Dimensions of marketplace exclusion: representations,resistances and responses

ABSTRACT

This positioning paper explains and develops the concept of marketplace exclusion, which has received little attention to date in the field of marketing and consumer research. Essentially the concept refers to the mechanisms through which certain individuals and communities are barred from the resources and opportunities provided by the market. Participation in the market and the accompanying rights and responsibilities that allow individuals to act as legitimate consumers is essential for social cohesion and social relations. However, one consequence of consumer culture has been a shift away from values of community and citizenship towards those of materialism and competition. Marketplace exclusion encompasses big questions of poverty, sexism and racism to individual consequences such as isolation and alienation. The paper examines various causes and types of exclusion and discusses key research questions and methodological issues in studying this topic. Finally, it introduces the papers included in this special issue of CMC.     

Branded places and marketplace exclusion

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the development of a branded place in a Brazilian city. Drawing on Lefebvre’s spatial triad, I show how the intertwined practices of hegemonic market actors in alliance concur to produce a city space that caters to the aspirations and ways of life of local elites while actively excluding lower-class groups from it. I distinguish three main elements of branded places –architecture and urbanism, brand narrative, and spatial governance– and demonstrate how they produce physical, symbolic, and social boundaries between middle- and lower-classes in the city. These findings contribute to understanding the ways market-mediated spatial dynamics perform exclusion of most vulnerable groups in post-industrial cities and extend place brand literature by accounting for the less documented practices of invested stakeholders in the production of branded places.     

Rock festivals as marketplace icons

ABSTRACT

Rock festivals occupy an important place in contemporary consumer culture. This Marketplace Icons contribution elaborates on 50 years of rock festivals’ history to trace how festivals have moved from a status of a simple musical event to that of myth. I argue that the iconicity of rock festivals is based on two fundamental ideas: they reside in popular culture as theatrical mythical performances that push artistic and scenic limits, and they are a unique liminal field of expression and liberation for many people.     

Champagne: marketplace icon

What makes a simple wine, grown in a rather mediocre wine-growing region, one of the most famous and magical marketplace icons of today? How did champagne establish such a unique position, against all the odds, and become the global symbol of celebration? In seeking answers to these questions, this marketplace icon contribution elaborates on what 250 years of avant-garde champagne marketing can tell us about champagne’s ever-shifting image and role in consumer culture. I argue that the “imperishable fame” of champagne stems primarily from four epic myth-making moments that not only came to shape a national identity but also modern consumption ideologies in important ways.     

Liquid retail: cultural perspectives on marketplace transformation

ABSTRACT

Inspired by Bauman’s notion of “liquidity,” we problematize the socio-cultural dynamics taking place in contemporary retail. The notion of liquid retail enables researchers to untangle marketplace transformation and to highlight developments centred around markets and market-actors that jointly transform each other. This introduction underlines, as a point of departure, recent developments in retailing that have been marked by the corrosion of fixity and boundaries. We provide a short synopsis of marketplace transformation and liquid retail, from a socio-cultural perspective, and summarize the papers included in this special issue.     

Fiscal rule compliance,poverty and social exclusion in the Eurozone

This paper develops a simple model of the effects of fiscal adjustments on poverty. Our theory suggests that in richer countries the effects of fiscal adjustment are stronger the more complex is the poverty measure. By examining a panel of 16 EU countries in the period 2005–2015, the paper finds that structural public balance adjustments may harm the welfare of poorer individuals. The empirical estimation hinges on a comprehensive index of poverty and social exclusion, the AROPE index. The results suggest that rigid fiscal rules require specific alternative policies to sustain the welfare of poorer individuals during downturns.     

The development trinity: How regional integration impacts growth,inequality and poverty

Developing countries today have become more active participants in regional trade agreements. This raises questions about how the benefits of integration are distributed, and the extent to which lower‐income countries are able to capture development gains. Historically, such impacts have been difficult to identify with precision. This paper seeks to address this gap by empirically analysing the impact of regional integration on development, particularly the effects on growth and welfare. Using both bilateral and regional integration measures, we show that the ability to capture gains from integration varies across developing country regional groups, with developing Asia benefiting on par with developed countries. The findings in the paper indicate that trade and trade policy play an important role in reducing inequality and poverty in developing countries. It also shows that regionalism can function as a channel to make multilateralism a more adept way of addressing national challenges.     

Brand value: how affective labour helps create brands

One way brands create value is by engaging the capacity of cultural labourers to animate affective connections with consumers. Brands assemble social spaces that harness the communicative capacities of cultural actors. A mode of branding that works by managing an open-ended social process depends on affective labour. Affective labour involves not only the capacity of individuals to produce specific meanings and feelings, but also the open-endedly social capacity to stimulate and channel attention and recognition. This affective labour does not always depend on making particular “authentic” representations, but on facilitating a general circulation of meaning. By investing in social spaces and relations corporate brands engage popular musicians in new forms of labour. This article examines the participation of popular musicians in branding programmes run in Australia by corporate brands between 2005 and 2010. I examine the accounts of musicians and managers who participate in these programmes to consider how they make their participation in social relations that create brand value meaningful. They employ a variety of practices: identifying with brands, endorsing brands' claims of socially responsible investment in culture, and distancing themselves from their own participation in branded space.     

