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Beyond survival: coping, value co-creation, and social media engagement as pathways to consumer well-being under vulnerability
Dissertation

Beyond survival: coping, value co-creation, and social media engagement as pathways to consumer well-being under vulnerability

Fairuz Chowdhury
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
May 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011377
pdf
Chowdhury_Fairuz_20262.03 MB
PDF Embargoed Access, Embargo ends: 30 Jun 2028

Abstract

This dissertation examines how vulnerable consumers pursue well-being under conditions of chronic vulnerability. Prior research demonstrates that low-income consumers face persistent economic, social, informational, and institutional constraints, yet less is known about how they pursue well-being across the interconnected arenas of everyday life. Addressing this gap, the dissertation investigates three complementary avenues through which Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) consumers navigate constraint: coping with adversity, co-creating value with marketplace actors, and engaging with digital platforms. Essay 1, Strategies under Vulnerability: Temporal Focus and Higher-Order Goals, develops an integrative framework of coping under vulnerability. Drawing on grounded theory and experimental evidence, the essay identifies coping strategies that cluster into two reinforcing pathways: the virtuous coping pathway, which buffers vulnerability, and the vicious coping pathway, which can exacerbate vulnerability. These pathways also shape the pursuit of psychological goals, including autonomy, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. The essay further identifies temporal focus as a key psychological mechanism, demonstrating that future orientation increases the likelihood of engaging in the virtuous pathway and, thereby, fosters growth-oriented psychological goals. Together, these findings position coping as a dynamic, goal-driven response to vulnerability and identify temporal focus as a mechanism that can shift resource-constrained consumers toward more adaptive coping. Essay 2, Value Co-Creation in Subsistence Marketplaces: Activities, Roles, and Well-Being, examines value co-creation in subsistence marketplaces, where exchange depends on locally embedded actors, particularly small-time retailers (STRs), owing to resource constraints and institutional voids. STRs co-create value through resource integration (e.g., market intelligence), value facilitation (e.g., flexible transactions), relationship management (e.g., personalized adaptation), and community engagement (e.g., collaboration), while consumers contribute through resource integration (e.g., knowledge sharing and information acquisition), relational engagement (e.g., feedback), and community-level participation (e.g., peer stewardship). These co-creation activities improve psychological well-being for both consumers and STRs. The essay also develops and validates the Consumer-Retailer Value Co-Creation (CR-VCC) instrument to capture consumer co-creation activities in subsistence contexts. By positioning STRs as central mediators of exchange, the essay shifts the focus of value co-creation from consumer-firm dyads to triadic interactions within the broader marketplace. Essay 3, Social Media Usage (SMU) and Consumption among BOP Consumers, investigates the role of digital engagement through social media usage among BOP consumers. It highlights that social media adoption is driven not only by utilitarian factors but also by socio-psychological motives such as social connection, social acceptance, epistemic motives, and escapism. Moreover, this essay examines how different forms of social media usage shape consumption outcomes, demonstrating that passive use increases conspicuous consumption, private active use reduces it, and public active use has no significant effect. Changes in perceived social connectedness explain these effects, with passive use reducing social connectedness, in turn, increasing conspicuous consumption. On the other hand, private active use strengthens perceived social connectedness, leading to reduced conspicuous consumption. This extends research on social media adoption to the BOP context and shows that its effects depend on usage type. Together, the three essays show that BOP consumers pursue well-being through everyday actions across psychological, relational, and digital domains. The dissertation contributes to consumer vulnerability and BOP research by identifying coping, co-creation, and digital engagement as connected avenues to pursue well-being. It also advances consumer well-being research by specifying how everyday consumer actions foster, sustain, or undermine psychological and relational outcomes. Finally, it advances a conditional view of marketplace and digital engagement by demonstrating that the effects of these forms of participation on well-being depend on the resources consumers can access and use under chronic vulnerability.

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