Introduction

Over the past two decades, China has experienced rapid economic development, accompanied by increasing consumer enthusiasm for material consumption. The acceleration in production and consumption has resulted in significant challenges, including compulsive buying behaviour (He et al., 2018) and environmental pollution and waste (Zhang & Wen, 2008). Meanwhile, ethical consumption—consumer behaviours driven by concerns about the ethicality and impact of consumption choices on the environment, animals, and/or society (Carrington et al., 2010, 2014)—has emerged as a potential remedy against the negative consequences of consumerism in developed countries.

Popular ethical consumption movements (e.g., fair trade, organic and local foods, cruelty-free products, and sustainable fashion) emphasise social and ecological goals, ideals, and ideologies that are deeply rooted in the socioeconomic and cultural contexts of Western developed countries (Carrington et al., 2021; Culiberg & Bajde, 2013; Shaw et al., 2016). These movements are supported by an institutional environment (Scott, 1995) consisting of a regulatory pillar enforced by governmental bodies (e.g., EPA and USDA in the United States, and the European Commission Directorate-General for Environment in Europe), a normative pillar shaped by international institutions, NGOs, and consumer activist groups (e.g., Fairtrade International and Greenpeace; Giesler & Veresiu, 2014), and a cultural pillar that has shifted towards greater environmental, animal welfare, and social justice awareness (Carrigan et al., 2004). However, ethical consumption may manifest differently in emerging economies like China due to unique socio-cultural and institutional environments. In fact, recent research has shown that Chinese people and their Western counterparts conceptualize morality and immorality differently (Berniūnas et al., 2022; Buchtel et al., 2015).

In recent decades, China has become “the world’s factory,” often at the expense of its labour force and environment. Chinese consumers, who are also workers in the global supply chain, are generally unfamiliar with concepts like “fair trade” (Moosmayer, 2020; Zhang & Liu, 2020), which originated in developed countries to ensure the fair treatment of developing-country suppliers in the post-colonial era. Domestically, China’s legislation and regulation on ethical production and consumption are still in its infancy (Chen et al., 2019), with the ministerial-level market regulation agency (the State Administration for Market Regulation) only established in 2018. Furthermore, ethical issues related to labour welfare, animal welfare, and other concerns have not been widely recognised by Chinese consumers (Chung, 2022). Lastly, China’s centralised political system ensures that ethical ideals, such as recent priorities on reducing carbon emissions, penetrate society from the top down, rather than being influenced by bottom-up social movements (Chen et al., 2019).

Against this backdrop, Danshari, a lay concept that literally means “separating, detaching, and departing from possessions”, has gained popularity in China over the past decade. The concept has also sparked innumerable discussions on social media (see Fig. 1), offering individuals with a personal approach to navigating the tidal wave of consumerism. The widespread interest in Danshari, recognised by the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center as one of the top ten most popular online phrases in China in 2019Footnote 1 and by the national newspaper Consumption Daily as one of the Top 5 consumption keywordsFootnote 2 in 2021, stands in stark contrast to the limited attention other ethical consumption concepts have received among the Chinese public (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 1
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Number of posts on Danshari via social media Weibo in China (July 2013–December 2022)

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Fig. 2
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Baidu index of Danshari and ethical consumption related keywords (2011–2022)a. Note: We conducted a side-by-side search using ethical-consumption-related keywords on Baidu Index, a service that provides data on netizens’ keyword searching frequencies on China’s most popular search engine Baidu, from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2022. This search yielded no Baidu index records for the terms “ethical consumption”, “sustainable consumption”, “anti-consumption”, “fair trade”, or “cruelty-free products”, showing insufficient interest in these terms among Chinese netizens. Keywords that have an active Baidu index, including “organic food”, “green consumption”, “low-carbon lifestyle”, and “energy consumption and emission reduction”. These keywords have not shown meaningful increase in interest more than a decade. The search indices of these keywords, together with Danshari, at the two peaks are shown in boxes. aSince Baidu is the most widely used search engine in China, Baidu Index provides a data sharing platform for monitoring social trends and public opinions, similar to Google Index. Baidu Index is calculated by weighted summation of keywords searched by netizens on Baidu.com within a certain time frame. Only phrases reaching a certain threshold of search frequency (a Baidu internal parameter) will have an active Baidu index; phrases that do not reach this threshold will have no records on Baidu Index

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This research aims to understand how ethical consumption behaviours can be cultivated in emerging economies, particularly in China, where the context is not yet conducive to the direct importation and implementation of ethical consumption ideas from Western developed countries. Specifically, we focus on the popular phenomenon of Danshari in China, a seemingly self-oriented practice that results in ethical consumption behaviours. By exploring why Chinese consumers voluntarily embrace Danshari, how they interpret and perform it, and how practising Danshari leads to ethical consumption behaviours, we hope to shed new light on the challenge of promoting ethical consumption more effectively in emerging economies through pragmatist approaches (e.g., Hiller & Woodall, 2019).

We conducted a qualitative study by collecting data from online posts sharing personal Danshari experiences and interviews with those who had practised Danshari. Using the grounded theory approach, we find that, first, Chinese consumers embrace Danshari voluntarily because it is a pragmatic approach with actionable methods and strong cultural resonance with the meaning of the phrase. Second, people often start practising Danshari to resolve personal issues, which is followed by a re-examination of the self-possession relationship that leads to self-concept clarity and self-concept elevation. Third, the aforementioned improved self-concept from practising Danshari leads to ethical consumption behaviours (e.g., recycling, regulated consumption, pro-environmental consumption) to align with the clarified and elevated self-concept.

Our research makes several theoretical contributions. First, despite their unfamiliarity with the concept of ethical consumption, we find that Chinese consumers’ practice of Danshari often leads to other-oriented ethical consumption behaviours. Therefore, this research provides novel insights into the cultivation of ethical consumption behaviours with indigenous approaches in emerging economies where the local contexts are not conducive to the direct adoption of Western ethical consumption models. Second, this research adds to the body of knowledge in pragmatism-based ethics research (Hiller & Woodall, 2019; Jacobs, 2004; Pouryousefi & Freeman, 2021; York, 2009). Instead of directly transplanting ethical principles or ideologies to encourage ethical consumption behaviours, it is essential to find an action-oriented and culturally meaningful way to cultivate ethical consumption in emerging markets. Third, our findings help to bridge the attitude-behaviour gap of ethical consumption (Carrington et al., 2014) and reveal the underlying mechanism of self-concept clarity. As a result, the self-oriented approach of Danshari provides a novel and alternative path for promoting ethical consumption. Finally, we extend the self-concept clarity literature by demonstrating a case where individuals can actively engage in activities to develop a clearer and more stable sense of self, and that such efforts can lead to desirable outcomes in areas beyond self-concept, such as ethical consumption.

Next, we situate our research in relation to various remedies against the negative effects of consumerism, discuss why Danshari, a pragmatist approach, may work as such a remedy in China, and explain the theoretical underpinning of self-concept clarity, which connects the self-oriented practice to its other-oriented ethical consumption outcomes.

