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Outsourcing Parenthood? How Families Manage Care Assemblages Using Paid Commercial Services

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  • Amber M. Epp
  • Sunaina R. Velagaleti

Abstract

An expanding array of available services allow parents to outsource almost any caregiving activity (e.g., nannies, potty training, birthday party planning). Sociologists document a care deficit--resulting from dual-earner households and distance from extended family--coupled with rising consumerism to account for outsourcing. These studies, as well as those in consumer research, clarify outsourcing motivations, but stop short of explaining the differential impacts of outsourcing tensions parents regularly face when assembling care. As such, consumer researchers know little about how parents navigate such tensions when deciding what is acceptable to outsource. Based on depth interviews with 23 families, our analysis uncovers complex care assemblages that are shaped by parenting discourses and tensions of control, intimacy, and substitutability. The resulting framework explains parents' strategies for minimizing outsourcing tensions, reveals processes for (re)assembling different types of care resources, and challenges what is known about the relationship between the market and family life.

Suggested Citation

  • Amber M. Epp & Sunaina R. Velagaleti, 2014. "Outsourcing Parenthood? How Families Manage Care Assemblages Using Paid Commercial Services," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 911-935.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:doi:10.1086/677892
    DOI: 10.1086/677892
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    Cited by:

    1. Castilhos, Rodrigo B. & Fonseca, Marcelo J., 2016. "Pursuing upward transformation: The construction of a progressing self among dominated consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 6-17.
    2. repec:oup:jecgeo:v:50:y:2023:i:2:p:282-302. is not listed on IDEAS
    3. A. Rebecca Reuber, 2016. "An Assemblage–Theoretic Perspective on the Internationalization Processes of Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(6), pages 1269-1286, November.
    4. Craig D. Lair, 2019. "Outsourcing and the Risks of Dependent Autonomy," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, May.
    5. Linda D. Hollebeek & V. Kumar & Rajendra K. Srivastava & Moira K. Clark, 2023. "Moving the stakeholder journey forward," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 23-49, January.
    6. Ximena Garcia-Rada & Mary Steffel & Elanor F Williams & Michael I Norton, 2022. "Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others [Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the Structure of Interpersonal Closeness]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 48(6), pages 970-990.
    7. Lydia Ottlewski, 2021. "Building and Strengthening Community at the Margins of Society through Social Enterprise," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    8. Joonas Rokka, 2021. "Consumer Culture Theory's Future in Marketing," Post-Print hal-03193730, HAL.
    9. Donna L Hoffman & Thomas P Novak & Eileen FischerEditor & Robert KozinetsAssociate Editor, 2018. "Consumer and Object Experience in the Internet of Things: An Assemblage Theory Approach," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(6), pages 1178-1204.
    10. Edirisingha, Prabash & Aitken, Robert & Ferguson, Shelagh, 2022. "Setting up home: The role of domestic materiality in extended family identity formation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1-15.
    11. Lydia Ottlewski & Joonas Rokka & John Schouten, 2024. "How consumer-initiated platforms shape family and consumption," Post-Print hal-04325754, HAL.
    12. Chloe Preece & Finola Kerrigan & Daragh O’reilly & Eileen Fischer & J Jeffrey Inman & Julie L Ozanne, 2019. "License to Assemble: Theorizing Brand Longevity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(2), pages 330-350.
    13. Helene de Burgh-Woodman, 2017. "Extensions, Intensities and the Convergent Advertisement," Post-Print hal-02395468, HAL.
    14. Pei-Hua Chao & Ho-chia Chueh, 2022. "Enactment of Ideal Parenthood through Consuming a Multi-Functional Space Named “Nature”—Blogging Family Camping in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Alexander P. Henkel & Johannes Boegershausen & Robert Ciuchita & Gaby Odekerken-Schröder, 2017. "Storm after the Quiet: How Marketplace Interactions Shape Consumer Resources in Collective Goal Pursuits," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 26-47.
    16. Christoph D. D. Rupprecht & Lihua Cui, 2020. "Understanding Threats to Young Children’s Green Space Access in Unlicensed Daycare Centers in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-23, March.
    17. Rohit Varman & Hari Sreekumar & Russell W Belk, 2022. "Money, Sacrificial Work, and Poor Consumers [The Low Literate Consumer]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 657-677.
    18. Hosany, A. R. Shaheen & Hosany, Sameer & He, Hongwei, 2022. "Children sustainable behaviour: A review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 236-257.
    19. Thomas, Tandy Chalmers & Epp, Amber M. & Price, Linda L., 2020. "Journeying Together: Aligning Retailer and Service Provider Roles with Collective Consumer Practices," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 9-24.
    20. Zeynep Arsel & Darren DahlEditor & Eileen FischerEditor & Gita JoharEditor & Vicki MorwitzEditor, 2017. "Asking Questions with Reflexive Focus: A Tutorial on Designing and Conducting Interviews," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 939-948.

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