Consumer Behaviour Research: Jacquard Weaving in the Social Sciences

Abstract

Abstract: In the context of globalization, neither the study of consumption, nor the study of con-sumer buying behaviour, can be explained as the mere interaction between a limited number of personal and impersonal (or external factors), but as an utterly complex and undoubtedly progressive process. Moreover, what today is o!en referred to as consumer behaviour research, represents the result of interweaving various and prolonged e"orts coming from a wide span-ning array of heterogeneous disciplines. Analysing consumers and their purchase decisions/ consumption patterns / post-consumption attitudes etc. only from an economic or psychological perspective will lead to an over-constrained problem, for which the solution will be at the same time academically unsound, and practically infeasible. Sallying forth on the wings of this reali-sation, the present essay sheds some light on the signi#cance of consumer behaviour research from a historical and multidisciplinary perspective, arguing against the isolation of the #eld within the narrow con#nes of a single discipline. $e main objectives underpinning this work are the following: (1) to provide a straightforward conceptualization for consumer behaviour as a research domain; (2) to provide an extensive review of the main paradigms in the study of consumer behaviour; (3) to underline the importance of multidisciplinary approaches for a cor-rect understanding of consumer behaviour. Even though this research represents a theoretical inquiry of previous literature, exhaustiveness is not one of its goals. Moreover, whilst they pres-ent evidence coming from previous works, the authors do not shy away from stating their own beliefs and ideas, thus imbuing the present work with an unmistakable subjective perspective.