Theoretical Background

Remedies Against Negative Impacts of Consumerism

Previous literature has extensively examined how individuals cope with consumerism, but primarily in the Western contexts. One potential solution is ethical consumerism, a burgeoning social movement focusing on the social impact of current consumption patterns. Consumers engage in ethical consumerism by purchasing products that adhere to ethical principles they support, often certified by recognised standards (Culiberg & Bajde, 2013; Shaw et al., 2016), including environmental protection (Elkington, 1994), fair trade (Moore, 2004), labour protection (Barrientos & Smith, 2007), and animal welfare (Tseëlon, 2011). For example, consumers may buy products with eco-labels to protect the environment (Kushwah et al., 2019), while ethical meat consumers see themselves as citizens who can influence societal standards on the humane treatment of meat animals (Schröder & McEachern, 2004). Consumers in affluent societies are willing to pay more for products certified as Fair Trade, a principle ensuring decent living and working conditions for producers in developing countries (e.g., Andorfer & Liebe, 2012; Jaffee, 2010). However, in the absence of adequate accountability, corporations may falsely advertise their business practices as ethical to appeal to consumers, an act known as “greenwashing” (Laufer, 2003).

Anti-consumption is another widely researched area, defined as “intentionally and meaningfully excluding or cutting goods from one’s consumption routine or reusing once‐acquired goods with the goal of avoiding consumption” (Makri et al., 2020, p. 178). Examples of anti-consumption behaviours and movements include voluntary simplicity (Craig-Lees & Hill, 2002; Etzioni, 1998), downshifting (Schor, 1998), downsizing (e.g., Ross et al., 2021), consumer resistance (e.g., Cherrier, 2009; Cherrier et al., 2011; Penaloza & Price, 2003), boycotts or consumer activism (e.g., Sen et al., 2001), and non-consumption (Stammerjohan & Webster, 2002). Those who participate in anti-consumption movements are often viewed as rebels or heroes against capitalism or as non-participants of the consumer society (Cherrier, 2009).

The majority of the literature on remedies against consumerism is based on the theory of planned behaviour, which suggests that ethical consumption behaviours are guided by personal ethical principles or intentions. However, recent research has revealed an attitude-behaviour gap (Carrington et al., 2010, 2014; Shaw et al., 2016), demonstrating that what people believe may not translate into what they actually purchase or how they dispose of goods. In contrast to the ethical-principle-driven and planned-behaviour perspective on ethical consumption, the pragmatist view on ethical consumption emphasises practicality and consequences over abstract principles or theories (Hiller & Woodall, 2019; Jacobs, 2004).

Pragmatist Ethical Consumerism

Pragmatist ethics suggests that ethical behaviour is not about adhering to moral principles or rules, but rather about achieving positive outcomes for individuals and society as a whole. According to John Dewey, a pioneer of pragmatism, ethical inquiry involves reflective intelligence to change our judgments in light of the consequences of acting on them (Dewey, 1930). Pragmatist ethics allows for what is considered ethical to vary depending on the context and the particular circumstances of the situation. Pragmatists believe that the practice serves as a source of social norms, which contrasts with “philosophical traditions that locate the source of morality in strictly abstract principles” (Pouryousefi & Freeman, 2021, p. 574). For instance, a recent study following Dewey’s pragmatism approach has identified the role of value manifested “in the fluid, yet habitual, plurality of patterns, preferences, morals, identities and relationships” (Hiller & Woodall, 2019, p. 893) rather than a conscious calculation between consumption choices or strictly principled decision-making.

Since pragmatism suggests that the ethicality of an action is determined by its consequences, rather than the intention behind the action, this view of ethics allows for ethical consumer behaviours to be discussed without the foundations of typical ethical consumerism concerns. Given the differences in socio-cultural and institutional contexts between China and Western developed countries, pragmatism appears to be a more appropriate lens through which to view Chinese consumers’ ethical consumption behaviours.

Danshari and Its Pragmatist Features

Danshari was initially proposed by Hideko Yamashita, a yoga practitioner in Japan, as a method to manage possessions and the self-possession relationship. The concept of Danshari consists of three Chinese characters, Dan (断, duàn), which literally means to cut off (desire for possessions); Sha (舍, shě), which means to detach from or give away (unnecessary things); and Ri (离, lí), which means to separate or depart (from possessions). Danshari, in its literal sense, reflects a set of practices rather than ethical principles.

Although the English title of Yamashita’s book was translated as “Danshari: The Japanese style of minimalism”, Danshari is distinct from minimalism. Specifically, minimalism emerged as a school of art in music, literature, and design in the 1960s and featured extreme sparseness and simplicity (Wilson & Bellezza, 2022). Various types of minimalism have trickled down to influence the aesthetic lifestyles of laypeople in recent years, such as home decoration and personal style. Danshari, in contrast, does not enforce external sparseness or simplicity in principle. Instead, it emphasises the internal management of desires and seeks inner solutions for happiness and well-being.

Yamashita’s book invites readers to look inward to scrutinise what is important for oneself and for the present, and to dispose of things that do not serve the self at the moment. Although both minimalism and Danshari may achieve similar effects, such as possessing fewer belongings, their paths are different. Minimalism sets an external standard, an ideal end-state to achieve, whereas Danshari provides a set of internal and behavioural exercises for individuals to go through without a specific expectation of what external end-state they should achieve. This internal process parallels Dewey’s emphasis on personal change and development as a pragmatist way to build value judgment through practice and reflections on the consequences of the practice (Jacobs, 2004).

Danshari can be considered a pragmatist approach to ethical consumption because it is an adaptive, deliberative, continuous, and action-oriented process with a focus on the practical consequences of individual actions rather than adhering to a fixed set of moral principles.

Flexibility and Adaptability

Pragmatist ethics emphasizes the need for flexibility and adaptability in moral decision-making, as it acknowledges that different situations may require different ethical responses (Hiller & Woodall, 2019). Danshari, as a self-oriented approach, allows individuals to adapt their consumption behaviour to their personal circumstances, values, and beliefs, making it a more flexible and context-sensitive practice.

Individual Deliberation

Pragmatist ethics values individual autonomy and the ability to make ethical choices based on personal experience and understanding (Daly, 2014). Danshari encourages individuals to take responsibility for their consumption habits and make changes that align with their values and priorities. This focus on individual deliberation and personal responsibility is consistent with the pragmatist approach to ethics.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

Pragmatist ethics acknowledges that ethical understanding and decision-making are not static but involve continuous learning and adaptation (Jacobs, 2004). Danshari promotes ongoing reflection on the relationship between the actors’ self-identity and possessions, consumption habits and the consequences of those habits, enabling individuals to learn from their experiences and continually update their self-concept.

Outcome Orientation

Pragmatist ethics focuses on the consequences of actions and their impact on overall well-being (Dancy, 2004). Although Danshari does not explicitly instruct individuals to reduce consumption for the benefit of others, for example the environment, our research demonstrates that individuals’ reflections on their own consumption choices generate prosocial and pro-environmental outcomes. As a result, even though Danshari practitioners may not have initially intended to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, their efforts to reduce material possessions and make mindful consumption choices ultimately lead to ethical consumption outcomes. This progression aligns with the pragmatist emphasis on the importance of outcomes.

How does this self-oriented set of practices, Dan-Sha-Ri, result in other-oriented ethical consumption? Let us turn our attention to the construction of self through consumption, the notion of self-concept clarity and its development during the Danshari process.

