TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the resources associated with consumer vulnerability
T2 - Designing nuanced retail hardship programs
AU - Glavas, Charmaine
AU - Letheren, Kate
AU - Russell-Bennett, Rebekah
AU - McAndrew, Ryan
AU - Bedggood, Rowan E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Retailers across a variety of sectors offer hardship programs to assist consumers who are experiencing vulnerability. Hardship programs are typically designed as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, viewing consumer recipients as one homogenous group. To investigate the resources associated with consumer vulnerability, we thematically analyzed reports from 20 government-funded projects in Australia which directly assisted 32,498 low-income households in the energy retail sector. Our findings reveal three resource ‘bundles’: connections-resource-bundle, convenience-resource-bundle and security-resource-bundle. We then provide recommendations for retailers and service providers on what they can do to alleviate hardship for consumers within each resource-bundle.
AB - Retailers across a variety of sectors offer hardship programs to assist consumers who are experiencing vulnerability. Hardship programs are typically designed as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, viewing consumer recipients as one homogenous group. To investigate the resources associated with consumer vulnerability, we thematically analyzed reports from 20 government-funded projects in Australia which directly assisted 32,498 low-income households in the energy retail sector. Our findings reveal three resource ‘bundles’: connections-resource-bundle, convenience-resource-bundle and security-resource-bundle. We then provide recommendations for retailers and service providers on what they can do to alleviate hardship for consumers within each resource-bundle.
KW - Consumer services
KW - Consumer vulnerability
KW - Hardship
KW - Motivation–opportunity–ability
KW - Resource-based view
KW - Retail
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090028924&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102212
DO - 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102212
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090028924
SN - 0969-6989
VL - 57
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
JF - Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
M1 - 102212
ER -