Enabling vulnerable populations: insights from the experiences of functionally illiterate consumers
ISSN: 2042-6763
Article publication date: 30 July 2020
Issue publication date: 7 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The social transformation of “disadvantaged segments of society” requires an in-depth understanding of their behavioural reactions in different social contexts. To this end, the present study focuses on individuals who become vulnerable owing to their functional illiteracy in an “English”-dominant marketplace. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand the sources of stress as perceived by functionally illiterate individuals and the mechanisms adopted by them to manage such stress when making “high-involvement” product purchases. Insights gained from the study would be beneficial for developing efficacious support programs for vulnerable populations.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 bottom-of-the-pyramid individuals living in slums and housing schemes located in and around Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka.
Findings
Two sources of perceived stress and five coping strategies were derived from the thematic analysis of the data. Participants highlighted the sources of their perceived stress as possible loss of resources and possible loss of self-esteem. Further, the participants were found to adopt several mechanisms to cope with the state of their stress and vulnerability experienced within English-dominant shopping environments, namely, seeking help from salespeople, continuing to shop at the same store, shopping with companions, “convenience purchasing” and buying only well-known brands.
Originality/value
These insights into the vulnerability, stress and coping mechanisms as experienced by functionally illiterate consumers will allow for the design of efficacious interventions to empower vulnerable populations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Social transformation and vulnerable populations”, guest edited by Lukas Parker, Krzysztof Kubacki, Linda Brennan, Mike Reid and Natalia Szablewska.
The authors would like to thank the participants of this study. Also, the authors wish to thank the guest editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.
Citation
Jayasundara, S.K., Siriwardana, S. and Jayawickrama, W.D.C. (2020), "Enabling vulnerable populations: insights from the experiences of functionally illiterate consumers", Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 451-470. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-03-2019-0041
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited