Interpretive consumer research usually proceeds with a minimum of structure and preconceptions. This book presents a more structured approach than is usual, showing how a simple framework that embodies the rewards and costs associated with consumer choice can be used to interpret a wide range of consumer behaviours from everyday purchasing and saving, innovative choice, imitation, ‘green’ consumer behavior, to compulsive behaviors such as addictions (to shopping, to gambling, to alcohol and other drugs, etc). Foxall takes a qualitative approach to interpreting behavior, focusing on the epistemological problems that arise in such research and emphasizing the emotional as well as cognitive aspects of consumption. The author argues that consumer behaviour can be understood with the aid of a very simple model that proposes how the consequences of consumption impact consumers’ subsequent choices. The objective is to show that a basic model can be used to interpret consumer behaviour in general, not in isolation from the marketing influences that shape it, but as a course of human choice that is dynamically linked with managerial concerns.

This book presents a structured approach to consumer research , showing how a simple framework that embodies the rewards and costs associated with consumer choice can be used to interpret a wide range of consumer behaviours.

Evaluating the ways in which we construe consumer choice, this book examines the psychology, methods and realities of the role it plays for today’s consumer. Confronted by competing brands and products, services, and e-tailed opportunities that are but a click away, how does the consumer choose among them to achieve the particular array of goods to suit their lifestyle? Consumer researchers often seek to explain consumer choice by attributing it to beliefs, desires, attitudes, and intentions in the absence of any theoretical justification. Perspectives on Consumer Choice is the outcome of a research program that employs cognitive explanations in a responsible and disciplined way to genuinely elucidate consumer choice in social scientific terms. Employing a reasoned approach to understanding consumption, this book builds upon theoretical and empirical research in economic psychology, behavioral economics and philosophy as well as marketing and consumer research.

Despite the popularity of consumers' environmental behaviour choices, little research has been forthcoming which analyzes green behaviour across different situations in a systematic way. A particularly relevant stream of research to explain the situational effect on consumer environmental behaviour is the Behavioural Perspective Model (BPM). A key insight of the BPM is of the anticipated benefit consumers acquire and the impact of the environment that surrounds consumer choice. The aim of the research is to interpret consumer environmental behaviour across different situations in a systematic way by using the BPM. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, a mixed method approach was used among Cardiff consumers. The first study involved standardized open-ended interviews (N=30). Panel experts were also invited to take part in the BPM Contingency Definition Test. The second studies were conducted via survey (N=200), which provided data on 1,600 consumer situations. The findings from the consumers' verbal responses to descriptions of eight consumer environmental situations confirm the predictions raised by the BPM interpretation of consumer choice. Mehrabian and Russell's affective (Pleasure, Arousal, Dominance) and behavioural variables (Approach and Avoidance) showed significant main effects. The one-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD analysis provide support for the patterns of the affective and behavioural variables for the BPM contingencies categories. Furthermore, the actual differences in the variables means scores of the groups were large (eta squared = between 0.1 and 0.4). The discriminant analysis justified the predicted capability of the BPM. Two-way interaction effects between affective variables were also identified. In summary, this study shows that the application of the model is not only empirically limited to familiar themes of consumer research but also applicable to different consumer environmental behaviours.