Inspired by the goal of making marketplaces more inclusive, this research provides a deeper understanding of consumer vulnerability dynamics to develop strategies that help reduce these vulnerabilities. The proposed framework, first, conceptualizes vulnerability states as a function of the breadth and depth of consumers’ vulnerability; then, it sketches a set of vulnerability indicators that illustrate vulnerability breadth and depth. Second, because the breadth and depth of vulnerability vary over time, the framework goes beyond vulnerability states to identify distinct vulnerability-increasing and vulnerability-decreasing pathways, which describe how consumers move between vulnerability states. In a final step, the framework proposes that organizations can (and should) support consumers to mitigate vulnerability by helping consumers build resilience (e.g., via distinct types of resilience-fueling consumer agency). This framework offers novel conceptual insights into consumer vulnerability dynamics as well as resilience and provides avenues for future research on how organizations can better partner with consumers who experience vulnerabilities.

受到让市场更具包容性的目标的启发，这项研究提供了对消费者脆弱性动态的更深入的了解，以制定有助于减少这些脆弱性的策略。所提出的框架首先将脆弱性状态概念化为消费者脆弱性广度和深度的函数；然后，它概述了一组说明漏洞广度和深度的漏洞指标。其次，由于脆弱性的广度和深度随着时间的推移而变化，因此该框架超越了脆弱性状态，识别了不同的脆弱性增加和脆弱性减少路径，这些路径描述了消费者如何在脆弱性状态之间移动。最后一步，该框架建议组织可以（并且应该）通过帮助消费者建立复原力（例如，通过不同类型的增强复原力的消费者机构）来支持消费者减轻脆弱性。该框架为消费者脆弱性动态和复原力提供了新颖的概念性见解，并为未来研究组织如何更好地与经历脆弱性的消费者合作提供了途径。