Understanding poverty and promoting poverty alleviation through transformative consumer research

Blocker, Christopher P.; Ruth, Julie A.; Sridharan, Srinivas; Beckwith, Colin; Ekici, Ahmet; Goudie-Hutton, Martina; Rosa, José Antônio; Saatçioğlu, Bige; Talukdar, Debabrata; Trujillo, Carlos A.; Varman, Rohit

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.08.012

Cited by 138 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(65 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

125

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Like many research domains, value creation studies have largely explored contexts of resource abundance. Thus, there has been far less visibility into the struggles that shape value creation in a state of consumption restriction (Blocker et al 2013).…”

Section: Transformative Value: Conceptual Development Value Creation mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Transformative Value of a Service Experience

Blocker

Barrios

2015

Journal of Service Research

Self Cite

205

297

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The pursuit of upward social transformation through service design and practice demands rigorous thinking about what this kind of change looks like and how it comes about. To advance these two goals, this study conceptualizes transformative value, defined as a social dimension of value creation which illuminates uplifting changes among individuals and collectives in the marketplace. Conceptual development draws on structuration theory and the service-dominant logic to articulate the spheres of transformative value as well as four distinctions between habitual and transformative value. Ethnographic analysis with a nonprofit service, which focuses on mitigating the inequalities of poverty, explores how service providers can facilitate transformative value. Findings highlight the roles of holistic value propositions, an anti-structural servicescape, and communal service practices. Beyond microlevel social impact, findings also reveal the macro-level reach of transformative value by demonstrating how services can contest and transform dominant social structures and stimulate social action. Discussion highlights the implications of transformative value for human agency and ways to design services that promote well-being among vulnerable populations.

show abstract

Section: Transformative Value: Conceptual Development Value Creation mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Transformative Value of a Service Experience

Blocker

Barrios

2015

Journal of Service Research

Self Cite

205

297

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hence, poverty becomes a lack of 'consumer adequacy', defined as 'the continuous availability of a bundle of goods and services that are necessary for survival as well as the attainment of basic human dignity and self-determination' (Hill, 2002a, p. 20). Blocker et al (2013) highlight the importance of fostering ways in which the poor are able to engage with social and marketplace institutions. Central to this idea is a need to understand the experiences of those living in poverty (Tuason, 2013).…”

Section: 1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Poverty in consumer culture: towards a transformative social representation

Hamilton

Piacentini

Banister

et al. 2014

Journal of Marketing Management

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, we consider the representations of poverty within consumer culture. We focus on four main themes -social exclusion, vulnerability, pleasure and contentment -that capture some of the associations that contemporary understandings have made with poverty. For each theme, we consider the portrayals of poverty from the perspective of key agents (such as marketers, media, politicians) and then relate this to more emic representations of poverty by drawing on a range of contemporary poverty alleviating projects from around the world. We conclude with a set of guidelines for relevant stakeholders to bear in mind when elaborating their representations of poverty. These guidelines may act as a platform to transform marginalising representations of poverty into more empowering representations.

show abstract

“…An underlying assumption in this discourse is that a primary problem faced by poor consumers is lack of financial capability to buy goods and services normally available in mainstream markets. Recent studies (Blocker et al, 2012) note, however, that marketers selling to BOP consumers should not limit themselves to financial considerations, but proactively engage and develop trust with them and align marketingrelated actions with social and institutional considerations. A second discourse focuses on the producer role of BOP communities.…”

Section: Ict Innovations and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of ICT-Enabled Product and Process Innovations at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Market Separations Perspective

Tarafdar

Singh

Anekal

2013

Journal of Information Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Innovations in products and processes enabled by ICT such as mobile phones and the Internet constitute a rapidly emerging means of market development at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), which consists of people who earn less than US$2 a day. However, these ICT-enabled market development efforts have not always yielded positive developmental outcomes, in part because market development is hindered by remote location and geographic dispersion of BOP communities, their low and uncertain incomes, and informal local markets having exploitative intermediaries. These conditions imply that BOP consumers and producers are 'separated' from marketers and customers, respectively, through physical distance, lack of financial ability, and information asymmetry. The paper examines the question: How do ICT innovations in products and processes impact development at the BOP? Drawing perspectives from the information systems (IS) and marketing literatures, we analyze how and why ICT-enabled innovations in products and processes deployed for market development at the BOP, enable developmental outcomes through reduction of market separations. Analyzing qualitative data gathered from interviews with 33 respondents in India, including BOP individuals, social entrepreneurs, and managers from private organizations, we find that ICT-enabled product and process innovations do have the potential to reduce four types of separations that 'disconnect' BOP consumers (producers) from marketers (customers). However, situated social conditions influence the impact of ICT innovations on reduction of separations. The reduction of separations leads to developmental outcomes at the BOP. Implications of our findings for theory, practice, and policy are discussed.

show abstract

Understanding poverty and promoting poverty alleviation through transformative consumer research

Cited by 138 publications

References 48 publications

The Transformative Value of a Service Experience

The Transformative Value of a Service Experience

Poverty in consumer culture: towards a transformative social representation

Impact of ICT-Enabled Product and Process Innovations at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Market Separations Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About