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2023/2024  BA-BPSYO2401U  Consumer Behaviour

English Title
Consumer Behaviour

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Psychology, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Antonia Erz - Department of Marketing (Marketing)
Main academic disciplines
  • Customer behaviour
  • Marketing
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 01-12-2023

Relevant links

Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Describe, define, illustrate, classify, combine, discuss, and reflect upon relevant theories, constructs, concepts, and models of consumer behaviour.
  • Analyse practical examples, anecdotes, and cases dealing with consumer behaviour by identifying, applying, comparing, or discussing relevant theories and models.
  • Identify, discuss, and reflect upon the relationships between consumer behaviour and its study, marketing as a business function, and the wider context, and the general and ethical implications stemming from and defining these relationships.
Course prerequisites
This course builds partially on some of the courses of the preceding semesters, including cognitive psychology and personality and social psychology. Students will have to move their focus from the organization to the market and consumer and should be open to different applications of already learned theories and to learning about new theories and models. This is a blended learning course, and students are expected to come prepared to all on-campus classes, and engage with the teacher and their fellow classmates on-campus and online.
Examination
Forbrugeradfærd:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer and Summer
Aids Open book: all written and electronic aids, including internet access
Read more here about which exam aids the students are allowed to bring and will be given access to : Exam aids and IT application package
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination may warrant that it most appropriately be held as an oral examination. The programme office will inform the students if the make-up examination/re-take examination instead is held as an oral examination including a second examiner or external examiner.
Description of the exam procedure

Husk at eksamen skal besvares på engelsk. 

Both course and exam language are English.

Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

The overall goal of the course is for students to gain a deep, fundamental, both theoretically and managerially relevant, understanding of consumer behaviour, based on psychological, sociological, economic, and cultural perspectives. Moreover, students’ analytical skills are trained by analysing cases, examples, and anecdotes based on the application of theoretical models, concepts, and constructs, and by discussing their commonalities, differences, and potential ambiguities. In addition, students of this course acquire the skills and abilities to contextualize their expert knowledge in consumer behaviour and its study in relation to marketing as a business function, and in relation to the wider context, including society, the environment, and the individual. Overall, this course takes a market-driven perspective on business and management with a focus on the consumer, leaving room for critical reflection of its implications, both more generally and from an ethical perspective.

 

More specifically, the course will deepen consumer behaviour knowledge gradually in order to build up the foundation based on which students can critically assess the knowledge in relation to the broader context. The course starts with the individual decision-maker, addressing decision-making processes, perceptual processes, learning and memory, attitude and persuasion models, and identity and personality. It then moves on to approach the individual decision-maker embedded in a context influenced by others, addressing the role of groups, social processes, and culture. Considering the ever-increasing role that technology takes in changing the ways and extent of consumption (and as such, business), the course also addresses the digital consumer to touch upon the applicability of well-known theories and the rise of new phenomena yet to be studied. Lastly, the course deals critically with the general and ethical implications that (the study of) consumption has vis-à-vis marketing as a business function and the wider context, including environment and society, and vice versa, in order to extend students’ understanding and assessment of critical challenges ahead.

Description of the teaching methods
This course is offered as a blended learning course. This means, lectures will mostly take place online and exercises on-campus. In addition to engaging with online lectures, students are expected to prepare for the on-campus exercises during online time before coming to the on-campus exercise classes. These exercise classes will follow a schedule and will include both individual and group work, where students are asked to work with the concepts, theories, and constructs of the course by applying them to cases, anecdotes or examples of different extents and formats.

Students are expected to have prepared the assigned material before joining the on-campus exercises. This home preparation is vital to maintain an interactive mode in the on-campus classes, where students are encouraged to ask questions to their peers and the teacher and help each other (re-)learn. Students are also encouraged to interact online with both the teacher and their peers and contribute to the success of the course by asking questions and providing feedback.

The syllabus, schedule, and material will be available on Canvas at the beginning of the semester.
Feedback during the teaching period
Students will receive feedback online and/or during on-campus classes in written or oral format (e.g., through written solutions, quizzes, or plenum presentations and discussions), both by peers and by the teacher. Students are particularly encouraged to help each other, both through online forums offered on Canvas and group work during on-campus exercises. The teacher will be available for individual feedback in office hours/by email and during/after on-campus exercises during the teaching period.
Student workload
Lectures (on-campus and online) 27 hours
Exercises (on-campus) 18 hours
Written individual exam 4 hours
Individual preparation and studying 157 hours
Expected literature

Mandatory:

  • Isabelle Szmigin & Maria Piacentini (2022): Consumer Behaviour. Oxford University Press. 3rd edition. ISBN 978-0-19-886256-7 (Please note: we will work only with the latest edition, i.e., the third edition, throughout the course. Please make sure you purchase/borrow the correct edition).
  • Selected journal articles/book chapters and other written materials: Links or documents/PDFs will be available on Canvas.

 

Specific reading instructions will be given at the beginning of and throughout the course on Canvas.

Last updated on 01-12-2023