• Identify new research question(s), that are theoretically interesting and practically relevant, and generate their own conceptual framework and coherent academic/theoretical argumentation based on selected theories, specifically in regard to the assignment (research proposal).
• Identify, explain, and discuss selected theories and concepts, particularly in light of the assignment.
• Understand and explain a suitable research/study design (qualitative or experimental), identify its strengths and weaknesses, and propose and describe a specific research/study design in the assignment.
• Identify and discuss theoretical contributions and limitations of academic works (including the students' own resulting from this course) and discuss their implications for marketing practice (including commercial and non-profit/public marketing).

The overall goal of the course is for students to gain a deep, specialized, both theoretically and managerially relevant, understanding of digital consumer behavior, based on psychological and socio-cultural perspectives. Students’ analytical skills are trained by dealing with academic literature in-depth and in a critical manner, reflecting on results and implications of extent research, and based on the understanding of extant research, by developing their own theoretically and managerially relevant research question in this field.

More specifically, this course builds on students’ fundamental knowledge of theories of consumer behavior and marketing management acquired in previous courses and extends on them by focusing on digital consumer behavior. This course addresses digital consumer behavior as the study of consumption behavior that takes place in the digital environment (including mobile), is affected by digital technologies, and/or is a response to phenomena and marketing strategies brought about by the advancement of digital technologies. As such, it goes beyond a definition of digital consumption as merely the consumption of online media or entertainment, and encompasses different topics, such as online shopping, the spread of electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites, the digital self (from blogging to the metaverse), influencer marketing, or the application of artificial intelligence (e.g., chatbots). In addition, with the advancements in digital technology changing the face of marketing and as such, the extent of potential intrusion into consumers’ lives, privacy, transparency, and other ethical concerns must be discussed.

This course will address a selection of these topics by presenting students with exemplary research from top-tier journals, discussing its results and implications for theory and practice, and developing new research questions based on extent literature. The body of literature relevant for this course will be based on both psychological and socio-cultural theories. In addition, students will get the opportunity to take a critical perspective towards the impact that the advancement in technology has on consumers and society at large vis-à-vis businesses who use these technologies in their marketing, sales, and services. While this course cannot provide a comprehensive picture of this scattered and emerging research field, it will offer deep insight into different psychological and socio-cultural theories that are relevant to understanding important questions in this field, and will equip students with expert knowledge that will allow them to extend on it or apply it in the field.

Lastly, although students are expected to exhibit a basic understanding of different methodological perspectives on the study of consumer behavior and marketing management, research in this course will be discussed with specific methodological distinctions in mind. Students should anticipate that the discussion of course-specific methodological perspectives is an integral part of this course in order to help them formulate suitable research questions and propose a suitable methodological design to answer them. It should be noted that the focus of this course lies on dealing with the theoretical argumentation and construction of an interesting and novel research question, and that while students should be able to formulate a suitable methodological design, data will not be collected. This course is theory- and not empirics-driven, and students must be prepared to take more time for understanding theory than they might be used to.

This course focuses on digital consumer behavior, which lies at the intersections of marketing, psychology, sociology, and digital technology.

This course will mostly use journal articles, to which links will be provided on Canvas at the beginning of the semester. Students are expected to download these articles or find the articles themselves in CBS’ library. Reading instructions will be given at the beginning of the semester.

In this course, students are expected to extend the list of readings in relation to their assignment (research proposal) independently.

A list of selected literature can be found below for illustration only. Please refer to Canvas at the beginning of the semester for reading instructions and the final syllabus.

Adam, A., & Alessandro, C. (2016). Brand Public. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(5), 727-48.

Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended self in a digital world. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), 477-500.

Buechel, E. C., & Berger, J. (2018). Microblogging and the value of undirected communication. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28(1), 40-55.

Erz, A., & Heeris Christensen, A. B. (2018). Transforming consumers into brands: Tracing transformation processes of the practice of blogging. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 43(1), 69-82.

Hennig-Thurau, T., Aliman, D. N., Herting, A. M., Cziehso, G. P., Linder, M., & Kübler, R. V. (2022). Social interactions in the metaverse: Framework, initial evidence, and research roadmap. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-25.

Kozinets, R. V., De Valck, K., Wojnicki, A. C., & Wilner, S. J. (2010). Networked narratives: Understanding word-of-mouth marketing in online communities. Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 71-89.

McQuarrie, E. F., Miller, J., & Phillips, B. J. (2013). The megaphone effect: Taste and audience in fashion blogging. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(1), 136-158.

Miao, F., Kozlenkova, I. V., Wang, H., Xie, T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2022). An emerging theory of avatar marketing. Journal of Marketing, 86(1), 67-90.

Melzner, J., Bonezzi, A., & Meyvis, T. (2022). EXPRESS: Information Disclosure in the Era of Voice Technology. Journal of Marketing, 0(ja).  https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1177/​00222429221138286

Leban, M., Thomsen, T. U., von Wallpach, S., & Voyer, B. G. (2021). Constructing personas: How high-net-worth social media influencers reconcile ethicality and living a luxury lifestyle. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(2), 225-239.

Melumad, S., Tuan Pham, M. (2020). The Smartphone as a Pacifying Technology, Journal of Consumer Research, 47(2),237–255, https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1093/​jcr/​ucaa005.

Srinivasan, R., & Sarial-Abi, G. (2021). When algorithms fail: Consumers’ responses to brand harm crises caused by algorithm errors. Journal of Marketing, 85(5), 74-91.

Stephen, A. T. (2016). The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 17-21.

Tonietto, G. N., & Barasch, A. (2021). Generating content increases enjoyment by immersing consumers and accelerating perceived time. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 83-100.

Valsesia, F., & Diehl, K. (2022). Let me show you what I did versus what I have: Sharing experiential versus material purchases alters authenticity and liking of social media users. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(3), 430-449.