General information


Subject type: Mandatory

Coordinator: Monica Juliana Oviedo León

Trimester: First term

Credits: 4

Teaching staff: 

Pau Carratalà Pérez

Teaching languages


The subject will be taught in Catalan by default. This criterion may be modified from time to time in response to general or specific situations that require it. La llengua d'expressió de l'alumnat en el context de l'aula, així com en el desenvolupament de les diferents activitats d'avaluació, podrà ser català o castellà indistintament. Students who prefer to take the final exam in Spanish must request it from the subject at least one week in advance. 

Skills


Specific skills
  • E10. Analyze and evaluate the role of digital communities and social media in business.

  • E14. Apply the knowledge acquired to the management of digital communities.

  • E1. Recognize the environment in which the organization operates, the operation of the company and its functional areas and the instruments of analysis.

  • E2. Apply the basics of marketing and market research.

General competencies
  • G1. Be able to work in a team, actively participate in tasks and negotiate in the face of dissenting opinions until reaching consensus positions, thus acquiring the ability to learn together with other team members and create new knowledge.

Transversal competences
  • T5. Develop tasks applying the knowledge acquired with flexibility and creativity and adapting them to new contexts and situations.

Description


The subject of consumer behavior has the challenge of familiarizing students with the main concepts and mechanisms that guide consumer decision-making when buying products. The content of the subject therefore refers to the act of consumption as a process of acquisition, but it broadens its view on all those pre- and post-purchase structures that are relevant to the marketing manager, insofar as they enable a systematic understanding of the act of consumption.

Through the recognition of all the variables involved in its determination, the study of consumer behavior is presented as an ideal resource for the social contextualization of the degree of marketing, as well as a fundamental field for the identification of opportunities that they raise the dynamics of the markets, and the strategic adequacy that allows organizations to access and take advantage of them.

 

 

 

Learning outcomes


  • Raise the main concepts and theories related to consumer behavior.
  • Establish relationships between marketing decisions and consumer behavior.
  • Have a global view of the main variables that affect the consumer.
  • Analyze in detail the consumer decision process in relation to marketing stimuli.
  • Ability to analyze and understand the market forces that influence commercial and business activities
  • Find, select, organize and interpret information appropriately
  • Interpret and evaluate information critically and synthetically
  • Develop a critical spirit towards consumption and what it means in today's societies

Working methodology


  • MD1. Master class
  • MD5. Seminars
  • MD6. Debates and forums
  • MD7. Case studies
  • MD10 Research and reading of articles

The classroom (physical or virtual) is a safe space, free of sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and discriminatory attitudes, either towards students or teachers. We trust that together we can create a safe space where we can make mistakes and learn without having to suffer the prejudices of others.

Contents


BLOCK.1 INTRODUCTION

Topic 1: Marketing and the study of consumer behavior

  • Introduction to the study of consumer behavior. Concept and definitions. 
  • The consolidation of consumer behavior research in the context of marketing history
  • Illustrative summary of the study of consumer behavior: fields of application and research methodologies 

Theme 2: The systematization of the study of consumer behavior

  • Dimensions of analysis and identification of study variables
  • Consumer behavior as a multidimensional phenomenon
  • The Anthropological Determinants of Consumer Behavior: An Introduction to the Duality of the Human Condition

BLOCK.2 EXTERNAL STRUCTURES

Topic 3: The social production of needs

  • Consumption and modes of production. The advent of mass consumption society.
  • The social production of needs
  • Workshop on the study of human needs

Topic 4: Social strata and consumption

  • An introduction to the sociology of consumption
  • Concept of social differentiation and inequality. Measurement procedures and indicators.
  • social differentiation and consumption patterns
  • Applications for strategic and operational marketing of the sociological study of social differentiation 

Topic 5: Cultures and consumer behaviour

  • Concept and definitions of the cultural dimension of the human condition
  • Culture, values ​​and consumption
  • New cultural trends
  • Gender and culture
  • Subcultures, deethnicization and acculturation
  • Cultures and consumption: case study applied to an internationalization process

