Basics of consumer behavior

This chapter explains what consumer behavior is about. It provides a definition of consumer behavior and presents the factors that influence the way consumers buy and use products or services. These factors include consumers’ general and narrow environment (e.g., social reference group) as well as sociodemographic (e.g., age), psychographic (e.g., social perception), biological (e.g., skin color), and situational factors (e.g., purchasing power). Importantly, culture is part of their general environment. The authors define country culture, provide examples of it, such as hierarchical or fatalistic culture, and explain in what way country culture, as the focus of this book, differs from subculture. Further, the authors present two different approaches to consumer research: analytical vs. interpretive consumer research. The present book follows the analytical approach, which is represented by the term cross-cultural consumer research (CCCB) but not an interpretative approach, which is represented by Consumer Culture Theory (CCT).