Self-Concept Clarity Related to Consumption

Individuals continuously construct, enhance, and protect their self-concept throughout their life journey (Vignoles et al., 2006). In the era of consumerism, this self-identity construction is entangled with consumption, especially the consumption of material goods. Previous consumer research illuminates three general processes in which consumers construct their identity from material objects: projection, inclusion, and editing. Firstly, consumers project aspects of their identity outwards onto material objects as a way to express themselves (Belk, 1988; McCracken, 1986). Secondly, consumers include meanings associated with material objects into part of their identity. The notion of “you are what you wear/drive/eat, etc.” is not an exaggeration. Products given meanings by marketers and society at large can influence our behaviour when we interact with them, which further influences our self-concept (McCracken, 1986). And finally, editing or manipulating one’s identity is a continuous process throughout different stages of life (McAdams, 2011), and people do so through their interactions with identity-related objects. For instance, while items associated with a meaningful personal identity are cherished (Wallendorf & Arnould, 1988), consumers discard possessions associated with undesirable past selves or personal histories (Lastovicka & Fernandez, 2005).

Prior work on consumption and the self has focused on how the content of consumers’ self-concept is influenced by consumption (e.g., Bellezza et al., 2014), nonconsumption (e.g., Fernandez et al., 2011), or dispossession (Cherrier & Murray, 2007). Besides influencing the content of one’s self-concept, various forms of consumerism tendencies, such as materialism, compulsive buying, and celebrity worship have been negatively linked to individuals’ self-concept clarity (e.g., Noguti & Bokeyar, 2014). Defined as “the extent to which one’s self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable” (Campbell et al., 1996, p. 141), self-concept clarity (SCC) is a structural dimension of the self. Influenced by marketing, celebrity, and media, individuals in a consumerism era seem to have “empty selves” (Cushman, 1990; Reeves et al., 2012), indicating a lack of self-concept clarity.

SCC can influence consumption by affecting how consumers act in relation to their values and how they self-regulate and resist temptations. Baumeister (1986) suggests that low SCC can create difficulties in processing self-relevant information, hindering one’s ability to guide their behaviour across different situations; conversely, individuals with high SCC are more capable of following their values and beliefs across contexts. Similarly, Setterlund and Niedenthal (1993) argue that experimentally induced low SCC can result in reduced self-reliance for decision-making. Consequently, individuals with low SCC may struggle more with resisting discretionary temptations. Sarial-Abi et al. (2016) find that individuals with low SCC exhibit a higher tendency for discretionary spending than those with high SCC, and this heightened tendency is unaffected by intentionally reflecting on potential spending outcomes.

SCC can also impact consumption by affecting individuals’ susceptibility to social influence. Blazek and Besta (2012) find that individuals with low SCC are more likely to agree with statements that suggest they lack control over their lives, making them more susceptible to external standards, including societal attractiveness norms. Vartanian and Dey (2013) find that low SCC levels predict a greater degree of internalization of societal beauty standards among women, leading to body image and dieting concerns. Consumers’ compliance with product and service recommendations is also negatively related to their SCC levels (Lee et al., 2010).

Taken together, the entanglement between low SCC and consumerism (e.g., materialism, compulsive buying behaviour, and celebrity worship, see Noguti & Bokeyar, 2014; Reeves et al., 2012) provides a theoretical lens to explore why people seek out Danshari as a remedy for the adverse effects of consumerism. However, despite the well-documented effects of SCC on consumption patterns that align more closely with personal values and are less influenced by social pressure, there is a gap directly linking SCC and ethical consumption. Moreover, existing literature treats SCC either as a permanent trait measured by a scale or as a temporary state manipulated in experiments, without considering individuals’ capacity to change it over time or through practice. Research on the development of SCC is limited and primarily focuses on adolescents and young adults (Lodi-Smith & Crocetti, 2017) or individuals’ self-concept dilution during social role transitions (Slotter & Emery, 2017), leaving room for examining voluntary interventions that may further develop SCC in adulthood.

As our findings will demonstrate, challenges to self-concepts motivate people to practise Danshari. Engaging in Danshari, in turn, encourages individuals to introspect on their self-identity, leading to a persistent reconstruction and reconfiguration of their self-concept, ultimately resulting in a higher level of SCC and an elevated self-concept. This internal change serves as a protective barrier against the detrimental effects of consumerism, enabling individuals to avoid impulsive purchases and instead make conscious and committed ethical consumption decisions in line with their values.

Methods

To understand the motivation and psychological process behind Danshari practice and its connection to ethical consumption behaviours, we conducted a qualitative study using a grounded theory approach, given the scarcity of research on this phenomenon (Gioia et al., 2013). Firstly, we analysed online sharing about Danshari to develop a comprehensive understanding of how and why people engage in it. Since many of these online posts focused on items being disposed of and the practical methods employed for Danshari, with little mention of the psychological underpinnings of these behaviours, we then conducted in-depth interviews with those who have reported practising Danshari. These interviews aimed at delving into participants’ motivations, psychological processes, and personal reflections concerning their Danshari practice.

Data Collection

Data Collection of Online Sharing

We first gathered people’s accounts of their Danshari experiences from a popular online sharing platform in China called Zhihu (知乎), similar to Quora. Users can ask questions or respond to other users’ questions anonymously on this platform, engaging in discussions akin to an online forum. We identified a Danshari-focused discussion group on Zhihu with over 29,000 active members and 800 discussion topics.Footnote 3 Using a purposeful sampling technique, we searched for posts on “Danshari”between 2009 and 2020. This yielded 1,000 original posts compiled by the forum manager.Footnote 4 To concentrate on the most popular accounts, we selected the top 100 posts based on the number of “likes” they received from readers. We then excluded posts that (1) only described discarded items without personal reflections or (2) recounted others’ Danshari experience rather than the author’s own. We eventually selected 35 posts, comprising a total of 116 single-spaced pages of descriptions and reflections on Danshari experiences. Three of the co-authors independently examined the posts to gain insights into the motivations, processes, and outcomes of Danshari. We subsequently discussed the insights collectively to refine our focus and finalise the interview guide.

Data Collection of Personal Interviews

We used theoretical sampling (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to invite interviewees who personally practised Danshari based on Hideko Yamashita’s teachings or suggestions. Interviewees were found through the researchers’ personal and professional networks. We screened respondents by asking when and how they had practised Danshari, excluding those who had not systematically practised Danshari. Our sample included individuals from various professions aged 29 to 62 years old, 45% were male, and 45% had an undergraduate degree (see Table 1 for details). Regarding religious beliefs, 75% identified as atheists, two identified as Buddhists, and three identified as Christians.

Table 1 Background of Interviewees
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Based on the preliminary analysis of the online posts and our theoretical background, we drafted an interview guide (see Appendix 1a) to help us conduct the semi-structured interviews to centre on deeper inquiries about the person’s motivations, psychological processes, and reflections regarding their Danshari practice. We conducted a second round of interviews six months after the first round to ensure that interviewees were still engaged in Danshari (see Appendix 1b for the interview guide).

