Introduction to Consumer Behaviour as a Science
Introduction to Consumer Behaviour as a Science
Consumer behaviour is defined as the exhaustive study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy specific needs and desires. This field covers a vast amount of ground and is not limited to physical goods, but also includes the consumption of abstract concepts and ideas. The study is necessitated by the fact that human behaviour cannot be reduced to simple numbers or equations, and businesses cannot take the consumer for granted. The failure rates of new products underscore the complexity of the marketplace. For instance, data shows that only of new product concepts offered by leading companies actually reached the market. Furthermore, out of new products introduced by companies, only are still present in the market five years later. Organizations study consumer behaviour to stay in business by attracting and retaining customers, to benefit from a deeper understanding of consumer problems, to establish a competitive advantage, and to navigate a marketplace that is increasingly diverse. Beyond business utility, the field is of significant social, psychological, political, cultural, and economic importance.
Consumers as Actors in the Marketplace
Consumers play various roles within the marketplace, acting as if they are in a play where their consumption decisions are modified according to the specific role they possess at a given time. While a classical role is that of the consumer as a "chooser" who explores criteria to make the right choice, they are also communicators. Consumption activities serve as a communication system through which individuals signal their roles and statuses. Consumers are also identity-seekers, using various activities to build their real selves. Furthermore, individuals can act as political consumers, boycotting products from countries or companies that do not meet ethical or environmental standards, or participating in alternative consumer movements. Thus, consumers can be simultaneously choosers, communicators, identity-seekers, pleasure-seekers, victims, rebels, and activists. All consumption is inherently location and time-bound, as consumers develop habits over time regarding what, when, and where they consume.
Consumer Behaviour as a Continuous Process
Historically, the field was referred to as "buyer behaviour," focusing primarily on the moment of purchase. However, modern marketers recognize that consumer behaviour is an ongoing process. An expanded view emphasizes the entire consumption process, categorized into three distinct stages: issues influencing the consumer before the purchase, factors during the purchase, and outcomes after the purchase. This process involves many different actors; for example, the purchaser and the user of a product may not be the same person. Influencers also play a massive role, as evidenced by figures like Mr Beast, who has million subscribers on YouTube. Additionally, organizations and groups, such as the family unit, act as collective consumers. The field is in constant transformation, as seen in the immediate impact of COVID-19 on consumption behaviour. According to Sheth (2020), the pandemic led to several shifts: hoarding, the discovery of talent, reunions with friends and family, the blurring of work-life boundaries, the "store comes home" phenomenon, embracing digital technology, pent-up demand, and improvisation.
Consumer Behaviour as an Interdisciplinary Field of Study
Consumer behaviour is a relatively new and highly interdisciplinary field, influenced by various perspectives and academic traditions. Research can occur at different levels, ranging from a micro-focus on the individual to a macro-focus on social groups. The disciplines involved include experimental psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, human ecology, microeconomics, social psychology, sociology, macroeconomics, semiotics/literary criticism, demography, history, and cultural anthropology. Psychology focuses on the individual, particularly how consumers think, respond to stimuli, and develop attitudes towards commodities, with trends including analytical and clinical approaches associated with thinkers like Sigmund Freud. Economics assumes the human being is a rational animal making decisions based on resource allocation and scarcity, often employing a mathematical background and viewing consumers as rational, hedonistic, maximizing individuals, as seen in the work of Gary Becker. Sociology studies the social conditionings of behaviour, including lifestyles, culture, gender, social class, and age, often taking a more critical stance against consumer society, represented by thinkers like Ulrich Beck. Anthropology, related to sociology, focuses on the cultural aspects of social relationships, viewing economic activity as embedded in social structures that cannot be examined in isolation, a concept supported by Karl Polanyi (1944).
Research Paradigms: Positivism versus Interpretivism
Consumer research can be classified by the fundamental assumptions researchers make, known as a paradigm. The Positivist paradigm, associated with Auguste Comte, asserts that human reason is supreme and that a single, objective truth can be discovered by science. It views the world as a rational, ordered place with defined causes and effects. In the context of consumption, positivism assumes that all consumer behaviour has measurable causes, and that people make rational decisions after processing all available information. Critics argue this paradigm overemphasizes a logical, homogenous western and male outlook and fails to account for irrational consumption, such as the loyalty of fans to athletes like LeBron James or the emotional attachment to brands like Coca-Cola Classic.
In contrast, the Interpretivist paradigm, influenced by Immanuel Kant and Donna Haraway, views reality as constructed by the perception of the subject. It asserts that no knowledge is detached from context or the subjectivity of the researcher (known as situated knowledge). Interpretivism holds that there is no single objective reality, causes and effects cannot be isolated, and reality is an individual subjective experience. Applied to consumption, this means each experience is unique, and consumers are not always rational because of their complex emotional lives. It emphasizes symbolic experience, where meaning resides in the mind and is constructed based on unique and shared cultural experiences. An example of symbolic value provided is the Nespresso ritual, where the ritual itself, the social class component, and the north-south link between consumption and production are more significant than the event of drinking coffee.
