An identity approach to bacalhau prosumption

Purpose – In Brazil, bacalhau dishes represent strong cultural, religious and traditional values. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical perspective integrating theories on social identity, role‐based identity, and cultural capital to explore multi‐phase bacalhau prosumption. The aim is to understand how consumers maintain their social identity and role‐based identity in this process. Design/methodology/approach – Data gathering is based on focus‐group discussions. A total of 13 focus‐group discussions were developed with 104 consumers from five different cities in Brazil. Discussions of all five phases of bacalhau prosumption reveal how people maintain and reinforce their social identity and role‐based identity. Findings – It was found that consumers achieve their social identity through comparison with both in‐group and out‐group members in what they prosume and how they prosume. Consumers also try to maintain their role‐based identity through continuously comparing their actual behaviour with the behaviour standards associated with the role of being a good host/hostess. While economic capital is expressed by the prosumption objects, cultural capital is reflected in consumer prosumption practices. Originality/value – This study has developed a new theoretical perspective, integrating theories on social identity, role‐based identity, and cultural capital. This novel perspective is applied to a complex food prosumption context including strong cultural, religious and social elements, and allows us to capture both the “being” and “doing” aspects of bacalhau prosumption.