Consumer Decision-making at the Base of the Pyramid: Synthesis of Literature and an Integrative Framework

Abstract

As a pioneering effort, this study analyses the consumer decision-making process at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). This study proposes consumer vulnerability, bounded rationality, locking-in effect and opportunism as major constructs influencing the consumer decision-making process at the BoP. Using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), this study has integrated the transaction cost perspective into the consumer decision-making process at the BoP, which is a novel contribution to the literature of consumer behaviour. This work has recognised the importance of the retailer and its role in the decision-making process, and adds a new perspective to the study of BoP as well as to consumer behaviour theories. This study will be helpful to businesses while serving the BoP segment by crafting appropriate marketing strategies for this segment.

A Study on Rural Retailer and Consumer Decision Making - A Literature Review

“…Nonetheless, consumer behavior being the independent variables that largely determines sales, is ever elusive to understand and for a rural retailer it should not be an exception. [34], [35] .…”

“…However, there was no mention of rural retailer's sphere of influence in their research. Reference [35] mentioned that reliability and product attributes are two very important factor for low income and price conscious consumers.…”

“…Using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) reference [35] has combined the transaction cost perspective into the consumer decision-making process at rural. It acknowledged the importance of the retailer and its role in the purchase decision-making process, which added a novel perspective to the study of rural consumer behavior.…”

New Perspectives on Base of the Pyramid Strategies

“…An avalanche of literature reviews related to BOP scholarship has appeared during the recent decennium. For instance, Kolk and colleagues (2014), Dembek and colleagues (2020), and Pineda-Escobar & Merigo (2020) have offered general overviews of the BOP literature, while other sets of review studies focused on specific phenomena in relation to BOP: from innovations (Agarwal et al, 2016; Farooq, 2017; Molina-Maturano et al, 2020; Pansera & Martinez, 2017; Unalan & Ozcan, 2020) to supply chain (Khalid & Seuring, 2019; Khalid et al, 2015; ur Rehman et al, 2020) or consumer issues (Campos et al, 2020; Choudhury et al, 2018; Srivastava et al, 2020). Other literature reviews examined service research in the context of BOP (Gebauer & Reynoso, 2013), sustainable development and BOP (Du et al, 2021), or BOP and positive social change (Stephan et al, 2016).…”