Mini-miracles : transformations of self from consumption of the Lourdes pilgrimage

Higgins, Leighanne and Hamilton, Kathy (2016) Mini-miracles : transformations of self from consumption of the Lourdes pilgrimage. Journal of Business Research, 69 (1). pp. 25-32. ISSN 0148-2963

[thumbnail of Higgins_and_Hamilton_2015_JBR_Mini_Miracles]
Preview
PDF (Higgins_and_Hamilton_2015_JBR_Mini_Miracles)
Higgins_and_Hamilton_2015_JBR_Mini_Miracles.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs.

Download (196kB)

Abstract

This paper explores transformations of self through pilgrimage consumption. A three year ethnographic study of Lourdes, one of the largest Catholic pilgrimage destinations, reveals the concept of “mini-miracles” to refer to those miracles that occur in and are important to an individual’s life, but are unlikely ever to be officially deemed as miracles in the eyes of the church. Mini-miracles transform selves and in turn draw pilgrims annually and recurrently to consume the Lourdes pilgrimage experience. The findings reveal the existence of three forms of subjectively experienced mini-miracles: physical, social and peaceful, each of which act as intangible word-of-mouth consumption drivers to the Lourdes pilgrimage. Lourdes, as a business institution, should capitalize on the word-of-mouth mini-miracles shared amongst consumers as a means of building and maintaining stronger networks and relationships within Catholic/ Christian communities at both the national and local level.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Business Research
Additional Information:
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Business Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Business Research, 69, 1, 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.017
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1406
Subjects:
?? sacred consumptiontransformationpilgrimagemiraclesethnographymarketing ??
ID Code:
74632
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
25 Nov 2015 11:32
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
11 Sep 2024 00:11