Foundations of consumer behaviour analysis

Abstract. This essay reviews the course of consumer behaviour analysis, a research programme that employs the findings and principles of behavioural research to elucidate consumer behaviour and marketing management. Although attempts have been made from time to time to integrate a behaviour analytic perspective into marketing research, the tendency has been to concentrate on the potential con-tribution of operant psychology to managerial practice rather than to examine the potential of behaviourism to provide a theoretical basis for marketing and consumer research. Moreover, concentration on research with animal subjects has severely limited the relevance of behaviour analysis to marketing. The essay therefore pursues three themes: (1) to explicate recent developments in behaviour analysis, such as the analysis of verbal behaviour; (2) to take account of work by behaviour analysts on economic choice and to apply its lessons to understanding consumer behaviour and marketing action in naturally occurring environments; (3) to establish the require-ments of an interpretive approach to consumer behaviour and marketing which is not limited to an experimental analysis of choice. Key Words • behaviour analysis •behavioural economics • consumer behaviour • consumer theory • marketing management Consumer behaviour analysis is the use of behaviour principles, usually gained experimentally, to interpret human economic consumption. It stands academic-ally at the intersection of economic psychology on one hand, and marketing science – the study of the behaviour of consumers and marketers, especially as they interact – on the other. Whilst behaviour principles are central to its theoretical and empirical research programme, its quest to interpret naturally occurring consumer behaviours such as purchasing, saving, gambling, brand choice, the adoption of innovations, and the consumption of services raise