A discourse analysis of pilgrimage reviews

ABSTRACT

This article is the first to provide an account of the discursive features of online consumer reviews of pilgrimage sites. Drawing from pilgrimage studies and narrativity theory in consumer research, the authors explore how consumers communicate the spiritual and material aspects of pilgrimage experiences by examining a corpus of 833 consumer reviews on TripAdvisor of the most sacred pilgrimage sites of the world’s major five faith groups. Pilgrims include analytical discursive features to communicate the material aspect of their consumption experience. They reserve narration for spiritual transformation and the experience of strong emotions. Moreover, review ratings are only reflective of the spiritual aspect of their consumption experience. As such, this research complements previous studies by highlighting the material, physical aspect of this extraordinary consumption experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Discourse analysis
• marketisation of spirituality
• material-spiritual
• pilgrimage
• spiritual consumption
• storytelling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tom van Laer

Tom van Laer is Reader (Associate Professor) of Marketing at Cass Business School, City University of London, UK. He studies storytelling, social media, and consumer behaviour. His research is published in leading and highly regarded academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Interactive Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Marketing Management, et cetera. His work has been covered by the BBC, Newsweek, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, the Independent, Financial Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, and national TV and radio stations in Austria, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands, among other news outlets.

Elif Izberk-Bilgin

Elif Izberk-Bilgin is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Her research focuses on consumer activism, religious ideology in the marketplace, Islamic marketing, and sociological aspects of consumerism in emerging countries. Her work has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, and Consumption, Markets and Culture. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2015 Journal of Consumer Research Best Paper Award and the 2012 Sidney J. Levy Award. Her research has been featured in Time and has garnered international attention.