Rethinking Consumer Vulnerability Through a Multidisciplinary Approach: An Extended Abstract

Abstract

Contemporary marketing and consumer research literature focuses heavily on the concept of consumer vulnerability revealing differences in its explanation and no unique approach to its definition (Hamilton et al. 2015). The existing concepts of consumer vulnerability provide different perspectives to its explanation: state-based vulnerability, such as individual, situation-specific, temporary experience (Baker et al. 2005), shared and community-embedded experience (Baker et al. 2007), a combination of state-based and class-based vulnerability (Commuri and Ekici 2008), or a process theory model (Baker and Mason 2012). Yet, current marketing literature lacks a multidisciplinary approach to the concept of consumer vulnerability that may offer a comprehensive understanding of its social and market(ing) potential stemming from moral and political obligations toward individuals’ vulnerability. Indeed, a multidisciplinary approach might be helpful in elucidating how philosophical concepts (recognition, relational vulnerability, personal dependency, autonomy, etc.) are contextualized through consumers’ social relations as well as how personal fragility and relevant concepts such as fear, anxiety, dependency, etc., appear in varied social situations influencing consumption practices and public policies.