validate their arguments, cultural differences have to be taken into account for the applicability of constructs.