Special Issue "Current Issues in Behavior Analysis and Consumer Psychology"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. R. G. Vishnu Menon
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Interests: digital marketing; consumer behavior analysis; sustainable food consumption
Prof. Valdimar Sigurdsson
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Business Administration, School of Social Sciences, Reykjavik University, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Interests: consumer behaviour analysis; consumer psychology; retailing and digital marketing
Prof. Asle Fagerstrøm
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Economy, Innovation and Technology, Department of Technology, Kristiania University College, 0107 Oslo, Norway
Interests: consumer research; behavioral economics; behavior analysis and digital marketing
Prof. Erik Arntzen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Behavioural Science, OsloMet – Storbyuniversitetet, 0167 Oslo, Norway
Interests: experimental studies of complex human behavior with focus research questions within stimulus control; conditional discrimination; and formation of equivalence classes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Firms often struggle to adapt to more influential and powerful consumers, the rapid pace of competition, and the constant threat of disruptive innovation (Carpenter, 2013). In such a scenario, for an organization to be successful, it has to adopt a “consumer-centric” approach where the ascendant focus should be on behavior instead of traditional consumer opinion and attitude scale measurements. Marketers currently focus not just on the behavioral outcomes such as purchases but also rely heavily on the consumer behavioral processes using web and social media analytics. This creates possibilities for the advancement of not just field experiments, but also detailed laboratory experiments from an inductive standpoint. The latest digital technologies further contribute to the development of interpretations that undertake a functional analysis (Baer, Wolf, and Risley, 1968) of marketing by demonstrating a cause-and-effect relation that emphasizes behavior–environmental contingencies in a modern digital context. Although marketers have access to a variety of technological tools for conducting behavioral studies, they lack a scholarly approach based on stringent methodological procedures ensuring reliable and valid data. Therefore, a unified conceptual framework of consumer behavior analysis (Foxall, 1990/2004, 2007) was proposed to integrate data from several disciplines such as economics, behavior psychology, and marketing. Consumer behavior analysis entails the use of behavior principles, especially behavioral economics, usually gained experimentally, to interpret consumer choice in the context of marketing-oriented economies (e.g., Foxall, 2016).

This Special Issue argues for the importance of consumer behavior analysis, particularly the effects of different settings and contingencies in modifying consumer behavior. It is essential to ensure the development of objective behavioral marketing that focuses on real-time activities for better understanding of consumer behavior. This Special Issue thus aims to expand our understanding of consumer behavior analysis by presenting an array of empirical work currently underway which illustrates novel methodologies for the investigation of consumer behavior analysis and its applications in marketing. The Special Issue also reflects novel thinking at the theoretical level combined with innovative empirical approaches to the exploration of practical marketing problems and their managerial resolution.

References

1. Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 1, 91–97. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1968.1-91

2. Carpenter, G. (2013). Power shift: The rise of the consumer-focused enterprise in the digital age. Kellogg Magazine, Summer 2013. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/kelloggschool/docs/rise-of-the-consumer-focused-enterp/7

3. Foxall, G. R. (1990/2004). Consumer psychology in behavioral perspective (First ed.). New York/Maryland: Routledge/Beard Books.

4. Foxall, G. R. (2007). Explaining consumer choice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

5. Foxall, G. R. (2016). Consumer behavior analysis comes of age. In Foxall, G. (Ed.). The Routledge Companion to Consumer Behavior Analysis (pp. 3-21). New York: Routledge.

Dr. R. G. Vishnu Menon
Prof. Valdimar Sigurdsson
Prof. Asle Fagerstrøm
Prof. Erik Arntzen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission, see below for planned papers.

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Planned papers:

1. Title: Assisting Sustainable Online Food Choices Through Digital Product Recommendation: Exploring Preferences and Segments

Authors: Valdimar Sigurdsson, Vishnu Menon, Nils Magne Larsen and Asle Fagerstrøm

Abstract: Online grocery retailing is currently growing fast but the literature on the effectiveness of digital recommendations is underdeveloped. This study demonstrates the importance of digital product recommendations for consumer preferences for sales and segmentation regarding groceries (fresh fish) sold online. We conducted a choice-based conjoint analysis with a latent class segmentation to analyze the importance of digital product recommendations (e.g., product rating), as compared to more traditional product attributes. The analysis of 1,411 global consumers revealed that product rating was among the most important factors when purchasing fresh salmon fillets online. Latent class segmentation revealed four segments. The largest segment was ‘value for money,’ where product rating and pricing were most important. The other segments were ‘environmentally friendly,’ where procurement method and place of origin were most important; ‘want it now,’ with delivery being the most important factor; and ‘quality conscious,’ which relied on three attributes—origin, delivery, and product rating. This study will benefit retailers, the seafood industry, and sustainable food promotion.

2. Title: The Behavioural Perspective Model of Consumer Choice

Authors: Gordon R Foxall

Affiliation: Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3EU, United Kingdom

Abstract: This introductory paper describes the Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM), a means of specifying the consumer-situation as the immediate precursor of consumer behaviour. It defines ‘consumer choice’ in contrast to ‘consumer behaviour’ and examines the components of the consumer-situation, namely the consumer behaviour setting and the consumer’s learning history. The consumer behaviour setting comprises the stimulus field which precedes consumer action and therefore includes the discriminative stimuli and motivating operations that prefigure consumer response and the reinforcing and aversive consequences that are likely to follow it. These consequences consist of utilitarian (functional) reinforcement and punishment and informational (social) reinforcement and punishment. The paper shows how operant classes of consumer behaviour can be defined on the basis of patterns of reinforcement based on these definitions and how these relate to the emotional rewards and sanctions that are the ultimate outcomes of consumer action. Finally, the concept of bilateral contingency is derived as a means of displaying the behaviour of consumers and others whose consumer-situations interact. The relevance of informational reinforcement to inter-personal interaction is emphasised in order to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of research in this sphere and includes therefore discussion of psychology, economics, philosophy and neuroscience.

Keywords: consumer choice, consumer behaviour, Behavioural Perspective Model, consumer-situation, consumer behaviour setting, utilitarian and informational reinforcement, social interaction

3. Title: Extreme Consumer Choice

Authors: Gordon R Foxall

Affiliation: Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3EU, United Kingdom

Abstract: Consumer choices can be arrayed on a continuum from those which display the least temporal discounting (everyday brand choice, for instance) to those more extreme behaviours which involve steep discounting (such as addiction), as well as intervening behaviours like credit purchases, environmental despoliation and compulsive buying. This paper is concerned primarily with extreme consumer choice. It shows how the Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM) can accommodate addictive behaviours and traces their bases in the kinds of reinforcement and punishment they deliver and incur, the situational and social influences on these actions and the neurophysiological implications of addiction. The behavioural and decision processes involved in addiction are explored via dual- and tri-processual models of cognitive structure and function. In this way, the sequence of actions involved in addictive behaviour can be set out and the relevance of the BPM to the study of addiction appreciated. Finally, the possibility of a contribution to the treatment of addiction is discussed.

Keywords: consumer choice, addiction, Behavioural Perspective Model of consumer choice, temporal discounting, cognitive psychology

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