Experienced researchers, familiar with the principles of openness and concentration in conducting in-depth interviews, led the interviews to ensure the study’s reliability. The interviewees’ anonymity and privacy were guaranteed. The first round of interviews lasted 1 to 2 h each, and the second round lasted 20 to 40 min. We conducted face-to-face interviews with interviewees residing in the same city as one of the co-authors, while online video conferences were used for others. After obtaining consent from interviewees, we recorded and transcribed the interviews verbatim for data analysis. In total, the first round of interviews yielded 375 single-spaced pages with more than 280,000 Chinese characters, while the second round resulted in 210 pages with over 145,000 Chinese characters. We read the transcripts immediately following each interview and adjusted the framing of questions in subsequent interviews to improve clarity. Data reached theoretical saturation after interviewing twenty people, with no new information or insight emerging after the eighteenth interview in the first round.

Data Analysis

The online posts and interview transcripts were imported into NVivo 11.0 for labelling, organising, and retrieving qualitative data. Adhering to proceduralised grounded theory coding guidelines (Strauss, 1987), we conducted open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Three of the co-authors reviewed the online posts, and all co-authors independently analysed the interview transcripts line-by-line to understand the details and underlying meanings. Any identified inconsistencies were discussed until a consensus was reached.

Initially, we focused on the views and opinions expressed in online posts and interviews, separating the information into elements, which were labelled and used to create categories, actions, and events, following the coding procedures outlined in Corbin and Strauss (2008). We repeated this open-coding process several times until no new concepts emerged (Gioia et al., 2013). This led to the identification of 65 first-order concepts.

Secondly, we conducted axial coding by grouping related concepts into 19 s-order themes, ensuring maximum internal homogeneity and external heterogeneity. Finally, using selective coding of the second-order themes, we identified 9 aggregate dimensions (see Table 2 for data structure). We report the gender (M for male or F for female) and age of interviewees where they are quoted.

Table 2 Data structure
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Findings

We organise the findings by addressing why and how Chinese consumers embrace, interpret, and perform Danshari while weaving in the underlying psychological process of self-concept clarification, through which the practice of Danshari leads to ethical consumption. Based on the coding and our interpretation of the codes, concepts, and themes, we developed a process model to illustrate the entire Danshari journey. This model encompasses the underlying self-concept erosion and reshaping process leading to self-concept clarity and its subsequent outcomes, especially related to ethical consumption, and the cultural underpinning of the Chinese interpretation of Danshari (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
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The Danshari journey

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Why Choosing Danshari?

We observe a very low awareness of the term “ethical consumption” among our interviewees. The majority of our interviewees (17 out of 20) had never heard of the term and had no idea of what it meant.Footnote 5 Those who had studied or lived in North America or Europe were the only three interviewees who had heard of the term. Moreover, although most interviewees could identify “environmental protection”, “reducing waste”, and “reducing packaging” when asked what concerns should be added to their consumption decision, only two interviewees (Interviewee #6 and #14) who had studied or lived abroad mentioned “fair trade”, “animal welfare”, “support local community products”, and “labour standards”. These findings, together with evidence from our Baidu index results (Fig. 2), suggest that public awareness of ethical consumption concept and exemplars identified in Western countries is low in China. One interviewee, who studied in the U.K. for a few years and now lives in a metropolitan city in China, lamented the lack of ethical certifications and her lack of trust in ethical labels:

“I haven’t come across any product labelled fair trade in China, but I’ve never intentionally searched for them. (Even if there are such labels) I am not sure how trustworthy they are, just like those so-called organic products. I guess there might be fair trade labelled products in Shanghai to cater to a niche market of consumers who identify with this category and buy this story.” (Interviewee #14, F, 43)

In terms of why Danshari enjoys wider popularity than other ethical-consumption-related ideas, such as green consumption and minimalism, our findings point to the strong cultural appeal of Danshari’s three Chinese characters (断舍离) on Chinese consumers. Interviewees #2 and #6 pointed out that these three characters are no strangers to Chinese people. They appear frequently in Chinese classical doctrines, everyday idioms, and even popular songs. As a result, when people see or hear these characters, they tend to find a strong resonation with them. For example, Interviewees #7 and #15 both associated the character sha/shě (舍) with the traditional wisdom of “舍得”, which means that “(in order to receive, you need) to give without holding a grudge.”

A few interviewees mentioned a clear connection between Danshari and the Taoist teaching of staying neutral and close to nature:

“It (Danshari) makes me think of the saying that ‘Tao follows the way of nature’ (a quote from Chapter 25 of Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu), and what Tao Te Ching says about how you don’t need much to feel satisfied as a new-born, and all the things you later need or want are external mere worldly things that you don’t need to begin with.” (Interviewee #19, F, 40)

Interviewee #6, who is familiar with traditional Chinese culture, mentioned that:

“These three characters are very frequently seen in our daily lives, let alone in Chinese classic texts. For example, Buddhism classics speak about being willing to let go; the specific phrase of ‘断舍离’ appears in (the ancient Chinese translation of) Madh yamagama-sutra (a collection of early Buddhist teaching)… Confucius emphasises modesty… In fact, no matter which doctrine, Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism, they (the Chinese traditional culture) all accentuate that people need to control their desires; you can’t crave for everything, you have to learn to detach from and let go of some things. Therefore, I think Danshari is deeply embedded in the foundations of Chinese culture." (Interviewee #6, M, 50)

For many of our interviewees (e.g., Interviewees #7 and #20), Danshari is considered as high-brow because of its connection to traditional Chinese classics. Thus, knowing and practising Danshari signal personal virtue and distinguish oneself from others. Because of the stark contrast between Danshari’s detachment essence and the relentless obsession with material accumulation prevalent in Chinese society, the concept of Danshari left an indelible impression on the interviewees.

Motivations to Practise Danshari: Challenged Self-Concept

What motivates individuals to embrace Danshari? Our analysis reveals two categories of motivations: short-term triggers and long-term drivers, both of which are linked to a challenged self-concept experienced by the practitioner at the time.

Short-Term Triggers

We identified three types of short-term triggers for Danshari: existential crises (e.g., psychological crisis, unsustainable lifestyle), special life events (e.g., moving, breakup, decision-making for career development), and mortality salience (e.g., near-death experience, passing of loved ones).

Many interviewees mentioned that adhering to a life path that reflected their previous self-concept had led them to a crisis state, which triggered them to question who they are and what they want. In a collectivist society like China, social expectations often dictate one’s lifestyle. When individuals develop their own ideals, incongruence between external expectations, primarily imposed by parents and society, and internal ideals frequently challenges the meaning of their chosen life path. These existential crises trigger a desire for change and action. One example of coping with a psychological crisis was voiced as “I could not bear the emotional burden from my mum” (Interviewee #1, F, 29), with the hope of rebuilding their sense of life purpose. Another example involves physical and psychological suffering from excessive social drinking after work with business partners. This unsustainable lifestyle, expressed as “I simply could not handle it anymore” (Interviewee #2, M, 34), motivates individuals to let go or unload as an instinctual act of self-rescue.

