Autoethnography in Consumer Research

Autoethnography has made significant gains as a method in marketing and consumer research but much confusion remains. This paper reviews the scope, methods and trajectory of autoethnography in marketing and consumer research. Broadly understood as the use of first-person, subjective accounts of experiences, feelings and memories as research data in the arts and human sciences, autoethnography combines elements of biography and autobiography with fieldwork techniques such as participant observation, phenomenological interviews and diaries. The paper outlines differing styles and methods of authoethnography in academic and practice domains whilst also pointing out controversies and debates around its scientific status as a research method. The paper concludes by pointing to the potential for autoethnography to re-connect social science with meaning through accounts of subjective experience.