Conceptualizing and investigating patterns of consumer behaviour towards in-home shopping

This research examines intermediate patterns of joint consumption whereby constellations, anti constellations and configurations are seen as representing patterns of consumption which lie between the traditional micro (product-centred) and macro (societal-centred) studies of consumption. A series of models are developed: of the relationship between individuals and consumption from a social psychological perspective; of the formation of patterns of joint consumption; and of the three forces which influence patterns of consumption: the symbolic-functional force (located in the product); the physiological-esteem-self-actualization force (located in individual needs); and the expressive-instrumental force (located in activities or behaviour). A two stage empirical study explores the content, structure and context of consumption patterns amongst mail order shoppers in the U.K. The quantitative stage involved the application of correspondence analysis to data extracted from the BMRB/TGI database and the qualitative phase was a series of in-depth interviews with mail order industry marketing personnel. The findings confirmed the existence of three identifiable groups amongst mail order shoppers, with different intermediate patterns of joint consumption representing different sets of responses to the three forces which influence consumption and which had been modelled above. The research extends work on the grammar of consumption by developing a set of rules of combination for analyzing the structure and levels of joint consumption: constellations, anti constellations and configurations, which could be associated with the groups of mail order shoppers. The study concludes that products cohere around social roles and that interdependence exists at two levels, firstly, amongst the forces which influence consumption, and secondly, between consumption and the societal-cultural context. It was seen that functional and symbolic complementarities could be found in the intermediate patterns of joint consumption; and that different combinatorial rules could be applied to the different levels of consumption patterns elicited for the various groups