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Rethinking scarcity and poverty: Building bridges for shared insight and impact

Chris Blocker¹; Jonathan Z. Zhang¹; Ronald Paul Hill²; Caroline Roux³; Canan Corus⁴; Martina Hutton⁵; Joshua Dorsey⁶; Elizabeth Minton⁷

¹ College of Business Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA · ² Kogod College of Business The American University Washington District of Columbia USA · ³ John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Quebec, Canada · ⁴ Lubin School of Business, Pace University New York New York USA · ⁵ School of Business and Management Royal Holloway University of London London Egham UK · ⁶ College of Business Florida International University Miami Florida USA · ⁷ Department of Management & Marketing University of Wyoming Laramie Wyoming USA

AbstractResource scarcity is a powerful construct in social sciences. However, explanations about how resources influence overall wellbeing are difficult to generalize since much of the research on scarcity focuses on relatively affluent marketplace conditions, limiting its usefulness to large segments of the global population living in poverty. Conversely, poverty research provides cultural insights into resource deprivation, yet it stops short of explaining the systematic variation of scarce resources among impoverished individuals. To bridge these intellectual silos and advance a deeper understanding of scarcity, we integrate resource scarcity research, which builds upon a psychological tradition to understand various forms of everyday deprivation, with poverty research, which builds upon a sociological tradition to understand extreme and enduring deprivation. We propose a novel framework that integrates the concept of consumption adequacy and clarifies resource scarcity's forms, intensity, duration, and dynamic trajectories. We leverage this framework to generate a research agenda, and we propose ways to stimulate dialog among scarcity and poverty scholars, policymakers, and organizations to help inform impoverished life circumstances and generate effective solutions.

DOI

10.1002/jcpy.1323

Volume

33 (3)

Pages

489-509

Language

en

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BibTeX

Sources

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