The Case of the Kenyan Illicit Alcohol Market
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Social representations of marketplace immorality: The case of the Kenyan illicit alcohol market Virginia Nyambura Mwangi B. Com, MA Department of Marketing Lancaster University Lancaster, United Kingdom 2020 Thesis submitted to Lancaster University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Declaration: This thesis is entirely my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. Copyright: A copy of this thesis is supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that copyright rests with the author and that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by UK law or with consent from the author. Acknowledgement I thank God for the opportunity, the strength and the help to undertake this PhD project. I am grateful beyond words to my doctoral supervisors Professor Maria Piacentini and Dr. Hayley Cocker for believing in me and for working tirelessly to review my work and offer feedback and for consistently encouraging and supporting me throughout the PhD project and most of all for helping me develop as a researcher. I also thank Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) for funding this project. I also acknowledge the contribution of the research participants to this project and thank all who participated to make this PhD a reality. To my family, I am grateful for your love, support and prayers. To my loving spouse for diligently reviewing my work and offering feedback, and my children for supporting me. My mum for travelling all the way to England to offer the physical and moral support needed to bring this project to completion and to my dad, for inspiring me to be a scholar. To my friends in Lancaster who took over some of my parenting roles so that I could work on my PhD. I am thankful to my colleagues and anonymous reviewers who gave feedback and helped improve this work. A big thank you to all who made this PhD possible. Words are not enough. LIST OF REFEREED PUBLICATIONS RESULTING FROM THIS THESIS BOOK CHAPTER Mwangi, V., Cocker, H., and Piacentini, M. G., (2019) “Cognitive polyphasia, cultural legitimacy and behaviour change: The case of the illicit alcohol market in Kenya”. In Bajde, G., Kjeldgaard, D., and Belk, R., (Eds). Consumer Culture Theory Vol 20, pp. 103 - 117. CONFERENCE PAPERS Mwangi, V., Piacentini, M. G. and Cocker, H., (2018) “Social representations and social conflict in the marketplace: The “war” against illicit alcohol in Kenya”, American Marketing Association (AMA) Winter Conference, New Orleans, USA, February 2018 (Conference paper) Mwangi, V., (2018) “The framing of moral dilemmas in the marketplace: The case of inequality in the illicit alcohol market in Kenya”, Lancaster University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Intellectual Party (Conference Paper) Mwangi, V., Cocker, H. and Piacentini, M. G., (Accepted paper) “Social representations, legitimacy and market change” Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) conference 2018, Denmark, June 2018 (Conference paper) i Abstract This thesis examines social representations of marketplace immorality in a context of contested legitimacy. In recent years, the legislative context of illicit alcohol in Kenya has changed the status of illicit alcohol from legal to illegal, then back to legal, between June 2015 and February 2016. Using social representations theory, this study explores the dominant social representations in the Kenyan illicit alcohol market during this volatile regulatory period. The study draws on longitudinal data from digital mainstream and social media news sites, as well as interview and observation data. The study seeks to expand understanding on the extent to which social representations convey morality, and the impact of social representations on people’s perceptions and practices, thereby extending knowledge and understanding of social representations and morality. Consumer research has begun to consider issues relating to morality in the marketplace, but this is still a nascent area of research. Most studies on morality have explored only a subset of moral concerns but this study expands the conceptualization of morality in a market context responding to calls from market researchers for a broader definition of consumer morality. The study focuses on plural moral domains with several moral concerns and highlights both individual-centred and other-centred moral concerns. The study also demonstrates that social representations in the alcohol market focus on the harm from illicit consumption practices leading to selective objectification of consumer and alcohol problems and limiting remedial initiatives in the marketplace. The findings also reveal that cognitive polyphasia is a pervasive feature in the social representations of the Kenyan illicit alcohol market. Key aspects of cognitive polyphasia that define some of its ii functionalities and how it could be operationalised are a nascent area in the study of social representations. This study’s findings contribute to the existing knowledge on cognitive polyphasia by revealing cognitive polyphasia as a means of adapting to change, coping with change, resisting change and inducing change. The study also contributes to knowledge on the delegitimization of market practices by examining the role of cognitive polyphasia in changing practices and perceptions. The study findings also illustrate moral ambiguities in the marketplace as well as the psychological and socio-psychological processes used to navigate the moral ambiguities. The processes illustrated include social representation, moral exclusion, moral rationalization, moral decoupling and moral override. These processes provide insights into the reasoning and justifications behind why consumers would or would not act in an ethical or moral manner. The research further contributes to the literature on morality by highlighting the influence of emotions in moral judgement. These findings confirm previous empirical research in moral psychology on the role of emotion in moral judgement. The study proposes greater emphasis on emotional appeals in efforts to encourage moral consumer behaviour since emotions are revealed as key to moral judgement. The practical implications of this research are mainly in relation to the incorporation of community cultural language when talking about, or implementing illicit alcohol policy, to help make the policies a part of the local culture. Key words: consumer immorality, marketplace morality, Kenya, illicit alcohol, social representations theory, cognitive polyphasia iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF REFEREED PUBLICATIONS RESULTING FROM THIS THESIS .................................................... i LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF IMAGES ..................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER ONE: RESEARCH PROBLEM AND PHENOMENON OF INTEREST ........................................ 1 1.1. Introduction........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Background ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.3. Theoretical perspective ......................................................................................................... 3 1.4. Research questions ............................................................................................................... 4 1.5. Study context ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.6. Research methodology.......................................................................................................... 6 1.7. Summary of findings and contribution ................................................................................. 8 1.8. Dissertation outline ............................................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER TWO: STUDY CONTEXT .................................................................................................... 11 2.1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Overview of illicit alcohol .................................................................................................... 11 2.2.1. Illicit alcohol prevalence and composition .................................................................. 12 2.2.2. The media and market dynamics in the Kenyan illicit alcohol market ....................... 12 2.3. Historical and policy context ............................................................................................... 14 2.4. Economic context ................................................................................................................ 16 2.5. Socio-cultural context of illicit alcohol trade and consumption ......................................... 18 2.5.1. Drinking to intoxication .............................................................................................. 19 2.5.2. Public health harms ....................................................................................................