Special life events can trigger Danshari, including moving, breakups, and career development. In particular, decision-making for career development motivates people to reflect on their life and career paths. For instance, Interviewee #10 mentioned his struggle between running his business far away from his family and returning to his hometown:

“I realised that I couldn’t have everything at the same time. It was a harrowing state, but then I learnt about Danshari by reading and taking courses and started cleaning up my possessions. Things that I could not throw away can now be disposed of gradually… I also have a clearer idea about myself and where I should go (career-wise)." (Interviewee #10, M, 34)

Mortality salience also triggers Danshari. For example, Interviewee #8 (M, 44), a former university professor, resented how he blindly followed his parents’ wishes for him to study, find a job, make money, and gain social status. He chose to practise Danshari, along with trying out extreme sports, to find his ideal lifestyle after a near-death experience from a workout. The passing of loved ones is another example triggering Danshari. One online post described how a local burial tradition following the death of a relative led the author to re-evaluate the relationship with possessions:

“When people pass away, the customs in my hometown are to throw away or burn all their belongings. So, when I am old or dead, rather than waiting for my children or relatives to throw away my stuff, I might just throw them away by myself, to leave nothing for them to worry about.” (Post #6)

Long-Term Drivers

Self-concept challenges are often long-term. As people start to realise that they have low self-concept clarity or experience conflicts between their internal values and external expectations, they often form long-term goals to resolve these conflicts and achieve internal consistency. Some found that what they had called “self” might not be what they genuinely wanted: “From the moment we were born, we keep accumulating things that we may not really want. If we really want to grow and progress in life, or if we want to satisfy the real desires that we are aware of, we need to cut away those things (that have been forced on us).” (Interviewee #1, F, 29) Others, when looking inside, realised that a coherent self was nowhere to be found: “Since I had read about Marie Kondo’s idea of ‘sparking joy’, I asked myself ‘what does sparking joy really mean?’ Then I realised that most of the stuff I had did not really spark my joy (and I didn’t know what could spark my joy), which means that I didn’t know what I wanted this entire time.” (Interviewee #16, F, 34).

Almost all interviewees mentioned self-oriented psychological drivers to Danshari, including seeking emotional regulation (e.g., to resolve negative emotions and to be more positive) and personal growth (e.g., to clarify oneself, to break through oneself, to improve time management). For instance, consumers experiencing negative emotions such as stress and anxiety chose to organise and clear out material goods to help alleviate these negative emotions: “When there is more and more stuff around me, I feel anxious about my own space being gradually invaded. (Therefore) I throw away things that I don’t need to take back the occupied space and energy.” (Post #23)

The need for personal growth, especially with a focus on gaining deeper self-understanding, emerged repeatedly as a driving force for Danshari in our interviews. For instance, one interviewee used Danshari to sort out her internal world:

“I used to spend money carelessly, perhaps due to my emotions. As I see it, discarding things is only a shallow stage of Danshari. I have thrown away many of my clothes before, but that only brought me a brief period of inner peace. Although I do start to clean up and discard things when I’m mentally in a mess, what I actually do is a process of inspecting and sorting myself. I decided to practise Danshari because my inner self was cluttered.” (Interviewee #1, F, 29)

Many interviewees had heard of Danshari or read the book long before they started practising it. Even though many admitted they did not do anything immediately after reading the book, the concept of Danshari had planted a seed in their minds. Interviewee #2 (M, 34) admitted that the influence of Danshari was subtle:

“Maybe you don’t feel so strongly about it at the beginning. However, there may be a moment when you suddenly have an epiphany and link Danshari with everything you have experienced before, and the idea of detachment starts to make sense.”

When individuals realise their career trajectory, personal health, or family life can easily become out of their control, the spiritual essence of Danshari, i.e., detaching from material or non-material obsessions, starts to resonate with them. Ultimately, our interviewees chose Danshari for self-interested motivations, namely, to cultivate personal virtue, rectify their life path, and clarify their sense of self, rather than altruistic principles. Intriguingly, our interviews revealed an absence of environmental or other ethical concerns as motivation for engaging in Danshari. This finding contrasts the central assumption that ethical consumption behaviour must first come from ethical values and the conscious prioritisation of such values (Carrington et al., 2014).

Processes of Danshari: Continued Self-Concept Erosion and Reshaping

Danshari is a personal journey of reflection centred on the relationship between oneself and possessions. The journey typically involves a three-stage process encompassing a cognitive assessment of the necessity of possessions, an emotional dissociation from possessions, and a decision on how to use or dispose of them. Both material (e.g., money, merchandise, household items) and non-material possessions (e.g., career, opportunity, social relationships, fame) are considered as targets of Danshari. Furthermore, the process functions retrospectively (e.g., dealing with current possessions) and prospectively (e.g., planning future consumption and activities).

In contrast to typical ethical consumption practices, Danshari practitioners focus on self-oriented considerations rather than other-oriented ethical concerns related to the impact of products on the environment or human welfare. This self-focused scrutiny inevitably leads practitioners to question their desires and needs, what possessions to keep or discard, and ultimately, who they are.

The Danshari journey commences with a desire to clarify one’s self-concept and address any inconsistencies or instability that may be present. This motivation is sustained throughout the journey, as the process of questioning and shedding possessions continues until the practitioner attains the level of clarity necessary to reshape their self-concept.

In the following section, we will explore the three key components of the Danshari process in detail, emphasising how the practitioners use the self as an anchor throughout the journey and how the gradual clarification of their self-concept emerges from this process.

Cognitive Evaluation

Cognitive evaluation involves assessing the necessity of one’s current possessions and future purchases using a set of individualised criteria. Based on our analysis, three criteria emerge: (1) Instrumentality (how useful the items are) to the self: “To renovate my apartment this time, I only used environmental, high-quality, and useful items.” (Post #32); (2) User experience (the ease or comfort of using it) for the self: “I used to buy several 8–10-cm high heels, but I have come to care more about my own comfort in the past two years.” (Post #22); (3) The meaning or the “feel” of the objects for the self: “What you wear at home makes a lot of differences in how you feel…I don’t want to see myself in a loose and colourless t-shirt like an elderly person.” (Post #9).

When evaluating the necessity of future consumption, Danshari practitioners begin to differentiate between needs, wants, and desires internally generated and those imposed by social norms. As one interviewee stated, “Your keywords become ‘thinking’ and ‘be aware’… It is unnecessary to buy what sellers promote. I need to be clear about what kind of life I want to lead, right?” (Interviewee #7, F, 40). Additionally, Danshari practitioners gradually develop different routines to curb impulsive buying. For example, Interviewee #9 (F, 48) implemented a cooling period in her online shopping cart to control impulsive buying. Some interviewees became aware of the often-overlooked ownership obligations and how a seemingly pleasant purchase can become a future stressor:

“Many consumers ignored post-purchase obligations, such as maintaining it and sooner or later disposing of it. You may also incur debt. These future duties and financial burdens all consume energy and time. Thus, I developed a mindset of product lifecycle management and become more cautious with purchases. For everything we buy, we must ask ourselves, ‘Can it be disposed of effortlessly? Is it easy to clean? Do I have space to store it?’” (Interviewee #14, F, 43)

The cognitive evaluation stage of Danshari reportedly pushed interviewees to contemplate their past, present, and future selves by making decisions about existing possessions and future consumption. This opportunity for introspection and self-diagnosis often shakes the foundation of one’s previous self-concept. For example, Interviewee #15 (M, 35) was shocked to discover that the possessions he had stored in his apartment did not seem to follow a consistent pattern, leading him to question the consistency of his personal identity.

