When males experience customer vulnerability: Masculine norms and value destruction in transformative health services

Abstract

Men have low use of transformative health services but compared to women, are more likely to die younger and from something preventable. This research is the first to find, while usually assumed to be resilient, privileged groups such as men experience likely customer vulnerability. Three quantitative studies using secondary panel data and an online survey were conducted finding also the effect of masculine norms on men’s health service use is dependent on service context, social generation, and conformity. The research is the first to find masculine norms and value co-destruction behaviours are key indicators of men’s customer experience of vulnerability.