Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is defined as “the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires” (Solomon 2015, p. 28).

Understanding of consumer behavior is essential for business managers (to develop, assess and implement effective marketing strategies), policy makers (to encourage responsible consumption of public goods), and consumers themselves (to make better decisions in acquiring and using goods).

Related Projects

Available Consumer Behavior projects.

A Resource Use & Waste Journal	March 2020	Author names & affiliations will be published on launch date.
Social Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and the SDGs	March 2020	Author names & affiliations will be published on launch date.

Key Readings

1. Russell W. Belk. Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2):139–168, 1988. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2489522.

2. Mike Featherstone. Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. Sage, 2007.

3. John W. Schouten and James H. McAlexander. Subcultures of consumption: an ethnography of the new bikers. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(1):43–61, 1995. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2489699.

4. Michael R. Solomon. Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being. Pearson, 2011.

5. Thorstein Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class. Routledge, 2017/1899.