The corrosive effect of credit: consumer experiences with over-indebtedness

• Ano de defesa: 2021
• Autor(a) principal: Leandro, Júlio César
• Orientador(a): Botelho, Delane
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Palavras-chave em Português: Superendividamento; Revisão Sistemática; Crédito ao consumo e dívidas; Relação consumidor-marca
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/31109

This doctoral dissertation is composed of three complementary articles. The first article aims to systematically review and assess the current status of research on consumers’ over-indebtedness, identify gaps and under-researched areas, and propose an agenda for future research. I use a systematic review approach to the literature on journals listed on the ABS (Association of Business Schools) list for peer-reviewed academic papers written in English, developing a comprehensive analysis and integrative review of the topic, synthesizing 144 articles published in 80 journals over 50 years (from 1969 to 2019) across the academic disciplines of economics, marketing, finance, psychology, and social science, and present a framework for organizing the literature streams, theories, and main variables related to consumer (over-)indebtedness. I consolidate extant knowledge on the theme, identify broad patterns, inconsistencies, and under-researched areas, suggesting a future research agenda relevant to academics, practitioners, and policymakers. The second article, examining the context of consumer over-indebtedness, aims to understand how consumers lose control and experience the materialization of staggering risks, and the meanings associated to this process. To address this overlooked area in consumer research, I examine the narratives and lived experiences of over-indebted consumers, which I accessed through a qualitative study conducted in Brazil using multiple data sets. The findings describe the unfolding of consumer experiences when credit and debt become highly dysfunctional by unpacking the downward trajectory that affects consumer identity. These findings shed light on the experiences of consumers who are overwhelmed by the hazards of risks and experience the unintended stigmatized position of being overindebted. The third article aims to understand the process and the dynamics of a consumer-brand relationship deterioration over time, and how consumers can migrate from attachment to aversion, studying the relationship between creditors and debtors in the context of consumer over-indebtedness. I conduct a qualitative study of overindebted consumers' narratives and lived experiences in their relationships with their creditors (and relationship partners) and use consumer brand-relationship, attachment theory, and attachment-aversion model as theoretical foundations. The findings explain why and how a consumer-brand relationship can transition over time from a positive to a negative and troubling relationship, from attachment to aversion. This study contributes insights for public policy on avoiding consumer over-indebtedness and for better managerial practices. The findings demonstrate the importance and the impact of over-indebtedness on consumers, firms, and society and call for more responsible marketing of credit and debt.