Undergraduate Course: Consumer Behaviour (BUST10007)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The purpose of the course is to examine in detail the process of consumer decision making, the influences upon buying behaviour and their implications for marketing in purposeful organisations. An understanding of consumer behaviour is essential to effective marketing management. As the study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies. This course attempts to build on basic concepts introduced in the Marketing 2 course to develop advanced knowledge of consumer behaviour and an appreciation of its contribution to the field of marketing. It draws on a broad range of academic material from within the marketing and social science literature as well as looking at contemporary consumer issues in the media. |
| Course description |
The course is divided into four sections: an introduction to consumer behaviour, the individual consumer, the decision making process and the social consumer. The course draws mainly on the theoretical literature as a means of providing conceptual framework to examine consumer behaviour and for students to critically reflect on their own experiences as consumers. Each lecture is supported with a set of recommended readings and students are encouraged to undertake their own literature reviews as well as access other useful sources of information on contemporary issues such as the internet, television consumer programmes and the print media for examples of consumer behaviour in practice.
Syllabus
Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
Culture
Household and Families
Lifestyle and Social Class
Reference Groups And Peer Influence
Brand Loyalty
Consumer Decision Making
Learning And Attitudes
Perception/Cognition/Motivation
Personality And Self
Student Learning Experience
The lectures provide both basic concepts and informative material along with some critique of the main ideas but students are encouraged to develop their understanding and critical appreciation outside the lectures through reading around the lecture topics. There is considerable emphasis placed on the need for students to move beyond the basic textbook readings and to consider the more critical perspectives and research contained within the readings. There are no tutorials in this honours course but the opportunity for discussion arises within the lectures and students are encouraged to be constructively critical and to debate issues in class. The essay is designed to encourage students to seek out references from academic journals and to engage in a more critical debate.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Marketing (BUST08004)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites |
Visiting students should have at least 3 Business Studies courses (including at least one Marketing course) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Course performance will be assessed continuously and by a degree examination in December It should be noted that all sessions are examinable in the degree examination.
Overall assessment will be based upon:
Individual essay 40%
Degree examination 60%
Continuous assessment will account for 40% of the final grade and takes the form of a 2000 word individual essay (excluding bibliography and appendices).
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| Feedback |
Generic feedback on your coursework, together with individual marks, will be available on Learn. This course is taking part in a Business School project to pilot the use of electronic feedback to students. This means that you will not receive paper copies of your feedback for this course. Your feedback will be attached, with your grade, as a file in the My Grades tool within your Learn course.
Your examination marks will be posted on Learn (together with generic feedback and examination statistics) as soon as possible after the Boards of Examiners' meeting (normally early-mid June). During the summer months (i.e. mid/end June - end August), you may come into the UG Office (Room 1.11, Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place) to look at your examination scripts. Note that you will not be able to remove any examination scripts from the UG Office as they may be required by the Board of Examiners.
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and discuss critically how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products) and how marketers can adapt and improve their marketing to more effectively reach the consumer
- Critically assess the nature and scope of consumer behaviour.
- Describe and critically discuss key consumer behaviour terminology, concepts and theories.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the existing theories of consumer behaviour along with an awareness of both their contribution and limitations.
- Understand and critically discuss the complexities of consumer behaviour and its relevance to marketing practice.
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Reading List
Readings may be found either in the University library collection or accessed via The Library electronic journals on
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/find-ejournal/search-ejourn
Please note that these readings are provided as a guide to some of the literature in the area and students are not expected to read all of these articles but to select from the references. Students are encouraged to undertake their own literature search for relevant consumer behaviour articles.
Recommended Textbook
Solomon, (2012) Consumer Behaviour: Global Edition, 10th ed., Pearson Higher Education.
JOURNALS
European Journal of Marketing
http://www.mcb.co.uk/ejm.htm
Journal of Consumer Research
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JCR/journal/
Journal of Consumer Marketing (on campus)
http://ariel.emeraldinsight.com/vl=4799725/cl=31/nw=1/rpsv/cw/www/mcb/07363761/contp1-1.htm
Journal of Customer Marketing
http://www.westburn.co.uk/
European Journal of Marketing (on campus access)
http://ceres.emeraldinsight.com/vl=5065286/cl=142/nw=1/rpsv/ejm.htm
Journal of Marketing Management
http://www.westburn.co.uk/
Journal of Marketing Research
http://unix.ama.org/pubs/jmr/info/info7.asp
Journal of Advertising Research
http://www.arfsite.org/Webpages/JAR_pages/jarhome.htm
The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/routledge/09593969.html
Harvard Business Review
http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/products/hbr/form/index.html
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
ACR
http://www.acr-news.org/index.html
http://acrweb.org/
Marketing
http://ww.which.net/
BBC Watchdog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills
- demonstrate that they can move beyond simple description of consumer behaviour to analysis and evaluation of consumer behaviour using key concepts learnt during the course
- demonstrate their ability to independently research collate, analyses and synthesis material on an emerging issue within the field of consumer behaviour
Key Skills
- engage in critical discussion of consumer behaviour issues through class discussion, to debate and defend considered arguments
- utilise and source information from library, internet and database sources
- study independently and take responsibility for sourcing, reading and analysing related reference material for the course
Subject specific skills
Reflect on their own behaviour as consumers.
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| Keywords | CB |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr David Marshall
Tel: (0131 6)50 3822
Email: D.W.Marshall@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Anastasia Fliatoura
Tel: (0131 6)50 3826
Email: Anastasia.Fliatoura@ed.ac.uk |
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