BUSI2331: Consumer Behaviour

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• The module aims to:
• To explore consumer interactions with the products and services of everyday life, and with the marketing of those products and services.
• To understand consumers' responses to a range of marketing activities and ways in which those responses vary in different situational contexts.
• To engage at a critical level with the latest consumer research into buyer behaviour and marketing practice.

• Indicative Content
• The module is structured around three main themes:-
• I. Consumers in Context
• Understanding Consumer Behaviour
• Decisions, Behaviours and Interactions
• Consumer Journeys through Retail and Servicescapes
• II. Consumers as Individuals
• Motivations and Drives Consumer Cognition
• Personality, Identity and the Self
• III. Consumers and the Social World
• Age, Gender and the Family Unit
• Social and Cultural Reference Groups
• Ethical and Sustainable Consumption

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Subject-specific Knowledge:
• An understanding of the psychological, situational, environmental and socio-cultural influences on behaviour;
• A critical awareness of the decision-making processes that individuals undertake and the models which seek to interpret this behaviour;
• An appreciation of why and how this understanding of the ways in which consumer research informs marketing strategy.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Subject-specific Skills:
• Ability to observe, interpret and demonstrate marketing psychology in action.
• Ability to critically evaluate their own behaviour as consumers.
• Ability to develop and evaluate marketing strategies in the light of consumer psychology theory and behavioural science research.

Key Skills:

• Creativity and problem-solving (e.g. by thinking laterally and innovatively).
• Critical thinking.
• Active and reflective learning.
• Presenting in both the written and oral/visual form.
• Group work/teamwork and leadership skills.

• This module is delivered via a series of lectures and seminars. The lectures introduce key concepts and frameworks, while the seminar series builds on these ideas and demonstrates the ways in which consumer research of this type inform marketing activities in the commercial and not-for-profit worlds.
• The module is assessed by means of a written assignment. Specifically, students identify a real-world marketing problem and, on the basis of a comprehensive literature review and desktop research, offer an analysis of the problem and offer a proposed marketing solution.

Students identify a marketing problem for analysis in the subsequent summative assignment and submit a proposal (1000 words) on how that problem will be investigated, for feedback and review.

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