A critical dimension of pilgrimage is arguably pilgrims' experience, in particular the authenticity of their experience. The aim of the study is to understand how authenticity is evoked in a religious pilgrimage and the relationship between authenticity, rituals and consumption. The research contributes ethnographic insights from a lesser known, yet significant, Muslim pilgrimage called Ziyara-t-Arba'een. In so doing, pilgrimages are conceptualised as a quest for spiritual authenticity, a hybrid form of existential, ideological and objective authenticity. The findings section leads to a discussion of the ways in which spiritual authenticity is realised through rituals and the consumption of texts, material objects and space. The contribution of this paper is threefold: 1) it explores the different dimensions of authenticity in a pilgrimage experience; 2) it examines the role of material culture and ritual consumption in achieving forms of authenticity; and 3) it broadens the understanding of the pilgrimage as a context-bound and culturally specific phenomenon.

Purpose Seeking ways towards a sustainable future is the most dominant socio-political challenge of our time. Marketing should have a crucial role to play in leading research and impact in sustainability, yet it is limited by relying on cognitive behavioural theories rooted in the 1970s, which have proved to have little bearing on actual behaviour. This paper aims to interrogate why marketing is failing to address the challenge of sustainability and identify alternative approaches. Design/methodology/approach The constraint in theoretical development contextualises the problem, followed by a focus on four key themes to promote theory development: developing sustainable people; models of alternative consumption; building towards sustainable marketplaces; and theoretical domains for the future. These themes were developed and refined during the 2018 Academy of Marketing workshop on seeking sustainable futures. MacInnis’s (2011) framework for conceptual contributions in marketing provides the narrative thread and structure. Findings The current state of play is explicated, combining the four themes and MacInnis’s framework to identify the failures and gaps in extant approaches to the field. Research limitations/implications This paper sets a new research agenda for the marketing discipline in quest for sustainable futures in marketing and consumer research. Practical implications Approaches are proposed which will allow the transformation of the dominant socio-economic systems towards a model capable of promoting a sustainable future. Originality/value The paper provides thought leadership in marketing and sustainability as befits the special issue, by moving beyond the description of the problem to making a conceptual contribution and setting a research agenda for the future.

Acknowledging that 'locals' are recognised as an important (yet neglected) dimension of place marketing and following critiques of places as 'products', the purpose of this paper is to give voice to 'local people'. Drawing on local narratives of Santorini, Greece, we call attention to places as culturally significant and discursively produced and consumed. Local narratives provide multiple meanings constructed around the diverse and contested experiences of living and making a living in a place. Our analysis employs the metaphors of 'harsh beauty', 'service business' and 'home' to capture these perspectives. The paper has implications for the development of generative metaphors of 'place' and 'local' within place marketing and contributes to the dialogue over the continued relevance of our discipline to the public sphere. Summary statement of contributionThe paper contributes to a 'critical' place marketing agenda by capturing local narratives of place. The emergent themes reveal that 'local', far from a homogeneous category, involves multiple and contested meanings, as even within a single narrative the experience of place is built around varied readings of living, working, and consuming. The paper reveals that the production and consumption of place are dialectical rather than distinct processes and delineates implications for marketing.

ABSTRACT

Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (sWEEE) is a particularly problematic category of electronic waste. A growing body of research indicates that sWEEE tends to be either stockpiled or disposed of improperly (references). However, despite this, little attention has been given to the meanings people ascribe to their electronic and electrical possessions; meanings which continue to apply even when they are disused or broken. The purpose of this study was to generate insight into this area and to identify opportunities for intervention to increase sWEEE recycling. A quasi-ethnographic approach was used to investigate sWEEE disposal behaviour from the perspective of Irish consumers. The rationale for this approach was the need to reconcile the policy perspective on sWEEE with the subjective experiences and interpretations that drive people's behaviour. The findings reveal that from the time electronic and electrical devices enter consumers' lives until their disposal, they exist in fluid in-between states of meaning and have perceived value. Before divestment, sWEEE typically undergoes a four-stage journey: a) once electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is no longer used, it tends to be either consciously stored or abandoned in the home (inactive EEE); b) a trigger prompts consumers to divest of the inactive EEE (critical moment); c) provoked to take action, consumers must decide precisely what to discard and how (transition from EEE to WEEE); d) consumers decide to recycle or not (divestment).The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings in terms of encouraging increased sWEEE recycling.