Key Thinkers on Consumption
The study of consumption has been shaped by several key intellectual traditions. The Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Malthus, are considered the fathers of capitalism. they viewed consumption as the result of free choice and a rational act, focusing on satisfying the needs of a growing population. Karl Marx and Marxism introduced the concepts of use-value versus exchange-value. Marx argued that commodities derive a socially ascribed market value regardless of their raw material worth. He defined surplus value as the monetary difference between manufacture cost and market price. He also identified commodity fetichism, where people in a capitalist society treat objects as if value inhered in the items themselves rather than the human labour expended to produce them. Thorstein Veblen, author of "The Theory of Leisure Class," argued that consumption is a tool for social differentiation and status. He coined "conspicuous consumption," the purchase of non-essential luxury goods to display wealth, and "pecuniary emulation," where lower classes try to imitate the consumption of their social superiors. He noted that a consequence of this is the production of unnecessary waste.
Georg Simmel described fashion as a universal, dialectical process involving a constant tension between the sense of belonging and the need for differentiation. The Frankfurt School (including Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, and Theodor Adorno) merged Marxism with psychoanalysis. They were critical of consumer society, arguing that the "culture industry" creates standardized, mass-marketed products that turn consumers into passive recipients. Marcuse discussed the "ideology of consumerism," where the industry promotes false needs to maintain social control. Georg Ritzer introduced the concept of "McDonaldization," which describes the paradox of formal rationality through efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Abraham Maslow proposed the Theory of Needs, a hierarchy where people are motivated to reach self-actualization, though he noted only of people become fully self-actualized because society rewards motivation based on lower-level needs like esteem and love. Ulrich Beck discussed the "risk society," where consumption is linked to universal and irreversible risks, proposing alternatives like fair trade. Pierre Bourdieu introduced the concept of "Habitus," an embodied set of socially acquired dispositions that lead individuals to consume in ways similar to others in their social class. Mary Douglas, an anthropologist, studied how different styles of thinking and cultural symbolism affect consumption patterns, such as preferences in furniture.
Handicaps of Social Sciences in Consumption
Social sciences face several challenges that prevent them from having the same status as "hard" sciences. First, human behaviour is exceptionally complex; no two people react to an event in exactly the same way, meaning researchers can only show how categories of people typically act. Second, humans respond to their surroundings, meaning the presence of a researcher can alter the behaviour being studied (e.g., subjects becoming anxious or trying to provide the "right" answer). Third, social patterns change constantly; what is true in one time or place may not hold true in another, preventing the establishment of immutable laws. Fourth, social scientists are part of the society they study, making it difficult to remain value-free and avoid personal distortion. Finally, human beings are symbolic, subjective creatures who are always constructing meaning through elaborate systems. Social scientists cannot study societies from the outside; they must find ways to enter these unique worlds of meaning.
Questions & Discussion
Debate: Do we consume love? The class engaged in a debate regarding Valentine's Day consumption. The task required students to form groups of 3 to 4 people with at least two different nationalities to address several questions:
- List 4 to 6 products or services popular for Valentine's Day (e.g., flowers, chocolates, jewelry, romantic dinners).
- Link these products to gender and explain cultural differences between countries.
- Determine if Valentine's Day involves "normative behaviour" (socially expected consumption) or "spontaneous behaviour."
Experiment: Theory of Needs Using the Socrative app (Room Name: BC4517), students participated in an experiment to list items they consider needs. Responses across various years (2019-2026) included items such as: powerbank, water, passport, mobile, clothes, snacks, money, credit card, charger, headphones, toothbrush, medicine, and books. The exercise aimed to help students prioritize their needs and link them to specific consumer decisions, while evaluating their agreement with Maslow's pyramid.
Task 2: You're what you buy A flipped classroom activity where groups explained key concepts such as use-value versus exchange-value, commodity fetichism, surplus value, social emulation, conspicuous consumption and leisure, fashion, the ideology of consumerism, the culture industry, commodification of culture, and postmodern consumption.
Assessment Details
The course assessment is divided as follows: for participatory activities, for assessable tasks, and for the exam. The exam is split into two halves, with Siro Bayón Calvo representing (Part I) and Miguel Varela representing the other (Part II). The Partial Exam I is scheduled for Tuesday, 1st April at 11:10 h in Aula 03. It consists of multiple-choice questions (4 options; correct answers add points, incorrect answers subtract points) and 3 or 4 specific questions worth points. Content includes Topics 1, 2, and 3, along with all tasks, debates, activities, and readings.