Temporarily vulnerable consumers in a bank services setting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how temporarily vulnerable customers and their bank advisors cope with incidents that occur over the course of their service relationships. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative design based on ten case studies, involving interviews with both sides of the dyad (client-bank advisor) and internal secondary data from the bank, was conducted. Findings The findings show that the two sides of the dyad span a gradation of coping strategies that are enacted to solve the incidents encountered. Thus, temporarily vulnerable consumers turn out to be non-passive in their asymmetrical relationship with advisors and deploy residual resources to co-create solutions. Social implications To prevent the risk of slippage by or exclusion of, vulnerable customers who experience serious banking incidents, the paper points out the necessity to mobilize alternative levers from the public and associative spheres to allow these customers access to a minimum of banking services. Originality/value As an early exploration of transient vulnerable clients, this research fuels the understanding of their capacity to consider co-creating, alongside bank advisors, solutions to the incidents encountered with a view to preserving their well-being and ensuring their social and economic inclusion.