Emotional Detachment

Emotional detachment is the voluntary process of psychologically disassociating oneself from possessions or material consumption; such detachment is emotional in nature, as it often elicits negative emotions (Lastovicka & Fernandez, 2005). Our data revealed two general types of emotional detachment: detaching from material consumption and detaching from items with personal meanings or associations with significant others.

The first type of emotional detachment relates to disassociating from material consumption. Many interviewees reported similar experiences in which the temporary happiness stemming from consumption fades, leaving behind an empty feeling. Some consumers realised that consumption cannot and should not define who they are (e.g., Interviewee #14, F, 43; Post #30). Additionally, people are wary of falling into vicious cycles of impulse purchases, leading to unnecessary items and subsequent disposal. For example, the author of online Post #6 mentioned that they needed to personally go through every item of their possessions to remind themselves not to buy similar things again after getting rid of the old ones. These negative feelings from consumption push people to detach from their previous consumption patterns and subsequently adjust their consumption strategies.

The second type of emotional detachment pertains to detaching oneself from material items or ownership itself. Unlike consumers who express love and passion for their possessions (e.g., Ahuvia, 2005; Lastovicka & Sirianni, 2011), those practising Danshari loosen their attachment to possessions, especially those symbolic items of honour or status, preventing enslavement to their possessions. Several interviewees (e.g., #6, 4, 19) expressed this sentiment, not wanting to be defined by the objects they own or their symbolic meanings.

It is important to note that people find it hard to emotionally detach from objects associated with meaningful people, events, places, and times (Lastovicka & Fernandez, 2005), as the meanings of these possessions are often related to the core of one’s existing self-concept. Interviewees mentioned that detaching from these objects made their Danshari journey extremely difficult, but it also helped them achieve an emotional breakthrough.

Behavioural Disposal

Behavioural disposal refers to the action of reorganising one’s possessions (including categorising, cleaning up, using, repurposing, etc.) and, importantly, disposing of possessions (including reselling, donating, giving away, and discarding, etc.). Even after performing cognitive evaluation and emotional detachment, some interviewees still found it difficult to dispose of personally meaningful items. They performed certain divestment rituals, such as photo-taking (Lastovicka & Fernandez, 2005; Winterich et al., 2017) and giving items away to people who could put them to good use (Brough & Isaac, 2012; Price et al., 2000).

The emotional detachment and behavioural disposal stages of Danshari facilitate shedding the parts of the self that no longer serve the individual, along with disposing of the associated material. Interviewee #7 (F, 40), for example, shed the part of herself linked to her past relationship and workaholic identity by getting rid of all the stuff related to her ex, downsizing her possessions, and moving to a modest job back in her hometown.

The eroded self-concept must be constantly examined and restructured with new elements, a process through which the reshaping of the self-concept occurs. As undesired self-concepts become peripheral (Sedikides, 1995) and divested with the associated objects, individuals’ desired self-concepts become more central and clearer. Some even find their discarded identity absurd and try to separate their present self from their past self. Interviewee #20 (F, 33) recalled her younger self who always wanted to show off her beauty through makeup and clothes even to strangers on the street, and declared, “If I saw that girl (herself) from that time, I would find her very strange – why would you spend that much time and effort to decorate yourself? What for? I wouldn’t waste that time now.”

Exercising conscious decision-making during Danshari can give rise to renewed self-confidence when people “realise that the quality of one’s life can be changed merely by one’s actions, instead of the objective material factors” (Interviewee #15, M, 35). This confidence can help Danshari practitioners navigate through the process more efficiently. Interviewee #17 (F, 30) said that after disposing of many things, she could “immediately position (any current possession or future purchase) based on what fits (her) the most,” thereby reaffirming her desired identity.

A clarified self-concept may also be used as a selection criterion during the Danshari process. Many of our interviewees mentioned picturing the ideal person they wanted to become and the lifestyle they longed for after practising Danshari as their roadmap for decision-making. Interviewee #16 (F, 34), for example, started reading biographies of female role models during her most recent round of Danshari. Attempting to transition from a stay-at-home mother back to a full-time career, she used biographies of successful female leaders to create her ideal self and then aligned her decisions about possession disposal and future purchases with these ideals.

One notable characteristic of Danshari, shared among many online posts and interviews, lies in its moderation; that is, taking a measured approach and avoiding extremes. For example, a writer of an online post differentiated their interpretation and practice of Danshari from extreme forms of consumption and non-consumption: “I don’t over-consume, nor am I anti-consumption. Rather, I satisfy my needs within a moderate range.” (Post #28). One interviewee shared a similar idea: “I’m not simply pursuing a minimalistic lifestyle, but rather a sense of ‘living (with) just enough’… a very good state consistent with the Confucian teaching of the Middle Way.” (Interviewee #4, M, 35)

Outcomes of Danshari: A Clarified and Elevated Self Drives Ethical Behaviours

The practice of Danshari often results in a series of changes in the psychological, behavioural, and relational aspects. Most of the outcomes reported are positive, while some report mixed or negative feedback. Our findings reveal that although the practice of Danshari is initially driven by self-oriented reasons rather than other-oriented or ethical principle-driven considerations, it often results in ethical consumption behaviours, such as environmental protection, recycling, and reducing waste in packaging. In fact, these behavioural changes are linked to the practitioners’ clarified and elevated self-concept following the exercise of Danshari.

A Clarified and Elevated Self

Both the interviewees and online posts expressed feelings of self-improvement (e.g., sense of accomplishment, fulfilment, clear mindedness, having developed a new value system) and being more energetic, confident, and self-disciplined. They also mentioned other positive feelings, such as feeling refreshed, calm, and sober. Some of these positive feelings were immediate, such as “a sense of achievement and a refreshing feeling after clearing out a roomful of things” (Interviewee #7, F, 40). Many interviewees reported spillover effects of these positive psychological changes in other areas of their lives, for example, experiencing a series of positive changes in personal life and at work because of a clear mind after practising Danshari.

Interestingly, since decluttering influences one’s psychological space and feelings (Ross et al., 2021), we find that better organisation of one’s possessions helps clarify their thoughts, emotions, and other psychological states. By intentionally examining one’ s possessions and deciding what to keep or discard, individuals refer to their values for priorities. This process can lead to a clearer understanding of one’s values and goals, reflecting on what is truly important to them. Hence, a thorough scrutiny of every aspect of one’s life following the Danshari process involves self-concept clarification. As Interviewee #7 (F, 40) reflected, Danshari helped “carefully comb through your ideas and find out what you want to stick to. Then you will form your own value system.” For her, her value system changed from seeking material contentment (“I used to feel happy just by looking at my closet full of clothes and buying luxury products”) to seeking intellectual contentment (“now I feel happier from reading a good book or having a stimulating conversation with an interesting friend”), and from seeking whatever other people have (“if others have it, I will need to get it too”) to only seeking what is suitable for herself in her own standard.

