Consumer Resilience Across Heterogeneous Markets: A Multilevel and Temporal Analysis of Preparation, Response, and Recovery

This study models consumer resilience as a temporally staged multilevel capacity and tests it across markets at three income levels. Resilience is measured as the time consumers take to move through three phases (preparation, response, and recovery) after economic, social, or environmental shocks. Integrating consumer resilience theory, the sustainable livelihoods framework, and ecological systems theory, the study models five individual-level resources (financial literacy, income diversity, social support, digital access, and policy trust) and embeds them in a regional and national context (infrastructure, social protection, government support, inflation, and consumer confidence). Survey data from 3,000 household decision-makers in Germany, Türkiye, and Kenya were analyzed using structural equation modeling and multilevel regression. The five resources are associated with shorter phase durations to different degrees, and their relative importance shifts systematically across income tiers: Financial literacy and policy trust matter most in higher-income markets, whereas social support and digital (mobile) financial access matter most in lower-income markets. Income inequality is associated with longer preparation and recovery times. For international marketing, the findings show that crisis-sensitive strategies (digital platforms, financial products, and retail design) must be calibrated to the phase and market rather than standardized.