Topic 6: Social groups and other consumption practices

  • Marketing and reference groups
  • Social groups and consumer behavior
  • Brand community and consumer tribes
  • Lifestyles, personality and typologies
  • Consumer ethics, sustainable consumption and consumer rights

BLOCK.3 INTERNAL STRUCTURES

Item 7: SENSES AND PERCEPTION

  • Acquisition of information
  • Information processing
  • Strategies to capture attention
  • Selective perception
  • Approach to sensory marketing

Topic 8: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES

  • Learning and memory
  • Congruence and cognitive dissonance
  • Cognitive Biases

Topic 9: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND NEUROSCIENCES

  • Neuroscience, neuroeconomics and neuromarketing
  • Consciousness, unconsciousness and consumption
  • Emotions, feelings and advertising communication

BLOCK.4 INTEGRATION

Item 10: INTEGRATED CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: THE DECISION PROCESS

  • Socio-cultural conditioning of individual consumption processes
  • Decision neural structures
  • Recognition of the problem
  • Information search
  • Decision
  • Post-purchase evaluation
  • Loyalty and repetition

Learning activities


  • AF1. Theoretical sessions
  • AF2. Seminars
  • AF3. Work in group
  • AF4. Individual work
  • AF5. Personal study
  • AF10. Search, read and prepare reviews / text comments on bibliography / information using ICT or the virtual platform.

Evaluation system


The relationship between evaluable activities and weighted score percentage is specified under the following formula:

  • SE4. Final Exam: 50%
  • SE2. Group continuous assessment work: 30%
  • SE1 + SE2 Individual continuous assessment activities: 20%

To make an average, it will be essential that the student has a grade equal to or higher than 5 both in the final exam, (1) and in the group work (2) and in the individual continuous assessment activities (3).

 

REFERENCES


Basic

SHIFFMAN, LG and KANUK, LL (2010). Consumer Behavior. Pearson Education. Tenth Edition, Mexico

KAHNEMAN, D. Thinking fast and slow. (2016). Penguin Books. Kindle Edition (Amazon)

ZOËGA-RAMSOY, T. (2014) Introduction to Neuromarketing and Consumer Neuroscience. Kindle Edition

PRADEEP, AK (2010). The buying brain. Secrets for selling to the subconscious mind. John Wiley & Sons

SOLOMON, M (2008). Consumer Behavior. Pearson Education. Seventh Edition, Madrid

ALONSO, J and GRANDE (2013) Consumer Behavior. ESIC, Seventh Edition, Madrid

ALONSO BENITO, Luis Enrique (2005) The age of consumption. Madrid: Century XXI

RIVERA CAMINO, Jaime; ARELLANO CUEVA, Rolando (2013) Consumer behavior : strategies and tactics applied to marketing. Madrid: ESIC

 

RUSHKOFF, D (2001) Coercion. Why do we listen to what they tell us? Ed. hare 

CARO, A. (2014). Understanding advertising to transform society. Cuadernos.info, 34, 39-46. doi: 10.7764/ cdi.34.584

Complementary

BARDEN, P. (2013). Decoded: The science behind why we buy. John Wiley & Sons

COFFEY, D., SIEGEL, D., LIVINGSTON, G. (2005). Marketing to the new super consumer mom & kid. Paramount Marketing Publishing

STROUD, D and WALKER, K. (2013). Marketing to the aging consumer. Palgrave MacMillan

ARIELY, D. The traps of desire .: How to control the irrational impulses that lead us to error. Ariel, 2008. ISBN: 978-84-344-5367-8

THALER, R. (2015). Misbehaving. Great Britain: Penguin Random House UK. 425 p. ISBN 978-1-846133035

BOURDIEU, P. (1979) The Distinction. Criteria and social bases of taste. Spain, Taurus.