Moreover, simplifying one’s life can lead to a reduced desire for material possessions, a more disciplined and modest way of living. As Interviewee #15 (M, 35) concluded “Actually, Danshari is an internal learning process. You elevate yourself cognitively and become a better person.” Some interviewees used Danshari as “a source of cultivating virtue…… Danshari has positive impact to the society” (Interviewee #2, M, 34)

Ethical Consumption-Related Consequences

The self-oriented work to evaluate and detach during Danshari cultivates a clarified self-concept and elevated self, which in turn, increases individuals’ motivation to act in line with their personal values. This motivation not only influences how individuals treat their current possessions by reusing, donating, and reducing waste, but also leads to greater mindfulness in future consumption choices to align with their elevated self. Table 3 summarises several representative self- versus other-orientation changes in consumption following the practice of Danshari along the temporal dimension.

Table 3 Typical changes in consumption behaviours following Danshari
Full size table

Retrospectively, although Danshari requires divestment, we find that reflecting on the necessity and potential usages of possessions encourages consumers to reuse (i.e., making better use of the item oneself), donate (i.e., making better use of the item by others), and recycle items. This reduces the idling utility of unused items and prevents mindless trashing. As one interviewee noted:

“When I let go of some things that can still be used, I clean them and put them neatly in a nice paper bag next to the trash bin so that other people can pick them up and reuse them. It’s a loss for everyone if I treat functional things as meaningless trash…It’s just a small thing I can do for the environment.” (Interviewee #7, F, 40)

Prospectively, after reflecting on their past consumption, individuals become more mindful of their future purchases. They stop impulse buying or blindly following trends, control the total number of objects they possess, reduce bulk purchases, and refuse to buy overpackaged products or single-use utensils to reduce stress or guilt from wasting. One interviewee noted:

“Now, when I order takeout from places not far from me, I bring my own containers instead of using the single-use boxes and cups. Even when I forget to bring my own containers, I refuse utensils like spoons or chopsticks.” (Interviewee #19, F, 40)

Because Danshari helps people regulate their desires, they stop relying on material consumption to satisfy their needs. After consciously practising Danshari for a while, these choices become habitual and an integral part of one’s lifestyle. For example, one interviewee who had practised Danshari for years described her lifestyle as low-carbon-footprinted:

“I don’t think I can be any more environmentally friendly. I barely buy anything, have little desire for new things; I’ m easily satisfied with small and simple meals, walk or bike everywhere, don’t own a TV or use AC. Basically, my life has a very low carbon footprint.” (Interviewee #17, F, 30)

Ethical Consumption-Unrelated Consequences

Although Danshari leads to behavioural changes relevant to ethical consumption, its impacts extend to other areas of life, such as interpersonal relationships, as a result of a clarified and elevated self. Some interviewees (#12, M, 36; #4, M, 35) mentioned making changes to their networking strategy, such as “reducing instrumental networking”. Some reported improved interpersonal relationships because of their success in finding and presenting an authentic self after Danshari. After cutting out unnecessary material pursuits and social relationships, many of our interviewees used their newly found time, energy, space, and money on things they now deemed meaningful or important, such as spending more time with their family (e.g., Interviewees #2, M, 34; #20, F, 33) and devoting more time to their hobbies (e.g., Interviewees #1, F, 29; #7, F, 40; and #17, F, 30).

However, a few online sharing posts mentioned negative reactions, such as being blocked by others or having confrontations with others because of Danshari, and experiencing an emotional void because of relational losses:

“The most salient feeling is emptiness. I don’t remember if there was anything that I liked, even just a little bit. I think I am just surviving mechanically, like a robot without emotion.” (Post No. 19)

The relational or emotional void following Danshari, however, could be an intermediary or liminal stage where the individual is still searching for what works for them and what does not. As one interviewee (#8, M, 44) reflected, “You need to follow some moderation when exercising Danshari, not too much or too little. Otherwise, you will make others uncomfortable and annoyed.” Once again, Danshari, unlike extreme forms of anti-consumption or ethical consumption movements, reflects the traditional Chinese philosophy of moderation.

Reinforcing Loop

Our analysis suggests that the consequences of Danshari, whether or not related to ethical consumption, can be naturally driven by the practitioner’s clarified and elevated self-concept. Practising Danshari is often accompanied by a process of self-concept erosion and reshaping, which often results in psychological changes of renewed personal priorities and values (i.e. a clarified self) and a sense of self-improvement (i.e. an elevated self). Individuals with a clarified sense of self (e.g., “I know I’m a good person”) are often motivated to act in line with their elevated core personal values (e.g., “therefore I do good deeds”). This alignment between a clarified and elevated self-concept and ethical behaviours is evident in our interviews: “Danshari makes you start a journey of spiritual inquiry… If you are a person on such a journey, you must behave yourself as an exemplar, return to the society, educate your children to become a good citizen…” (Interviewee #2, M, 34).

Moreover, because the clarified and elevated self-concept is now more desirable for the individual, Danshari practitioners can be more motivated to maintain this favourable view of the self by displaying various actions to reaffirm their positive qualities. As an interviewee noted on the reinforcing feedback loop of Danshari:

“Danshari and ethical consumption, which is the cause or outcome? I think they are mutually enhancing and belong to the same realm of spiritual self-perfection. These are the things that a person with high moral standards will naturally do.” (Interviewee #6, M, 51)

Individuals may go through multiple iterations of self-concept erosion and reshaping through Danshari to eventually reconstruct a self-concept that is clear and desired enough. The feedback obtained from one round of Danshari, either positive or negative, will influence the next round of exercise.

General Discussion

Although the negative implications of consumerism and overconsumption are universal, the remedies are deeply rooted in socio-cultural contexts. Ethical consumption has been extensively examined in developed countries, yet the corresponding institutional settings and socio-cultural background in China are significantly different, making it challenging to foster similar practices. Our study demonstrates how Danshari, a self-oriented practice, can function as a pragmatic approach for Chinese consumers to cope with the overwhelming influence of consumerism and develop ethical consumption behaviours as a result.

Theoretical contributions

Our research makes important contributions to four distinct, yet interconnected areas of research related to ethical consumption. First, our research contributes to the understanding of ethical consumerism in emerging markets. Our findings demonstrate the importance of indigenous approaches in cultivating ethical consumption where the local contexts may not be conducive for the introduction of ethical consumption concepts or practices from developed countries. Ethical appeals are the foundation for sense-making and implementation of ethical consumption behaviours. The evidence from the online search and sharing data, and interviews all shows that Danshari has generated stronger and wider cultural appeal and resonance among Chinese consumers than other ethical-consumption-related concepts. Cultural resonance not only promotes adoption and popularization of Danshari among Chinese consumers, but it also adds cultural interpretation and meanings to Danshari. For instance, because Danshari resonated with the Confucian teaching of the Middle Way, Chinese consumers do not consider it as equivalent to its Western counterparts, such as minimalisms and anti-consumption, which are regarded as extreme. Instead, they emphasise Danshari as a moderate way of managing desire and developing a non-attached relationship with possessions.