Openness,inequality and poverty: Endowments matter

Using tariffs as a measure of openness, this paper finds consistent evidence that the conditional effects of trade liberalization on inequality are correlated with relative factor endowments. Trade liberalization, measured by changes in tariff revenues, is associated with increases in inequality in countries well-endowed with highly skilled workers and capital or with workers that have very low education levels. Similar, although less robust, results are also obtained when decile data are used instead of the usual Gini coefficients. Taken together, the results are strongly supportive of the factor-proportions theory of trade and suggest that trade liberalization in poor countries where the share of the labor force with little education is high raises inequality. Simulation results also suggest that relatively small changes in inequality as measured by aggregate measures of inequality, like the Gini coefficient, are magnified when estimates are carried out using decile data.     

Consumer vulnerability and exclusion: A study of carers in the tourism marketplace

Abstract

Carers – a growing, multidimensional, context-specific, yet transient community (three in five of the population during a lifetime) – have been largely neglected in the marketing literature. Focusing upon the impediments to tourism participation this consumer group faces, the paper explores issues of carer engagement, consumer vulnerability, and societal exclusion from the perspective of two carer groups: senior carers and cancer carers. Conclusions reached demonstrate how challenging many carers find tourism-marketplace engagement and confirm carers can indeed be considered as vulnerable consumers. They introduce us to a range of circumstances that prompt exclusion and call upon policy makers to recognise the existence of multiple categories of vulnerability in accommodating the needs of this consumer. A future research agenda is outlined. This argues for the need to review the wider implications of the findings beyond the geographical constraints of this study, and to explore also their application to other vulnerable consumers.     

The impact of affective and cognitive antecedents on negative word-of-mouth intentions

Negative word-of-mouth (WOM), defined as derogatory information disseminated from person to person and aimed at defaming a product, highlighting a product complaint, and/or highlighting unsatisfactory service experiences, influences consumer behavior and can harm a company’s image. The present study was conducted to ascertain the impact of affective antecedents (negative emotions) and cognitive antecedents (distrust) in the intent of negative WOM. A proposed theoretical model was employed to analyze the effect that perceived injustice had on negative WOM and how this effect was mediated by emotional and cognitive aspects. The research was a pre-experimental design – one treatment leading to one observation – with 252 students. Through an OLS regression and mediation analyses, we found an indirect link between perceived injustice and negative WOM intent, which was mediated by negative emotions and distrust. Contributing to the field of marketing studies, this paper fills an investigative gap regarding affective and cognitive antecedents as mediators of negative WOM. The results suggest that marketing managers should create mechanisms to allow consumers to express their negative emotions and rebuild their trust in order to avoid the spread of negative WOM.     

Social media influencers: The formation and effects of affective factors during online interactions

Social media influencers emerged as powerful sources in affecting and guiding consumers' purchase decisions through self-generated content and online interactions with their followers. A large number of studies have so far focused on cognitive aspects such as perceived credibility, trustworthiness, and expertise of these influencers. This study aims to further advance the existing literature on social media influencer marketing from an affective perspective, with a focus on the emotional bonds generated by online interactions between the influencer and their followers. Based on the interpersonal process model of intimacy and theories in celebrity endorsement and social media influencer marketing, it examines the impact of self-disclosure and perceived responsiveness on familiarity and intimacy, which, in turn, affect purchase decision. An online survey was conducted with 304 social media users in Mainland China who have followed social media influencers. The results highlight the formation of two affective factors, namely, familiarity and intimacy, via self-disclosure and perceived responsiveness. Theoretically, this study provides a fresh perspective to better understand the endorser effect outside the regular set of cognitive factors. Marketing practitioners and companies can follow the suggestions of this study to select more effective social media influencers for their marketing campaign, and to build closer relationships with their target customers.     

The effects of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism on consumer behavior toward economical versus luxury product categories,goods versus services product types,and individual versus group marketplace scenarios

The paper builds on and extends the current understanding of materialism by investigating the effects of two forms of materialism (i.e., possession- and social inclusion-defined) on consumer behavior (i.e., purchase and patronage) toward products of different categories (i.e., economical versus luxury) and types (i.e., goods versus services) in different marketplace scenarios (i.e., individual versus group). Using data partitioning on a random sample of 323 consumers to generate usable cases for three interrelated studies, the paper reports that the effects of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism are consistently accentuated in the purchase of luxury goods rather than economical goods, whereby consumers with high levels of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism are more likely to purchase luxury goods than consumers with low levels of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism. However, the paper finds that possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism have no significant effects on the individual and group patronage of economical and luxury services. The paper concludes with the implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research.     

