Credit Dom(me)s, BNPL switches and debt subs: Experiences of pain and pleasure

Relja, Ruffin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9569-6247, Ward, Philippa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4971-8908, Cook, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0539-3224 and Zhao, Anita Lifen (2025) Credit Dom(me)s, BNPL switches and debt subs: Experiences of pain and pleasure. Journal of Business Research, 194. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115380 (In Press)

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Abstract

This mobile ethnographic research explores pain and power exchange within buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), an unregulated financial service enabling consumers to defer payments, often interest-free. However, consumer pain in BNPL payment plans is poorly understood. This research reconfigures fragmented BNPL user experiences and identities through mosaicking, introducing three novel BNPL user archetypes that articulate the framing of pain. Language games combine work on BNPL and BDSM (bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, masochism) communities to promote multi-paradigmatic understandings. The Credit Dom(me) trades in transformed pain, is pain-averse, and seeks pleasure. The BNPL Switch views pain as an investment and is receptive to pain to gain an advantage. The Debt Sub sees pain as sacrifice, is prone to suffering, and willingly bears the BNPL provider’s additional liabilities. While power imbalance is always present, the archetypes follow BDSM precepts of being ‘safe, sane, and consensual’.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL); Power and pain; Kink and pleasure; Discipline and control; Mobile ethnography
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Rhiannon Goodland
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2025 15:41
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2025 15:45
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/14976

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