Viswanathan Madhubalan, Faruque Aly Hussein, Duncan Ronald, Mandhan Namrata
Department of Marketing College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles California USA.
Department of Marketing Lancaster University Lancashire United Kingdom.
J Consum Aff. 2021 Mar;55(1):151-178. doi: 10.1111/joca.12351. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
We use qualitative interviews to study subsistence consumers confronting the global, pervasive and extended challenges of COVID-19, encompassing literally all realms of daily life. For subsistence consumers whose circumstances are filled with day-to-day uncertainty and a small margin of error to begin with, the pandemic has led to manifold uncertainties and a disappearing margin of error, with potentially lethal consequences. Their constraints to thinking and lack of self-confidence arising from both low income and low literacy are magnified in the face of the complex, invisible pandemic and the fear and panic it has caused. Characteristic relational strengths are weakened with social distancing and fear of infection. Yet, subsistence consumers display humanity in catastrophe, and confront the uncontrollable by reiterating a higher power. Consumption is reduced to the very bare essentials and income generation involves staying the course versus finding any viable alternative. We derive implications for consumer affairs.
我们通过定性访谈来研究维持生计的消费者如何应对新冠疫情带来的全球性、普遍性和广泛性挑战，这些挑战实际上涵盖了日常生活的所有领域。对于那些原本生活状况就充满日常不确定性且容错空间极小的维持生计的消费者来说，疫情导致了诸多不确定性，容错空间也消失殆尽，甚至可能带来致命后果。面对复杂无形的疫情及其引发的恐惧和恐慌，他们因低收入和低文化水平而产生的思维局限和缺乏自信被放大。社交距离和对感染的恐惧削弱了他们特有的关系优势。然而，维持生计的消费者在灾难中展现出人性，通过诉诸更高的力量来面对无法控制的局面。消费降至最基本的必需品，创收则是坚持下去而非寻找任何可行的替代方案。我们得出了对消费者事务的启示。
