Constructively Engaging Exploitive Waste Management in India: The Case of Paryavaran Mitra and its Justice Motivated Effort at Empowering Rag-Picking Women

Abstract

Constructive Engagement (CE) aims at developing sustainable and equitable marketing systems that ensure collective well-being. This paper reflects on an initiative that constructively engages with impoverished market actors, i.e., rag-picking women in India. It is endeavored by operationalizing Integrative Justice Model (IJM) principles while trying to tackle the issue of solid waste management. Our findings suggest that CE across the spectrum in the value chain is required to alleviate the conditions of disadvantaged market actors and improve their well-being. Our qualitative inquiry in rag-picking women’s lives and an initiative of social enterprise contribute to the ongoing conversation in macromarketing literature- (1) by empirically evidencing how the CE operationalizes the IJM and help redress the issues of social traps and internalities; (2) by uniquely connecting the macro issues of waste management with the issues of honesty, fairness, dignity and deserved justice in the neglected market transactions; (3) that IJM principles guide the constructive engagement process.

‘Give It Up!’: A Macro-Social Marketing Approach to India's Clean Cooking Fuel Access

“…Thus, shaping the macromarketing systems at disaggregated (i.e., exchange) and aggregated levels. The 4As framework here help shape macromarketing systems that are dignified (e.g., Jagadale, Roy-Chaudhuri and Kadirov 2021) and just (e.g., Jagadale and Santos 2022). While doing so, market actors’ overall understanding of their acts (as in the case of customers giving up their subsidies) is enhanced, which increases the potency of the 4A framework in tackling wicked problems.…”

Exploring unheard voices: Best practices in interviewing women prosumers in Indian subsistence contexts

“…Key data sources were reflective notes on the interview process, methodological notes‐ a part of field notes, and interview transcripts from the data sets of three studies conducted in India: Study (1) Dignity of subaltern actors in marketing systems, Study (2) Degrading consumption experiences and bodily commodification in commercial surrogacy, and Study (3) Constructive engagement with rag‐picking women (Jagadale & Santos, 2022). Reflective notes containing commentary on the interview process were prepared as a part of the writing this manuscript.…”

Unleashing the True Potential of a Social Enterprise: Constructive Engagement and Integrative Justice Model in the Indian Subsistence Context-Future Direction?

“…It establishes universal principles for CE with marginalized populations (see Figure 2) (Laczniak andSantos 2011, 2016;Santos and Laczniak 2009). These principles include (a) authentic and nonexploitative engagement; (b) value co-creation; (c) investment in future consumption; (d) genuine (truthful) interest representation; and (e) focus on long-term profit management (refer to Figure 2) (e.g., Jagadale and Santos 2022). CE guided by these principles is expected to lead to the idealized outcomes, creating long-term stable relationships, eventually leading to vulnerable populations' overall socio-economic development, and a fairer and just marketplace.…”