Denial Without Determination: The Impact of Systemic Market Access Denial on Consumer Power and Market Engagement

Abstract

Despite growing evidence showing that people are denied access to market resources for reasons other than individual or market constraints, little research has explored the effect of such denial on the individual consumer. Building from learned helplessness, attribution theory of motivation, and consumer power theory, the current research addresses this issue by showing the impact of repeated access denial on perceptions of power and market engagement. Across five repeated-choice experiments utilizing a financial loan context, the authors show that market access and consumer power exist in a feedback loop, with lack of access leading to lower perceptions of power and, consequently, reduced market engagement or detrimental choice in the market. The authors present a norm-based intervention to encourage market engagement among those who have experienced denial by working through beliefs of market success, but demonstrate the detrimental effect of this intervention on those who have experienced repeated access prior to denial. In response, the authors present an education intervention to encourage smarter choices once consumers have entered the market. They conclude with implications for market access policy.

Resilience and well‐being production among vulnerable consumers facing systematic constraints

“…Our research shows that resilience could still be functional in achieving well‐being with passive use of coping resources as protective factors, though it may turn into dysfunctionality in the long run without being used as developmental assets. Consumers facing systematic constraints and resource scarcity think less about the future effects of current behaviors (Leary and Ridinger, 2020). The practice of resilience to meet short‐term needs and desires may not alleviate consumer vulnerability but instead, potentially provoking deeper vulnerability and weakened well‐being eventually.…”

“…These constraints are different from the institutional forces in other economies in that they trigger constraints in other domains, resulting in a unique nexus of consumer vulnerabilities. There is burgeoning scholarship on the issues of systemic restricted choices and consumer constraints in the marketplace (Bone et al ., 2014; Hill et al ., 2015; Aiyar and Venugopal, 2020; Leary and Ridinger, 2020). However, the complexity of person‐environment interaction in transitional economies, as well as the impact of systematic constraints on creating and coping with consumer vulnerability, are poorly understood.…”

Socioeconomic Status and Individual Personal Responsibility Beliefs Towards Food Access

“…Much research has been conducted based on the learned helplessness theory in both animals and humans since its development. The theory states that exposure to “uncontrollable aversive stimuli” (Reznik et al 2017 , p. 905) can lead one to perceive situations to be out of their control; such as when a market fails the consumer (Leary and Ridinger 2020 ). Under this theory, one disconnects their response from events and views each as being independent from one another, affecting goal-oriented behavior and motivation.…”

Consumer Power and Access

“…Hold that thought. Once policy makers and/or marketers correct concerns about access, one then might conclude, “Problem solved.” However, Leary and Ridinger (2020) ask an interesting question, which might be paraphrased as follows: “When consumers have been historically denied access due to non-relevant factors, how do they adjust to this more level playing field in the marketplace?” They demonstrate that it takes time for consumers to begin to play on that more level field. Let us assume that there is a marketplace failure in access—same resources, same talents, but differences in access due to nonrelevant characteristics, such as gender, race, and/or gender preference.…”

“…Once policy makers and/or marketers correct concerns about access, one then might conclude, "Problem solved." However, Leary and Ridinger (2020) ask an interesting question, which might be paraphrased as follows: "When consumers have been historically denied access due to non-relevant factors, how do they adjust to this more level playing field in the marketplace?" They demonstrate that it takes time for consumers to begin to play on that more level field.…”