World of origin: The contagious ingredient of monastic products

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of the resources that consumers rely on when faced with products that communicate very little. When consumers purchase items from Christian abbeys, this question is particularly significant given that these organizations, while sharing a common history, are spatially dispersed. Through qualitative interviews with purchasers of monastic products, our research confirms the contagion process from products’ origin to consumers, and proposes the new concept of World of Origin (WOO), a cloud-like representation serving as an extrinsic source of meaning and acting as a substitute for strong brand narratives. Distinct from Country of Origin, terroir, brand aura, and heritage, WOO is an addition to the marketing conceptual toolbox, facilitating a thinner grain analysis of consumption phenomena. The contagious power of WOO enriches the research on the context’s influence and enables a discussion of the consequences of consumers themselves creating embellished or even false inventions of the past.