BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Students will also apply theories and frameworks developed in marketing, psychology, and other behavioral sciences to better predict how consumers will respond to different brand and marketing stimuli.
The objective of the course is to provide key tools and theoretical frameworks for analyzing consumer behavior in order to solve marketing problems and define effective marketing strategy.
At the end of this course students will be able to:
- explain the relevant theories and research in behavioral sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, economics).
- describe how consumer theories help managers to solve particular marketing issues.
- design, develop, and evaluate appropriate marketing strategies and programs.
- identify where to find original consumer insights for organizations.
- test psychological theories for organizational and managerial purposes.
In particular, students will be able to:
- understand and analyse the perceptual, motivational, emotional, and cognitive processes shaping consumer reactions and the most suitable strategies to increase the effectiveness of marketing actions.
- recognise and implement within real marketing cases the most functional psychological-relational levers for brands and organisations.
- choose the most suitable qualitative and quantitative research techniques in relation to the type of mental construct to be investigated (perceptual-attentional, motivational, emotional, cognitive, conscious and unconscious).
- identify the specific properties and contents of the phases that characterise the decision-making process, from the onset of the need to the post-purchase evaluation.
- know the characteristics of how attitudes shape preferences towards a product or service, the theoretical models as well as the techniques on persuasion most suitable for determining the purchase decision.
- acquire knowledge of the components of psychographic research and how these can be applied for market segmentation.
- know how to apply neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience research methodology by learning the methodological aspects underlying the neuroscientific study of the consumer, the properties of the main neuroscientific techniques and the structure of a neuromarketing research plan.
Course Prerequisites
Teaching Methods
The course is designed to be interactive and to stimulate students to fruitful communication between teacher and students.
Group exercises aimed at the practical application of the proposed notions are planned for the attending students.
Assessment Methods
The final exam is a written test consisting of 17 closed-ended and 3 open-ended questions on the textbook.
The exam grade varies depending on whether the student is an attending or a non-attending student:
1) attending students: 60% final exam, 40% group assignments.
2) non-attending students: 100% final exam.
Students will have 60 minutes to complete the exam.
The professor reserves the right to require an additional oral examination, including after the written examination has taken place, where this is deemed necessary in order to verify the actual acquisition of the knowledge and skills envisaged by the course learning objectives and to ensure the appropriate attribution of the final assessment.
Contents
Organizations have to develop a consumer centric approach to improve their business in modern markets. Marketing, in particular, is the function that link customers with companies, helping in recognizing their needs and ensuring post-purchase engagement.
For this reason, the main subject areas of the course will cover:
1) the nature of the disciplinary field of consumer psychology and the study of consumer behaviour, the main approaches and theoretical frameworks adopted for understanding the processes underlying consumer behaviour.
2) needs, motivation and involvement. what are the properties, dynamics, and main motivational theories able to explain the process that generates the emergence of a need aimed at its satisfaction through purchasing and consumption behaviour as well as what is the interaction between motivation, emotion, and cognition.
3) perception and attention. description of the main theories of perception, the perceptual-attentional components involved in consumption dynamics and which characteristics of the sensory components (visual, auditory, taste and tactile) can promote purchasing behaviour.
4) learning. what are the types of learning (direct/indirect, explicit/implicit, behaviourist/cognitivist), the most influential theories in this regard, how they are applied to consumption and the role of memory in acquiring information about brands and products.
5) decision-making. specification of the stages involved in decision-making, decision-making strategies and errors/distortions of judgement when choosing products/services (heuristics).
6) attitudes. what are attitudes, how they shape our preferences and consumption behaviour, the main theories and techniques concerning persuasive communication aimed at changing preferences.
7) personality and self-concept. how personality characteristics and traits, as well as self-concept, help determine product/service choices.
8) social influences. the types of social groups and how the interaction the consumer has with them impact on consumption behaviour.
9) emotions. the nature of emotional processes and how they modify economic behaviour.
10) neuromarketing. description of the nature and usefulness of the new methodological frontiers of neuroscience applied to the study of the consumer and the specific contribution of these techniques to the understanding of psychological and economic processes.
For each of these topics, the course will be enriched with concrete examples.
Online Resources
More information
Course's attendance is not compulsory but highly recommended.