Globalisation,inequality and redistribution: Theory and evidence

This paper constructs a simple theoretical model to study the implications of globalisation for inequality and redistribution. It shows that when globalisation increases inequality, a policymaker interested in maximising the sum of welfares of all agents increases redistribution. Empirically, the paper examines the effects of globalisation on inequality and redistribution in a panel data set of 140 countries for the period from 1970 to 2012. It finds that both inequality and redistribution have been increasing with globalisation. The results are robust to the inclusion of many different controls and the exclusion of outliers.     

Relative prices and wage inequality: evidence from Mexico

This paper examines the link between relative goods prices and relative wages during two periods of Mexico's trade liberalization. The relative price of skill-intensive goods rose following Mexico's entrance to the General Agreement and Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986, but fell after Mexico entered the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. This paper adds a band pass filter to two established techniques to compare the relationship between prices and wages. Results from all three approaches are consistent with a positive long-run relationship between relative output prices and relative wages. The band pass filter results suggest that the relevant time frame for the relationship begins after 3-5 years.     

When the American dream fails: The effect of perceived economic inequality on present-oriented behavior

Economic inequality is worsening worldwide and is associated with various social problems. Although research on inequality has been conducted in various academic fields, research on how perceived inequality affects individual decision making is relatively limited in the marketing field. Recognizing this gap, this study examines how perceived economic inequality can affect individual behavior and decision making from the perspective of time frame. The results of four studies reveal that perceived economic inequality can induce present-oriented behavior and suggest that perceived economic mobility accounts for this relationship. This study demonstrates that present-oriented and shortsighted behaviors, which are usually considered characteristics of the poor, can occur due to the perceptions of the environment beyond class. It implies that the macro level of economic inequality can influence an individual's decision making at the micro level.     

Perceived brand authenticity and social exclusion as drivers of psychological brand ownership

Firms strive hard to make their brands imbibed in consumers’ lives. Psychological brand ownership is one of the best ways to make consumers psychologically own the brand to generate favorable behavior. Thus, it becomes imperative for firms to know about the ways through which psychological brand ownership can be induced. To this end, the current study primarily examines perceived brand authenticity and social exclusion as the important antecedents to psychological brand ownership. In total 407 responses were collected through online mode. The results demonstrate that both perceived brand authenticity and social exclusion engender a sense of psychological brand ownership. In addition, the findings also lend support to positive word of mouth and purchase intentions as the outcomes of psychological brand ownership. The study presents some important implications to both academicians and practitioners.     

All consuming surveillance: surveillance as marketplace icon

With consumers and their activities routinely visible through online, mobile and social media, to both their peers and to corporations, this article examines surveillance as a marketplace icon. Surveillance is central to the construction of consumers and markets. Many contemporary marketing practices are surveillant as they rely on the collection, analysis and application of consumer data to place advertising, define market segments and to nudge consumer behaviours. Consumer surveillance is also an enactment of corporate power, attempting to align individual preferences with corporate goals. The historical origins of surveillance and the emergence of the surveillance–industrial–entertainment complex are explored, which highlights how surveillance, as well as a process for defining markets is also an object of consumption. The future sees a huge struggle for consumer data between two great centres of surveillance power – the state and the corporation – as they battle over data use for national security.     

The effect of within-country inequality on international trade and investment agreements

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting that those losing from globalization influence policy makers to decrease the openness of their countries to globalization, as evidenced by signing international trade and investment agreements. Surprisingly, this influence has never been examined empirically. This study provides novel empirical evidence demonstrating that greater within-country inequality, our proxy for 'perceived losses' from globalization, decreases countries' propensity to sign regional trade and investment agreements. Our findings support the argument that the existence of 'losers' from globalization can be detrimental for continued globalization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first extensive econometric empirical evidence of the influence of within-country inequality on countries' willingness to sign international trade and investment agreements, as means to increase their global economic integration.     

Warmth or competence: Brand anthropomorphism,social exclusion,and advertisement effectiveness

This paper examines how social exclusion moderates the role of brand anthropomorphism in advertisement effectiveness, its underlying mechanism, and its boundary conditions. Specifically, we propose that rejected (vs. ignored) consumers are more likely to purchase brands advertised as warm (vs. competent) through decreased (vs. increased) need for uniqueness. Additionally, product type moderates the effect of brand anthropomorphism, such that rejected (vs. ignored) consumers prefer warm (vs. competent) brands only for products with high safety levels; for less safe products, consumers tend to purchase competent brands, regardless of the state of their social exclusion. We empirically test this hypothesis across four studies that use different operationalizations of social exclusion. We conclude by discussing our contributions to the literature on brand anthropomorphism and social exclusion.