Understanding the Consumer 5 credits

This course provides you with practical knowledge about the psychological and behavioural mechanisms that drive consumer decision-making across diverse consumption contexts. You will explore how cognitive processes—such as attention, perception, memory, and judgment—shape consumer experiences and choices across the consumer journey. The course further equips you with knowledge and practical tools to understand, evaluate, and anticipate how target segments respond to product decisions and market dynamics. Through exposure to advanced consumer research methods, including experimental designs like A/B testing, you will learn to draw meaningful insights from behavioural data. Emphasis is placed on linking empirical findings to foundational theories and principles in consumer psychology and marketing. Advanced theoretical and analytical capabilities about target segments’ reactions due to modification of company products (e.g., brand repositioning) and changes in the environment (e.g., social trends or technological advancements) will help you to make strategic marketing decisions. Furthermore, by critically analysing real-world consumer data, you will develop strategic insights to optimise segments’ responses and enhance customer engagement. The content of this course prepares future professionals to navigate complex customers’ perceptions and behaviours with analytical rigor and theoretical depth. **Connection to Research** The course requires you to conduct research on theoretical themes in consumer behaviour. This includes learning about experimental research designs used by academics and practitioners to understand consumers’ preferences and decisions in the market. Current findings in the field of consumer research will be incorporated into lectures and seminars, including research conducted by JIBS faculty in consumer behaviour. The integration of JIBS research findings into this course aims to support student learning by examining emerging phenomena related to changes in consumers and their environments, and how these developments influence strategic marketing decisions, renewal, and business growth. Using this theoretical knowledge, you will additionally conduct your own research to examine how market dynamics and emerging trends influence consumer decisions in the contemporary marketplace. **Connection to Practice** The course connects theoretical knowledge in consumer behaviour with practical applications relevant to contemporary market environments. Building on the research-oriented perspective of the course, you will examine how shifts in consumer behaviour contribute to the renewal of markets and influence how organisations design products, services, and marketing strategies. To support this applied perspective, the course introduces practical tools and methods commonly used by practitioners to evaluate consumer responses and improve decision making. Particularly, you will learn how organisations test products, communication strategies, and marketing campaigns before market launch using methods such as A/B testing and other experimental approaches. These techniques allow firms to compare alternative solutions and assess how consumers respond to different product features, messages, or market offerings. Hence, the course prepares you to evaluate market trends, interpret consumer data, and apply empirical approaches to strategic marketing in a globalised world where consumers constantly adapt their decisions to changing environments. **Connection to Ethics, Responsibility, Sustainability (ERS)** The course integrates perspectives on ethics, responsibility, and sustainability by examining how consumer behaviour and marketing decisions influence societal and environmental outcomes. Through lectures and discussions, you are introduced to sustainability challenges in contemporary markets and the ethical considerations that arise when organisations design products, communication strategies, and market offerings. Attention is given to how firms and consumers respond to sustainability-related issues such as environmental impact, responsible consumption, and transparency in marketing practices. You will explore how organisations can incorporate responsible management practices into marketing strategies while addressing evolving consumer expectations regarding sustainability and ethical conduct.