The dynamics of teleoaffective configuration in practice adaptation

Consumer research is interested disruption and adaptation to routines. This research undertheorizes the role of 'meanings' in adaptation processes. Yet practice theory foregrounds the dynamics of practices and their elements as shaping practice transition. We explore and theorize meanings in practice adaptation by mobilising the theoretical leverage of Schatzki’s (2002) concept of ‘teleoaffective structures’. Through our empirical material, with strength training practitioners adapting to gym closures, we illuminate how multifaceted teleoaffective components are configured differently into routinised practice performances, constituting practice-practitioner relationships. The characteristics of these configurations condition practice adaptation pathways. Teleoaffective rigidity constrains adaptation, whereas fluidity creates opportunities for smooth transportation to new. Elastic reconfiguration requires the uneasy deployment of realignment capabilities to accomplish temporary adaptation. Our theorisation of teleoaffective reconfiguration advances from accounts of adaptation that foreground creative consumer striving and uses collapsed conceptualisation of ‘meaning’ rather than embracing the complexity of teleoaffective structures. Our framework connects understandings of variance with variable adaptation outcomes by illuminating connections between teleoaffective (in)flexibility and tolerance for new practice variations.