Second, this research contributes to the growing body of pragmatism-based ethics research (e.g., Jacobs, 2004; York, 2009). We find that Danshari exercisers are primarily driven by self-oriented motives such as achieving personal growth and personal virtues (e.g., frugality, moderation), rather than ethical principles or ideologies for ethical consumption. Rather than imposing moral principles on individuals, Danshari allows consumers to discover who they think they should be and experiment with their own suitable paths. Thus, we consider Danshari a pragmatist approach that individuals can incorporate into their quest for a better self and a morally good life. Individuals who follow Danshari’s actionable guidelines gradually develop patterns and habits, resulting in behavioural changes that naturally lead to ethical consumption outcomes (e.g., reducing waste, recycling, reuse). These changes are iterative in the sense that they serve specific goals that individuals have at different times and are made in moderation without extreme measures. This iterative process echoes recent findings that consumers trade off various values and try their best when making ethical consumption choices in a pragmatist manner (Hiller & Woodall, 2019).

Third, our findings reveal that a clarified and elevated self-concept is the mechanism linking the self-oriented Danshari motivations and other-oriented ethical consumption behaviours. Danshari practitioners question and reshape their self-concept throughout the process, which often results in renewed personal values, a clarified self-concept, and a sense of self-elevation. People are thus motivated to act in accordance with their core values in order to maintain the desired self-concept. As a result, ethical consumption behaviours, such as purchasing environmentally friendly products and boycotting overpackaged products, are seen as justifications and manifestations of such an elevated self-concept. Thus, these findings provide valuable insights into bridging the attitude-behaviour gap in the ethical consumption literature (e.g., Carrington et al., 2014).

Last but not the least, our research extends the literature on consumption and its impact on individuals’ self-concept by revealing the role of self-concept clarity. While prior works on consumption and the self has focused on how the content of consumers’ self-concept is influenced by consumption (e.g., Bellezza et al., 2014) or non-consumption (e.g., Fernandez et al., 2011), the structure of self-concept, as reflected in the diversity, integration, and clarity of the self, has received less attention. Our analysis shows that threats to or a lack of self-concept clarity motivate individuals to seek out Danshari for an internal solution, and that a clearer self-concept emerges from practising Danshari. Previous research has largely treated self-concept clarity (SCC) as a fixed trait or as a temporary state manipulated in experiments. These approaches have neglected the potential for individuals to actively cultivate or develop their SCC over time and through practice. Furthermore, the limited research on the development of SCC has primarily focused on adolescents and young adults (Lodi-Smith & Crocetti, 2017) or individuals experiencing social role transitions (Slotter & Emery, 2017), with few studies examining interventions that could improve SCC. Our study contributes to the SCC literature by demonstrating that high SCC can be developed through individual effort during adulthood, specifically through the practice of Danshari. The improved SCC has a subsequent positive impact on ethical consumption behaviours and beyond.

Practical Implications

Our findings offer valuable implications to policymakers on increasing public awareness and actions toward ethical consumption. From a communication perspective, our findings suggest Chinese consumers choose and embrace the idea of Danshari out of many concepts (e.g., minimalism, voluntary simplicity, and anti-consumption) because its high cultural resonance made it easy to remember and spread in public discourse. Furthermore, given the multitude of reasons why Western ethical ideals may not apply in emerging markets, the communication for any ethical action should appeal to what makes sense to the local consumers. Similarly, policymakers and marketing communicators in other emerging markets should adopt a more indigenous approach rooted in the local cultural traditions that resonates with the public, rather than a generalised, value-based or ideology driven approach that has low cultural relevance to the target audience.

Companies that actively engage in ethical business practices are often pessimistic about ethical consumerism because their ethical practices do not result in changes in consumer purchase habit, improved sales, or increased market share (Irwin, 2015). Based on our findings, we attribute the consumer attitude-behaviour gap partially to the lack of public awareness about such ethical issues as fair trade and animal welfare. Hence, companies committed to ethical business practices should not assume that Chinese consumers are equally aware of the various ethical concepts as Western consumers. Instead, they should find a more appropriate framing that can be familiar to the Chinese consumers. Companies committed to promote ethical practices novel to Chinese consumers, such as fair trade and animal welfare, should be prepared for the difficulty of gaining institutional and legislative support. Although governmental regulation is the most effective way of raising public awareness, given China’s socioeconomic contexts, regulation on ethical consumption issues (e.g., fair trade and animal welfare) may not come any time soon.

Given the popularity of Danshari in China, companies can also play a role in promoting Danshari among their consumers. Intuitively, promoting or associating with Danshari in marketing messages appears to contradict companies’ commercial goals of increasing sales. However, given the deep roots of Danshari in traditional Chinese culture, promoting Danshari in companies’ marketing communications may attract potential customers who resonate with such values and assist companies in overcoming the hurdles of impression-making and popularization among Chinese consumers. Patagonia, well-known for its commitment to environmental sustainability, is a successful example. The company promotes second-hand clothing and encourages customers to think twice before purchasing its product. Despite what appears to be an anti-marketing campaign, the company’s environmental efforts have resonated with its target consumers. In fact, the company’s revenues have increased despite a challenging environment for traditional retailers (Thangavelu, 2022).

The current study also offers meaningful guidance to Chinese consumers who are searching for remedies against negative impacts of consumerism. Pursuing ethical consumption is not a one-time event motivated by a burst enthusiasm. Instead, finding a suitable path that can sustain long-lasting and voluntary ethical consumption is the key. First, it is critical to align self-interest and other-interest in the pursuit of ethical consumption. Second, an ethical outcome is not prescribed by ideology but rather emerges from the Danshari process. Therefore, Danshari serves as an organic approach that does not impose moral pressure on consumption at the expense of sacrificing self-interest.

Limitations and Future Directions

Our sample of Danshari practitioners mostly reflects middle-class consumers in China. These individuals are well educated, reside in large cities, and are motivated to achieve personal growth. They belong to a new “global middle class” and are probably more similar to middle-class consumers in other countries than to lower-income consumers in China (Parker, 2009). Future research could further explore whether social status, educational background, and other socialization factors contribute to the motivation to practise Danshari.

The age range extending between Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) and Generation Y (or Millennials, born between 1980 and 1995) is the dominant group among our interviewees, which can be a limitation. However, this limitation opens up potentially fruitful directions for future research. First, as mentioned by multiple interviewees, an increasing age and more life experiences are factors that led them to become aware of the dark side of consumerism, which may explain why more mature consumers reached out to us to talk about their Danshari experiences. A longitudinal study that follows consumers or Danshari practitioners over time could reveal the impact of age and experiences.

Although we did not find meaningful differences in Danshari outcomes between experienced and novice practitioners, it is possible that consumers will experience different outcomes as their Danshari experience grows. One possibility is that the positive effects of Danshari are stronger at the start of one’s practice and fade over time. It is also possible that as practitioners gain experience, they will be more capable of resolving specific issues with the Danshari guideline, resulting in more significant changes. We are unable to draw conclusions in this regard due to the small sample size and wide variation in experiences among our interviewees. Researchers interested in the long-term effects of Danshari may conduct a larger-scale study focusing on the temporal changes in practitioner experiences.

The popularisation of ethical consumerism is still at its infancy in China. As shown in the Baidu Index and our interviews, most Chinese consumers are still blind to most ethical consumption approaches. But what would consumers do when they become aware of a variety of approaches to ethical consumption (see Hiller & Woodall, 2019 for an example)? How would consumers from emerging markets choose between different approaches, and would they act differently than those from Western developed countries? Although the current research is unable to address these questions, we believe that there is a great potential in researching the interplay among different ethical consumption practices when they become popularized in emerging economies.